Horses break from the gate in the 2021 Holy Bull Stakes, won by Greatest Honour (orange saddle cloth, teal jockey silks). (Ryan Thompson/Coglianese Photo)
Activity on the road to the 2021 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve is in full swing this winter. Since the last edition of this blog in early January, talented 3-year-olds have emerged in a handful of stakes races offering qualifying points for the Derby as well as in allowance and even maiden races, and the stakes will rise higher in the coming weeks as trainers pick seek viable paths for their horses to secure a spot in the Churchill Downs starting gate on May 1.
Essential Quality, Life Is Good Top Individual Choices In Third Kentucky Derby Future Wager Sponsored by:
Godolphin s Eclipse Award-winning colt Essential Quality and CHC Inc and WinStar Farm s undefeated $100,000 Sham Stakes (Grade 3) winner Life Is Good were made the 8-1 individual morning line favorites in Pool 3 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager (“KDFW”), but the pari-mutuel field of “All Other 3-Year-Olds” is expected to be the overall choice in the three-day wager that begins Friday.
Pool 3 of the KDFW will open Friday at noon (all times Eastern) and close Sunday at 6 p.m. Wagers can be placed online at www.TwinSpires.com, as well as racetracks and simulcast centers throughout the country.
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Candy Man Rocket and jockey Junior Alvarado winning the Sam F. Davis Stakes
Junior Alvarado travelled from his winter base of Gulfstream Park to Tampa Bay Downs for their Festival Preview Day and won two of their graded stakes, earning Jockey of the Week honors for Feb. 1 through Feb. 7. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.
Alvarado was given a leg up on Candy Man Rocket by trainer Bill Mott s son and assistant, Riley Mott in the Gr. 3 Sam F. Davis, the centerpiece of the Festival Preview Day.
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Candy Man Rocket and jockey Junior Alvarado winning the Sam F. Davis Stakes
Saturday s Cross Country Pick 5, featuring stakes action from New York s Aqueduct Racetrack and Tampa Bay Downs in Florida, paid $872.50 for selecting all five winners for the 50-cent wager. The sequence s total pool was $123,055.
Aqueduct started the wager when Dublinornothin upset favorite Mabel Island in a seven-furlong allowance race for New York-bred fillies and mares 4-years-old and up. The Eduardo Jones trainee rallied from fourth in the stretch under jockey Andre Worrie to post a half-length victory. Dublinornothin returned $19 on a $2 win wager.
Curlin s Catch started the sequence s stakes portion with a 4 1/2-length score in the Suncoast for 3-year-old fillies going a mile and 40 yards on the Tampa Bay main track. Conditioned by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Curlin s Catch sat off the pace before drawing away under Antonio Gallardo as the favorite. She paid $5.60.
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Candy Man Rocket and jockey Junior Alvarado winning the Sam F. Davis Stakes
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who sent out 1-2 finishers Candy Man Rocket and Nova Rags in Saturday s Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes, said he hopes to return to Tampa Bay Downs with at least one of the 3-year-old colts on March 6 for the Grade 2, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby.
“It was gratifying to see both horses pass the two-turn test,” said Mott, who sent his son Riley Mott to Oldsmar from south Florida for saddling duties. “They both ran big races and it looked like they were strong at the finish. They came out of the race well, so I think both horses would be possible for the (Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby).”