Deterministic was a Grade 3 winner on dirt in March and will be looking to match the feat on turf Saturday when he starts as the probable favorite in the $500,000 Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs.
The 1 1/8-mile stakes anchors a 12-race card that offers six stakes worth a cumulative $1.3 million. First post is 1 p.m. Eastern.
Colonial closes its meet Saturday, and the pick six and pick fives, which both offer reduced takeouts, will have mandatory payouts, according to Frank Hopf, Colonial’s senior director of racing operations.
“There’s lots of betting opportunities,” he said.
Hopf said this year’s Virginia Derby will be the final one on turf as the stakes is being transitioned into a points race for the Kentucky Derby. Next year, it will be run March 15.
Deterministic spent time on the Triple Crown trail this year, winning the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct before finishing eighth as the favorite in the Wood Memorial and fifth in the Peter Pan. In more recent times, he’s moved to turf and finished second in the Grade 3 Manila at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet and third in the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational.
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“I’d always had a question mark if he was going to be a better horse on turf than on dirt, and he had run a very, very good race in the Gotham,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “He was disappointing in the Wood Memorial and the Peter Pan, so I thought it was the time to try him on the grass and he’s been running well, even if he’s not won. But he ran good races.”
Clement noted Manila winner Neat came back in his next start to take the Grade 2 Hall of Fame at Saratoga and that Saratoga Derby winner Carson’s Run returned to run second in the Nashville Derby at Kentucky Downs.
“He’s been running against very good horses on the grass,” Clement said.
Deterministic drew post 3 in Saturday’s field of 12 and will be ridden by Manny Franco.
“He’s very versatile,” Clement said. “The jock can do whatever he wants, which is great. The rider has the choice to do whatever he wants.”
Grand Mo the First also spent time on the Kentucky Derby trail and is now focusing on turf. He was a neck winner of the Bear’s Den, a one-mile turf race at Gulfstream Park, in his last start Aug. 3. The race marked Grand Mo the First’s first start since he ran 18th in the Kentucky Derby off a third-place finish in the Florida Derby.
“I think the horse came back very well,” trainer Victor Barboza Jr. said of the Bear’s Den. “After three months of not running, he came back very well, finished the race very good. He earned one of his best Beyers, an 86.”
Barboza had considered the Gun Runner at a mile at Kentucky Downs as a potential next start for Grand Mo the First, but said after discussions with Granpollo Stable decided to ship to Colonial.
“The trip to Virginia is a better trip than to Kentucky, coming from Gulfstream,” he said. “And the weather this week in Colonial has been very good for the horse.
“It’s one furlong more, the race, but the horse has run longer distances before. I don’t think it will be a problem.”
Paco Lopez has the mount from post 2.
Herchee, who drew the rail, and In a Jam, who drew post 6, are both cross-entered in the Gun Runner. Mark Casse, who trains In a Jam, said his horse would start in the Gun Runner.
Others in the Virginia Derby include Desvio, winner of the Kent at 1 3/8 miles on turf at Delaware Park, and Zverev, the fifth-place finisher in the Hall of Fame who is out of the multiple Grade 1-winning mare Balance.
Frontline Warrior is out of the champion Shamrock Rose. Izzy d’Oro is a half-brother to multiple Grade 2 winner Dragon Bay.
Hopf said the $1 pick six that will encompass all the stakes will have a takeout of 15 percent. There will be an early pick five, another starting in race 6, and a third one starting in race 8. The 50-cent bet has a 12 percent takeout.
Hopf said Colonial Downs will have a major turf stakes for 3-year-olds next fall, with the name of the race to be determined.
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