What a fun whirlwind of major stakes races on April 9, and what a wild trio of final Kentucky Derby (G1) stepping stone races.
Two deep closers, Zandon and Mo Donegal won the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) and Wood Memorial (G2) and the wildly-expensive colt Taiba ($1.7 million) won the Santa Anita Derby (G1) in only his second race.
Read Canadian Thoroughbred‘s take on all three Derby stepping stone races below, here and here and check out the current point standings for Derby horses.
The Toyota Blue Grass was run over somewhat of a greasy track as snow-turned-rain made the track sloppy early in the card, the second day of the spring meeting at Keeneland. The track dried out during the day in front of a huge crowd.
A field of 11 started in the $1 million race and Zandon settled well off the pace early after starting from post 4. It was Emmanuel, with Luis Saez aboard, being hustled to the lead out of the gate and leading the field through fractions of :24.04 and :48.39 while being tracked by Golden Glider with favoured Smile Happy, caught very wide, in the clear racing third.
The top three remained unchanged going into the far turn as Zandon was last while racing between horses. On the turn, Prat began to weave his way through the field, while on the front end Corey Lanerie sent Smile Happy after Emmanuel.
At the top of the stretch, Smile Happy brushed with Emmanuel as he surged to the front while behind him Zandon barged past Trademark (a pasture buddy of Zandon as a foal) and then took dead aim on Smile Happy. Smile Happy maintained the advantage passing the eighth pole but could not hold off Zandon.
It was another half-length back to Golden Glider in fourth with Trademark, Rattle N Roll, Ethereal Road, Commandperformance, Blackadder, Volcanic and Fenwick following in order. (Story continues below video)
Jeff Drown of Minnesota owns Zandon (Upstart – Memories Prevail, by Creative Cause) and the colt is trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Flavien Prat. Zandon completed the mile and an eighth on a muddy track in 1:50.35. It is the second victory in the race for Brown, who saddled Good Magic to win the 2018 running. Good Magic went on to be second in the Kentucky Derby.
Zandon’s Beyer Figure from Daily Racing Form was 98, a fourth consecutive ‘top’ Beyer in his four career races.
With the victory, Zandon picked up 100 points toward qualification for the $3 million Kentucky Derby (G1) Presented by Woodford Reserve to be run May 7 at Churchill Downs. With 114 points, Zandon ranks second for the race that is limited to the top 20 point earners that pass the entry box.
Picking up 40 points for second was Smile Happy to increase his total to 70 points, good for 10th place on the leaderboard. Emmanuel added 20 points for finishing third to boost his total to 25 to rank 25th, and Golden Glider picked up 10 points for fourth to bring his total to 15 to rank 33rd.
A $170,000 Keeneland sales graduate, Zandon was bred by Brereton Jones in Kentucky. He is the first foal to race of his dam Memories Prevail, who never raced. Second dam Incarnate Memories, by Indian Charlie, was 0-for-1 on the track for owner and breeder Jones. She has, however, produced two stakes winners.
Third dam Witness Post (Gone West) was bred by Canadian Art Stollery in Kentucky and she is the dam of two stakes winners.
Sent off as the second choice in the field of 11, Zandon returned $6.20, $3.20 and $2.40. Smile Happy returned $3.20 and $2.40 and finished 3¾ lengths in front of Emmanuel, who paid $3.60 to show.
All-sources handle for the 11-race card set a single-day wagering record, totaling $28,137,728 to exceed the previous record of $25,809,200 set on Toyota Blue Grass Day in 2019.
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