A fairytale trip to the Kentucky Derby. A roughing in the Preakness Stakes. Going to plan B due to a quarantine in New York – or avoiding a quarantine altogether. The storylines of the 3-year-olds entered in the Grade 3, $500,000 Ohio Derby converge Saturday at Thistledown, in a race that could be a springboard into other major summer races in the division.
Clever Again is the morning-line favorite in the 1 1/8-mile race five weeks after a Preakness Stakes that can clearly have a line drawn through it. Clever Again, setting the pace on the inside, had just been passed by Gosger and had Goal Oriented on his outside, with Journalism looming behind them. When Journalism charged through a hole of his own making en route to the win, Clever Again was bounced off the rail and wound up fading to last of nine.
Clever Again, trained by Steve Asmussen for Winchell Thoroughbreds and the Coolmore partners, has breezed three times since at Churchill Downs and has shown no ill effects, mentally or physically.
“Surprisingly, he came out of the Preakness unscathed, unmarked,” said David Fiske, manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds. “He has worked inside of horses since the Preakness, to no great effect, so the experience at Pimlico didn’t seem to bother him a whole lot, at least going forward. I think he just sort of brushed off the experience.”
Also emerging from the Triple Crown is Chunk of Gold, a $2,500 yearling who brought first-time connections to the Kentucky Derby after finishing second in both the Grade 2 Risen Star and Grade 2 Louisiana Derby. After being keen at the break of the Kentucky Derby, which took his connections by surprise, he eventually wound up a creditable ninth on the sloppy, sealed track.
“He didn’t place himself where we really expected him to,” trainer Ethan West said. “Right there, I think that caught everyone off guard – he’s never jumped up out of the gates like that. [Jockey Jareth Loveberry] got him to come back to him. I couldn’t be more proud of him. He handled everything with grace and class.”
Chunk of Gold has rebounded well from a busy campaign that began in December, emerging from the Derby with two bullet works at his Turfway Park base.
“He tucked up a little bit after the Derby, but rightfully so – it’s a pretty exhausting experience,” West said. “But he packed his weight back on. I think he’s actually gained a few pounds. His works have been exactly what we wanted, so hopefully he’s got his running shoes on come Saturday.”
Chunk of Gold is drawn in post 2, with the likely speed outside him. Clever Again won two races on the lead at Oaklawn Park, including the Hot Springs Stakes, before the Preakness. He landed post 6, while Mo Plex, the only graded winner in the field by virtue of his score in the Grade 3 Sanford last summer, is on the far outside in post 10.
“On paper, it looks like there’s some speed,” West said. “Obviously, Clever Again is going to the lead, and the horse to the outside looks like he’s going to go. Hopefully, we can get a trip kind of what we got in Louisiana where we can stay tucked in right behind the leaders. I think this horse has always run better kind of covered up, and I’m hoping that’s the trip we get this weekend.”
Fiske says that despite Clever Again’s past performances, he doesn’t necessarily need the lead.
“He’s won some of his races on the lead, but he doesn’t seem to be a need-the-lead, mouth gaping open, straining at the reins kind of horse,” Fiske said. “He’s pretty happy to sit off of horses. He’s pretty intelligent.”
Mo Plex comes to the nine-furlong Ohio Derby off a dueling win in the seven-furlong Bay Shore and has not yet raced beyond a mile.
“I’ve always wanted to give him a shot going around two turns,” trainer Jeremiah Englehart said. “In his training, he gives me reason to believe a distance isn’t a problem for him at all.”
Mo Plex was scratched from the Mike Lee on June 4 at Saratoga after a mandatory two-week quarantine of his barn due to a case of strangles in one of Englehart’s horses. Mo Plex did not miss any training time, due to dedicated hours for quarantined horses to train outside of the general population, and was rerouted to the Ohio Derby due to its position on the calendar.
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“He’s had some really nice works leading into the race,” Englehart said. “I thought, too, third start off a layoff, his numbers are heading in the right direction, where this next race it looks like he could throw a big one. So I thought this was the time to give him the chance.”
Rick Dutrow had already shipped McAfee from New York to Churchill Downs to facilitate a shorter trip to Ohio – resulting in that colt not being trapped by a recent strangles quarantine at Belmont. McAfee was most recently second, beaten less than a length, with a career-best Beyer in the Grade 3 Peter Pan in his first start with blinkers. Dutrow plans to cut the blinkers back slightly so the colt is less aggressive.
Capo Luca has won three straight allowance-level events at Thistledown, and Extradition was third to him last out. The other four Ohio Derby entrants all got their most recent wins in claiming races.
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