Kentucky Derby 2022 spot goes to Zandon after Blue Grass Stakes win

LEXINGTON — Asked how many horses he owns, Minnesota businessman Jeff Drown laughed as his wife and five children stood nearby.

“I say not enough,” Drown said. “My wife says too many.”

The number may soon grow after Saturday’s breakthrough, as Zandon rallied from the back of the pack to win the $1 million, Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass at Keeneland and give Drown his first Kentucky Derby horse in more than two decades of racing thoroughbreds.

The Blue Grass hasn’t produced a Kentucky Derby winner since Street Sense in 2007, but Drown is excited about Zandon’s chances on the first Saturday in May.

“The next month obviously will be very exciting,” Drown said. “Not having been through it, I can’t say for sure. Chad Brown has a great hand training, so he’ll set up the training schedule and have Zandon on track, I’m sure.”

Ridden by Flavien Prat, Zandon covered the 1 1/8 miles on a good dirt track in 1:50.35 and paid $6.20 on a $2 win bet.

Smile Happy, the favorite trained by Kenny McPeek, was 2 ½ lengths back in second and also is safely in the field for the May 7 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Third-place Emmanuel, trained by Todd Pletcher, ranks 25th on the Derby points list and would need several defections to qualify.

Zandon settled off the pace early and was last of 11 horses after three-quarters of a mile as Emmanuel set fractions of 24.04 seconds for the quarter-mile, 48.39 seconds for the half-mile and 1:12.72 for three-quarters.

Prat said he was “covered up” and concerned he had lost too much ground early.

“The pace was a bit slow, so I was wandering down the backside,” Prat said. “But I was traveling super. It was just a matter of finding a gap and getting a clean run down the lane.”

Prat had maneuvered Zandon into second coming off the far turn and needed only to catch Smile Happy heading for home.

“When I turned from home, I really thought I had the race won,” Smile Happy jockey Corey Lanerie said. “(Zandon) came to me and engaged me, and I couldn’t hold him off. The track was a little heavy today, so hopefully we get a lot out of it and move forward.”

Smile Happy trainer Kenny McPeek said he was looking forward to moving his horse to Churchill, where he won the Kentucky Jockey Club in November.

“It was a heavy racetrack; I think it played a little bit to closers,” McPeek said of the Keeneland surface. “The Churchill surface is entirely different than this one in my opinion, and this colt has won down there, too. We’re going to get in the starting gate. That’s what I’m excited about.”

Brown started the day with no certain qualifiers for the Kentucky Derby but now has two after Zandon’s victory and Early Voting’s runner-up finish in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Brown is 0 for 6 in the Kentucky Derby, his best finish coming with Good Magic (second) in 2018. Good Magic also won the Blue Grass.

Good Magic had just five races under his belt entering the Kentucky Derby, and Zandon will have just four. He won his maiden race at Belmont in October, finished a nose behind Mo Donegal in the Grade 2 Remsen on Dec. 4 at Aqueduct and opened his 3-year-old season with a third-place finish behind Epicenter and Smile Happy in the Grade 2 Risen Star on Feb. 19 at Fair Grounds.

Zandon hopped at the start of the Risen Star, costing himself early position.

“He’s been training really well and to come back and show the type of horse we thought he was all along, it’s very gratifying,” Drown said. “What a fantastic run.”

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; [email protected]; Twitter: @KentuckyDerbyCJ.