Lexington, KY - With just a week left before the Run for the Roses, Churchill Downs hosted the last Kentucky Derby prep race on Saturday, April 27. The Grade 3 Derby Trial Stakes is the last opportunity for trainers to add Kentucky Derby qualifying points to their horses’ resumes in a race worth 20 points to the winner, with eight, four and two points distributed for second, third and fourth place finishers respectively.
Trainer Todd Pletcher took the exacta in the race, held under the Churchill lights on its evening opening card, with winner Forty Tales and runner-up Capo Bastone. Forty Tales laid off the pace in sixth through much of the one-mile contest and came surging late in the stretch under rider Joel Rosario, beating out Capo Bastone by just a neck.
“I knew there was a little bit of speed in the race, and both of these horses' styles is to kind of settle and make one run, and it seemed like the track was favorably to those kind of horses on the night, so we just kind of let them do their thing,” Pletcher said after the race.
The race marked the first Kentucky Derby points for the winner, a son of Tale of the Cat out of Forty Niner mare Forty Love. He finished second in the Grade 2 Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park earlier this year, and fifth in the Grade 3 Swale Stakes, neither of which carried any points toward a start in the Derby. Although his score of 20 points could be enough to qualify him for the big race, Pletcher said Forty Tales will not be running back in the Kentucky Derby this Saturday.
“I doubt [he will go to the Derby], but we'll see how he comes out of it,” he said. “I'm sure the owners will want to talk about it anyways, but I would say he's probably a one-turn horse.”
Forty Tales is owned by Peretti Racing Stable LLC and was bred in Kentucky by the Randal Family Trust.
Ruler of Love finished behind Capo Bastone to take third place; Titletown Five was fourth.
Historically, the Derby Trial has been run as close as a few days before the Kentucky Derby and was used by many Derby runners as a final chance to stretch their legs before their biggest career start. Modern horses usually enjoy two to four weeks in between races, if not more, so it’s common for the Trial winner to pass on the Derby and run in the Preakness instead.
In the case of Forty Tales, Pletcher said the Derby points qualifying system, which is new this year, didn’t impact the horse’s schedule as it has several other contenders this spring. Pletcher is poised to have as many as six qualifiers for the Derby, which would be a record number of starters for one trainer if all six horses enter the race.
“We were just looking at a good opportunity with a horse that we felt like was best at one turn,” said Pletcher. “When we came here, we were undecided whether he was going to run in the Lexington or here. I liked the way he worked over the track, and that was sort of the deciding factor.”
The points system awards varying amounts of points to the top four finishers in a schedule of 36 races which are run from September through the Derby Trial. Some races are weighted differently than others, according to their similarity to the Derby distance and surface, place on the calendar, and historic success in producing successful contenders.
John Asher, vice president of racing communications for Churchill Downs, believes that the first year of the system, dubbed “The Road to the Kentucky Derby,” was generally successful.
“We were pleased with both the results of the first year of the ‘Road to the Kentucky Derby’ points system and the increasingly warm reception to the concept by horsemen and fans as we moved through the Derby prep races of the past few weeks,” said Asher. “Not everyone is sold on it, but our first year of the system was a very good start. We’ll sit down soon after this year’s Kentucky Derby to determine what changes, additions or tweaks might be in needed we move forward with the points process in the months leading up to the 2014 Kentucky Derby.”
The Kentucky Derby will run Saturday, May 4 with entries and post position drawings finalized on Wednesday. Television coverage of the undercard races can be found on HRTV beginning at 9:30 or NBC Sports Network at 11: 00 a.m. The main event will be broadcast on NBC at 5:00 p.m. Post time is around 6:25 p.m.