The trail to the 150th Kentucky Derby is underway and following the first four very early stepping-stone stakes, there are plenty of unusual storylines.
The most impressive winner of those stakes, NYSOS (a son of Derby winner Nyquist) ran fast in his big win in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita on Feb. 3, posting a 105 Beyer Speed Figure in a 7 1/2-length score to remain unbeaten. However, Nysos is not currently not eligible to race in the Derby on the first Saturday in May because his trainer, Bob Baffert, is banned from Churchill Downs. Owners of possible Derby horses trained by Baffert were eligible to move their horses to another trainer by Jan. 29 but that deadline has passed and not one owner moved a horse. The race wrap-up is below.
The three other Derby preps were in Florida, New York and Arkansas. Florida’s Gulfstream Park held the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) and it was HADES who sizzled while last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) champ and Eclipse Award-winning juvenile colt FIERCENESS faded. Read more here.
WITHERS WINNER
At Aqueduct racetrack in New York on a muddy track, 9 to 1 UNCLE HEAVY (Social Inclusion) nabbed another longshot, El Grande O in the 1 1/8 mile Withers Stakes (G3). A Pennsylvania-bred who was bought in utero by Milam for just $1,700 from the 2020 Fasig Tipton Midatlantic December sale, Uncle Heavy and jockey Mychel Sanchez won the $250,000 race by a nose to collect 20 Derby points.
Trained by Butch Reid Jr., Uncle Heavy stalked 2 1/2 lengths off a contentious pace battle between El Grande O, Seminole Chief and Khanate down the backstretch before the latter two back-pedaled at the three-quarters call and left El Grande O alone on the lead at the top of the lane. Uncle Heavy steadily made up ground through each point of call from sixth-of-nine to come into contention exiting the turn with a four-wide move. The large colt needed the length of the stretch but got up just in time to nail El Grande O by a nose in a final time of 1:53.79 over muddy and sealed footing.
His winning Beyer Figure was 84.
Reid Jr. said that due to an Equine Herpesvirus quarantine at Belmont Park, Uncle Heavy has shipped to a farm in Pennsylvania where he awaits clearance to return to his home base of Parx Racing.
“He came out of it very well, and I’m very happy with him,” said Reid Jr. “He was very sharp and bouncing around the barn last night. He’ll get a few days of rest on the farm, which will be nice.”
Uncle Heavy entered the Withers from a successful first try around two turns in the one-mile and 70-yard state-bred Wait For It on December 27 at Parx with a similar trip to the Withers. He graduated on debut, sprinting six furlongs in October at the Bensalem oval.
Reid Jr. said plans for Uncle Heavy’s next start are still being discussed, but indicated after the race that the Grade 2 $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino on April 6 at the Big A could be considered.
Bred by Barbara Reid, Reid Jr.’s sister-in-law, Uncle Heavy is by Grade 1-placed Social Inclusion, a son of Pioneerof the Nile, who was third in the Preakness Stakes (G1) and Wood Memorial and posted Beyers of 110 and 106 in his brief career. Uncle Heavy is out of the winning New York-bred Tiz Wonderful mare Expect Wonderful. His third dam, Stilled, is a half-sister to graded stakes-winner Runspastem and the unraced Hafifah, the dam of graded stakes-placed millionaire Pioneer Spirit.
MYSTIK DAN A MARVEL IN MUD
Pushing the right buttons has trainer Kenny McPeek closer to a career milestone after he swept 1 1/16-mile qualifying races for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks Saturday at Oaklawn with Mystik Dan and Band of Gold, respectively.
Band of Gold, under Brian Hernandez Jr., used a late burst to capture the $250,000 Martha Washington Stakes by 2 ¾ lengths. McPeek and Hernandez then teamed to win the $800,000 G3-Southwest Stakes with Mystik Dan (Goldencents), whose eight-length victory was the second-largest since the race was lengthened to 1 1/16 miles in 2013.
Mystik Dan ($24.80) represented the 1,994th career North American victory for McPeek, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization.
Mystik Dan received a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 101, a career high, for his breakout performance in the Southwest, Oaklawn’s second of four Kentucky Derby qualifying races. Mystik Dan collected 20 qualifying points for the victory and ranks third on the official Kentucky Derby leaderboard compiled by Churchill Downs with 21. The Kentucky Derby is limited to 20 starters.
