The last two prep races for the Run for the Roses – the Arkansas Derby and Lexington Stakes – will be run on Saturday, leaving handicappers a mere three weeks to make sense of what has been an exhilarating run up to the main event.
Mike Brunker
Mike Brunker is an assistant city editor working with reporters covering land use and environment, health care and immigration. He also writes a weekly horse racing column. Before joining the Review-Journal in August 2016, Brunker worked in various reporting and editing capacities for NBCNews.com, msnbc.com and the San Francisco Examiner.
If we didn’t see the Kentucky Derby winner last week, then we almost certainly will on Saturday when the Wood Memorial, the Blue Grass Stakes and the Santa Anita Derby lure most of the top guns for the Run for the Roses.
The Group 2 UAE Derby — part of a stellar Dubai World Cup card — and the Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park make for a challenging handicapping challenge, part of which involves getting up early Saturday.
With just six weeks until the Kentucky Derby, give or take a day, most horses being aimed for the race are going to run just once more to try to secure a spot in the starting gates.
The Bob Baffert-trained colt has been spectacular in the first two races of his career, but his lack of seasoning raises questions about whether he’ll be ready for the moving mosh pit that is the Kentucky Derby.
If there’s a void in your otherwise Gatsby-esque existence, fear not: Polo as it’s meant to be played is coming to Las Vegas.