1-2-4 Derby Finishers On To Baltimore And Preakness Stakes
May 5, 2002
By Derby Notes Team

Kentucky Derby Headlines:

• 1-2-4 Derby finishers on to Preakness
  
• Saarland injured; looks for Fall return
  
• O'Brien Duo Back to Ireland
  

WAR EMBLEM - Trainer Bob Baffert, now a three-time Kentucky Derby (GI) winner, said all was well with Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem on the morning after the race and the colt would now take aim at the Preakness, the second jewel of the Visa Triple Crown.

"It looks good," he said. "You can tell he ran hard. He's a little tired today. Yesterday he was pretty wound up after the race, but today he's finally mellowed out a little bit. He can be tough, this son of a gun."

The Thoroughbred Corp's Kentucky-bred son of War Emblem walked under the shedrow on the day after he won the Kentucky Derby by a front-running four lengths in 2:01.13 - the ninth-fastest Derby in 128 years. Baffert will stick to the plan that resulted in Preakness (GI) victories for his previous Kentucky Derby winners Silver Charm (1997) and Real Quiet (1998). He will train War Emblem at Churchill Downs, work him early next week and then ship him to Baltimore.

"I'll train him here - this track (at Churchill Downs) is so good this year," Baffert said. "He (track superintendant Butch Lehr) had it great, he had it really great. This track is in awesome shape. I'm just going to train him, take him up there and what happens happens. That's the approach I'm taking."

On the morning after his third Kentucky Derby victory in six years, Baffert continued to talk about the emotional impact of his latest success in the race. It was an unusual Derby win for Baffert as War Emblem had been in his barn for less than a month. The trainer first laid eyes on the colt at Churchill Downs after The Thoroughbred Corp's Prince Ahmed bin Salman purchased him privately after a romp in the Illinois Derby (GII) at Sportsman's Park.

"I felt like I'd had this horse all my life," Baffert said. "When he turned for home, I felt like I'd had him since he was a baby. It just does that. And he's been a little bit of a project for me since I've had him here, because we had to work some things out with him. It was very gratifying, but it was also very emotional for me because of Jill (fiancée Jill Moss) and what we've gone through - the ups and downs and the disappointments and Jill's always there with me. This is for her and I. It's like we finally got our Derby."

Baffert said the victory with War Emblem was also satisfying because of the disappointments of recent defeats with such horses at General Challenge and last year's eventual "Horse of the Year" Point Given, who suffered his only loss of the campaign in the Kentucky Derby. "I may not have shown it, but those losses were tough," he said. "People don't realize what we really go through. And then to win it for the prince, you know, I told the prince 'You weren't supposed to win it last year.' That's just the way this thing works. It was a humbling experience for the prince.

"After Point Given, I wondered if I'd ever win another one of these things again - it's just too damn hard to win. And it seemed like the harder I tried to win, the harder it is to win it. And here this year I took a different outlook: I'm just going to get him and train that son of a gun the best I can and get him sharp and lead him up there and see what happens. And that's all you can do to win this race. That's why Wayne (trainer D. Wayne Lukas) ran second: he trained his horse, tried to get there and see what happens."

Baffert said the colt's previous owner, 84-year-old Chicagoan Russell Reineman, retained 10 percent of War Emblem. He said that Reineman would get 10 percent of the colt's Derby earnings and the $1 million bonus he received for sweeping the Illinois Derby and the Kentucky Derby.

"It was good for him," said Baffert. "He kept a piece in case this horse was to go on to win the Derby, he wanted to feel like he didn't sell the whole horse."

PROUD CITIZEN (Second) - Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said it is on to Baltimore for the May 18 Preakness with Proud Citizen after his runner-up finish in the 128th Kentucky Derby.

"He is doing well and I think he should move forward off this race and I think he will run well in the Preakness," Lukas said. "He is getting very good now, and I think we are in the same position with him now that a lot of other guys were in March."

Proud Citizen ran second most of the way behind War Emblem and did not pressure the pace-setting winner.

"We stayed with our game plan, thinking War Emblem would stop," Lukas said. "If you come out of what you do best, then you don't have a chance. I thought he ran well. We had a good week, All of our horses ran well."

Lukas also indicated that Overbrook Farm's Table Limit, an allowance winner last month at Keeneland, is a Preakness possibility. Table Limit worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 at Churchill Saturday.

PERFECT DRIFT (Third) - A third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby by Lane's End Spiral (GII) winner Perfect Drift left trainer Murray Johnson pleased, but the effort to cheer his Dynaformer gelding home in the "Run for the Roses" left him with a voice that rose barely above a croak on Sunday morning.

As for a possible run in the Preakness, Johnson said Perfect Drift was "doubtful" for the May 18 race at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course.

Regarding Perfect Drift's effort to overcome the modest Derby pace set by the victorious War Emblem, Johnson said only, "No pace, no race."

MEDAGLIA D'ORO (Fourth) - Assistant trainer Jose Cuevas reported that Medaglia d'Oro came out of the Derby in good fashion and ate up last night.

The Bobby Frankel trainee, who went off as the co-second choice with Saarland behind Harlan's Holiday, will ship to New York Monday with the rest of the 15-horse Frankel string at Churchill Downs.

Cuevas indicated to Pimlico officials that Medaglia d'Oro would go on to the Preakness, a reversal from 2000 when Derby runner-up Aptitude bypassed the second jewel in racing's Triple Crown and waited for the Belmont.

REQUEST FOR PAROLE (Fifth) - Trainer Steve Margolis reported Sunday morning that his first Kentucky Derby starter came out of Saturday's race in good order

"I thought he ran a good race. He is a hard-tryer, and he did that yesterday," Margolis said. "It is a shame they didn't pay down to fifth so the owners could have gotten some of their $30,000 back.''