Oaklawn’s Kentucky Derby qualifying series continues with the $1.25 million G2-Rebel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 24 and nine-furlong $1.5 million G1 Arkansas Derby March 30.
McPeek said Sunday morning that Mystik Dan exited his victory in good order and should resurface in the Arkansas Derby.
Mystik Dan, in his 3-year-old and two-turn debut, had finished fifth in Oaklawn’s first Kentucky Derby points race, the $300,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 1.
Deciding to give Mystik Dan another chance around two turns in the Southwest, McPeek shipped the colt to Fair Grounds because of impending arctic conditions at Oaklawn that, ultimately, closed the track 11 days for training (Jan. 13-23).
Mystik Dan breezed twice at Fair Grounds – Jan. 20 and Jan. 27 – and, upon his return to Oaklawn, overwhelmed 10 Southwest opponents under a ground-saving ride from Hernandez.
“We had a good feeling before the race,” said Lance Gasaway, among four Arkansans who bred and own Mystik Dan. “He wasn’t ready for the long race, the Smarty Jones. He needed the race, so we felt pretty confident coming into the race. He (McPeek) can do it.”
Mystik Dan is by two-time Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Goldencents and the first foal to reach the races out of the McPeek-trained Ma’am, a daughter of Colonel John who Gasaway and Daniel Hamby III bred and raced in partnership. Hamby and 4 G Racing (Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway) are also partners in Mystik Dan. Lance and Brent Gasaway are cousins.
Ma’am broke her maiden at the 2016 Oaklawn meeting and won three more times before beginning a broodmare career.
“The cool thing about this horse (Mystik Dan) is that I bought his mother for Lance and the group and she had a good career and then we foaled him at the farm in Lexington,” said McPeek, referring to his Magdalena Farm in Kentucky. “I recommended the mating. He needed some speed and, boy, he’s fast. It’s exciting.”
Mystik Dan, in his second career start, broke his maiden by 7 3/4 front-running lengths at 5 ½ furlongs Nov. 12 at Churchill Downs. Wheeled back 13 days later in an entry-level allowance at Churchill Downs, Mystik Dan faded to fifth in the one-mile race. He was beaten 3 ¼ lengths in the Smarty Jones.
Mystik Dan has won two of five starts overall and earned $510,110.
NO NYSOS
Although he won’t be running in Louisville on the first Saturday in May, Boama Corp’s Nysos laid down a sizeable three-year-old marker on the first Saturday in February as he accelerated off the turn for home and then galloped to a facile 7 ½ length victory in Santa Anita’s Grade III, $200,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes. Ridden by Flavien Prat and now unbeaten in three starts, Nysos got a flat mile gearing down in 1:36.65.
An important prep to both the Santa Anita and Kentucky Derbies, the Lewis offers a total of 42 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, with 20 to the winner and 10, six, four and two points awarded through the fifth-place finisher.
Baffert, a continuing dominant force on dirt, chalked up his sixth consecutive Lewis win and his record 11th overall in the race named for one of his primary clients in the 1990s and early 2000’s, who along with his wife Beverly, owned Baffert’s first Kentucky Derby winner in 1997, Silver Charm.
In his first two-turn assignment, Nysos fell into a perfect trip as both Wine Me Up from the rail and Scatify, from his outside number seven post, were all-out for the early lead. With Mc Vay joining the pace party mid-way around the Club House turn, Nysos sat fourth, about 4 ½ lengths off Scatify passing the half mile pole.
Asked to pick it up by Prat around the far turn, Nysos cut inside a tiring Mc Vay heading to the quarter pole and then tipped three-deep at the top of the lane, inhaling both Scatify and Wine Me Up en route to the easiest kind of victory.
Most recently an 8 ¾ length winner of the Grade III Bob Hope Stakes going seven furlongs at Del Mar Nov. 19, Nysos had won his two sprints by a combined 20 lengths and was off as the prohibitive 1-9 favorite Saturday, returning $2.20, $2.10 and $2.10.
A $550,000 two-year-old in training sale purchase this past April, Nysos is owned by Baoma Corp. With the winner’s share of $120,000, he increased his earnings to $216,000.
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