Domestic Product solidifies status on Triple Crown trail with Tampa Bay Derby win

Trained by Chad Brown for owner-breeder Seth Klarman of Klaravich Stables, the son of Practical Joke won the Grade III Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs on March 9, to solidify his status among horses targeting the Triple Crown races.

That moved Domestic Product into a tie with Fountain of Youth winner Dornoch for second on the leaderboard for Kentucky Derby qualifying points, behind Rebel winner Timberlake.

Whether Domestic Product races again before the 150th Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs, he should have more than enough points (60) to get a spot in the 20-horse starting gate.

Brown told the Tampa Bay Downs press office last Sunday that he’d like to get another start into Domestic Product, instead of training through an eight-week layoff, and the options are the Blue Grass at Keeneland and the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, both on April 6.

The Triple Crown schedule this year consists of the Derby on May 4, followed by the Preakness at Pimlico on May 18 and the Belmont Stakes on June 8, which will be held at Saratoga Race Course this year because of the ongoing reconstruction of Belmont Park.

Ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, Domestic Product won the Tampa Bay Derby in a wild finish in which the top four horses were separated by a half-length.

No More Time took the lead at the top of the stretch and bumped with Domestic Product several times inside the eighth pole. at the eighth pole and was second at the wire by a neck, as Domestic Product, who also drew contact from Grand Mo the First at the top of the stretch, split horses near the wire and got up in the final stride, as Grand Mo the First and the Brown-trained Good Money also were in the lead pack at the wire.

“He showed a lot of heart after getting bumped by [Grand Mo the First], and he showed a lot of perseverance,” Brown told the Tampa Bay Downs press office.

“He’s still young and he’s still learning,” Gaffalione said. “But I was very proud when he got [No More Time] at the wire.”

Domestic Product, who finished fifth in his career debut at Saratoga last summer, has been gaining momentum since a seventh in the Remsen at Aqueduct on Dec. 2. He was second by two lengths to Hades in the Grade III Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park just prior to the Tampa Bay Derby.

“I don’t know that training a horse this far away from the Kentucky Derby gives you the best chance to win the race, and that’s what we want to do,” Brown said. “He’s got enough points to run in the race, but we really want to get him in with a chance to win.

“He has a pair of nice mile-and-a-sixteenth races now where he was closing on a slow pace, and he broke his maiden at a mile-and-an-eighth as a 2-year-old. This horse is looking like he can get a mile-and-a-quarter the way he’s been finishing. I’ve always thought that about him, so another race will serve him well.”

Domestic Product’s finish time in the Tampa Bay Derby was 1:45.47 for a mile and a sixteenth, for which he was given an 82 Beyer Speed Figure. It was the slowest time in this race since 1994.

The first quarter-mile went in 25.25 seconds, followed by 51.14 for the half-mile and 1:16.21 for three-quarters.

Also, the field had to wait for over a half an hour past the scheduled post time while officials tried to sort out issues with the tote system, a disaster for bettors that didn’t get solved in time for the race and forced the cancellation of the last race on the card.

The tote outage eventually was linked to a communication network breakdown that also affected wagering at Santa Anita Park and Gulfstream Park.

Ahead of Domestic Product, Brown’s top Derby prospect is Risen Star winner Sierra Leone, who was made the 5-1 favorite in the fifth of six pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which began on Friday and closes at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Brown’s history in the Triple Crown races consists of two wins, both in the Preakness, with Early Voting in 2022 and Cloud Computing in 2017.

From seven Derby starters, Brown’s best finish was with Good Magic in 2018, when he was second to eventual Triple Crown winner Justify. Brown also trained the Belmont runner-up to Justify, Gronkowski.

Domestic Product’s sire, Practical Joke, broke his maiden and won the Grade I Hopeful at Saratoga in 2016 and was fifth in the Derby in 2017.

Trainer Jose D’Angelo told Tampa Bay Downs that No More Time likely would train up to the Kentucky Derby. He has 45 points, which could be on the bubble for qualifying.

“He ran huge, and he came back perfect, and that’s the most important thing,” D’Angelo said. “We have eight weeks before the Kentucky Derby, and I’d probably like to bring him into it fresh and arrive early.

“From his race today, it looks like he wants to go longer and that’s a very good thing. He’s not a big horse, so we have to be smart how we handle him.”

There were no races with Derby or Kentucky Oaks qualifying points this weekend.

The Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds and the Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park are scheduled for Saturday, as well as the Oaks qualifying races, the Fair Grounds Oaks and the Bourbonette Oaks at Turfway.

NYSOS UPDATE

The undefeated Nysos, the top-ranked 3-year-old on the weekly poll conducted by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, will be out of training for 30 days because of a "minor" setback, trainer Bob Baffert told the Thoroughbred Daily News this week.

Nysos has won a maiden race, the Grade III Bob Hope and the Grade III Robert B. Lewis by a combined 26 3/4 lengths. He was scratched from the San Felipe on March 3, and Baffert said he would train up to the Santa Anita Derby on April 6.

The horse garnered 26 of 32 first-place votes in this week's NTRA poll. Sierra Leone got five, and Rebel winner Timberlake got one.