Margolis indicated the Preakness was not likely for Request For Parole.

"I have got to see how he is doing and talk it over with the owners (Jeri and Sam Knighton)," Margolis said, "but I would like to find an easier spot for him."

CAME HOME (Sixth) - Jockey Chris McCarron stopped by Barn 25 to peek in on Came Home before heading to California.

Trainer Paco Gonzalez indicated the Santa Anita Derby winner came out of Saturday's race fine and would return to California on Monday for some R and R.

"I will not run him again until he tells us he is really eager," Gonzalez said.

HARLAN'S HOLIDAY (Seventh) - Trainer Ken McPeek listed Starlight Stable's Harlan's Holiday, the beaten Kentucky Derby favorite, as "possible" for the Preakness. He said the Ohio-bred son of Harlan came out of the race well, but would wait a few days before making a final decision on his next step.

"I think physically he's ready," McPeek said. "He's capable of going, but no decision has been made yet."

McPeek attributed much of the colt's disappointing Derby performance to the lackluster pace of the race.

"I just think we kind of got caught with our drawers down the first half-mile - like everybody else," he said. "I looked at it on paper and I didn't think there'd be any speed a week ago, but I can't anticipate that. That's Edgar's (jockey Edgar Prado) call. But I think we all kind of assumed there was going to be some, but it didn't happen.

"This horse is capable of going :47 or :46-and-change for a half-mile and keep going. In hindsight, I should have just told him to send the horse. That's my fault and that's horse racing."

Assistant trainer Helen Pitts said that Louisiana Derby (GII) winner Repent, who was second to War Emblem in the Illinois Derby in which he sustained a minor ankle injury to the left front, would return to training in June.

JOHANNESBURG (Eighth) and CASTLE GANDOLFO (12th) - Trainer Aidan O'Brien's initial Kentucky Derby entrants left Churchill Downs before 7 o'clock Sunday morning for an eight-hour flight back to Ireland.

Traveling head lad Patrick Keating said the two came out of the race healthy and sound and ate up last night.

Keating said he talked with O'Brien this morning and said the conditioner offered no comment on Saturday's race, noting O'Brien was happy to hear of the colts' condition.

As for the race itself, Keating said he never saw it.

"I was trying to get to the big screen to watch it, but it wasn't working," Keating said.

ESSENCE OF DUBAI (Ninth) - Tom Albertrani, assistant to trainer Saeed bin Suroor, said Essence Of Dubai would ship to New York on Sunday with an eye toward the Belmont Stakes and not the Preakness.

Imperial Gesture, who finished eighth in Friday's Kentucky Oaks, also was headed to New York.

"He seems fine this morning," Albertrani said. "The best horse won yesterday. Give him credit. He got the pace and it looks like he pretty much stole it. We were hoping for a stronger pace and it didn't work out. I thought he ran a credible race."

SAARLAND (10th) - Cynthia Phipps' Saarland sustained an injury in Saturday's Kentucky Derby. "He has a chip in his left front ankle," said trainer Shug McGaughey, indicating a Fall return was possible. The injury was discovered Sunday morning. X-rays were taken that revealed the chip and the colt was scheduled to go the Rood & Riddle Clinic in Lexington later Sunday.

BLUE BURNER (11th) - Trainer Bill Mott indicated there was no Preakness in the immediate plans for Blue Burner. "Not after an effort like that," Mott said. "That was his second race in a row (like that). I gave him the benefit of the doubt after the Wood Memorial (when he ran fifth), but now we've got to take a tougher look."

EASY GRADES (13th) - Exercise rider Cindy Lerille said the Santa Anita Derby runner-up was doing fine Sunday morning and scheduled to return to his home base in trainer Ted H. West's barn in Southern California later in the day. "I don't know what his plans are, but I would imagine he will get some time off," Lerille said.

PRIVATE EMBLEM (14th) - Trainer Steve Asmussen said the Arkansas Derby winner came back tired from his effort in Saturday's Kentucky Derby.

"He just had no energy yesterday," Asmussen said. "There was not a lot of fight in my dog, so to speak. We are going to freshen him up."

Asmussen said the Preakness remained a possibility for Louisiana Derby runner-up Easyfromthegitgo, but not so for Windward Passage, who was entered Wednesday in the Kentucky Derby, but was excluded from the maximum field of 20 because of insufficient stakes earnings.

"I don't think that track, with its tight turns, the race would set up right for him," Asmussen said. "But then this race, the way it unfolded, didn't either. It probably saved the owners $30,000."

However, Asmussen told Pimlico officials that a start in the $100,000 Sir Barton Stakes on the Preakness undercard remains a possibility for Windward Passage.

LUSTY LATIN (15th) - Trainer Jeff Mullins said Lusty Latin would return to his home base at Hollywood Park on Wednesday.

"He came out of the race fine," Mullins said. "We'll just go back and regroup."

IT'SALLINTHECHASE (16th) - Groom Rusty Higgins said the Wilson Brown trainee was "fit as fiddle'' Sunday morning and none the worse for wear from his Kentucky Derby effort.

She said the colt would leave Thursday for Canterbury Park in Minnesota.

OCEAN SOUND (Ire) (17th) - Exercise rider Adam Kitchingman said Ocean Sound (Ire) came out of the Derby in fine fashion, and would be shipped back to California.

WILD HORSES (18th) - Trainer Todd Pletcher's Kentucky Derby starter left Sunday morning to return to Pletcher's home base at Belmont Park.

"He seemed to come back fine," Pletcher said. "We scoped him after the race and he bled a little bit; nothing too bad. We will freshen him up and try again.

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