Saturday’s Stonestreet Lexington (G3), the final race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, offers a path to Churchill Downs for the first Saturday in May for D. J. Stable and Robert Cotran’s HADES (Awesome Slew) who was beaten 19 lengths just two weeks ago in the Florida Derby (G1).
The $5 million Kentucky Derby (G1) Presented by Woodford Reserve is limited to the top 20 point earners and invitees from the series of races on the Road to the Kentucky Derby that began in September.
Trained by Joe Orseno, Hades sits in 24th place on the leaderboard with 30 points. The Stonestreet Lexington offers 42 points on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale for the first- through fifth-place finishers.
With a victory, Hades would be in the top 20; a runner-up finish would put him just out of the top 20.
“We need the points. I’m not going to go there to be No. 21 (on the also-eligible list),” Orseno said of the decision to run in the Stonestreet Lexington.
Hades won his first three races highlighted by a victory in the Holy Bull (G3) over reigning 2-year-old champion Fierceness. In his most recent start, he finished fifth in the Curlin Florida Derby (G1) Presented by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms at Xalapa.
“He didn’t get a chance to run in the Florida Derby,” Orseno said of Hades, who was bumped at the start and finished far behind Fierceness, who won by 13½ lengths.
Orseno will be making an equipment change for Saturday.
“I always thought he would be better with blinkers, but he kept winning and I couldn’t make the change,” Orseno said. “He’ll have blinkers here; little ones.”
Two other entrants Saturday could move onto the Derby bubble with a victory: Encino and Liberal Arts.
Godolphin’s Encino has 20 points, and a victory would boost him to 40 points, good for 21st on the leaderboard. Trained by Brad Cox, Encino has won two of three races, including the John Battaglia Memorial (L) at Turfway Park on March 2.
Stephen and Evan Ferraro’s Liberal Arts has 19 points, and a victory would boost him to 39 points. Trained by Robbie Medina, Liberal Arts was rank going into the first turn of the Arkansas Derby (G1) on March 30 and interfered with two horses. He was subsequently disqualified from sixth and placed eighth.
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