Story by Jennie Rees, Eclipse Award winning turf writer
SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (July 12, 2019) – Trainer Bret Calhoun admits he would feel worse about his 6-to-5 favorite Mr. Money breaking from the extreme outside in Saturday night’s $500,000, Grade 3 Indiana Derby had it not been for the colt’s last start. Mr. Money has post position 11 in Indiana’s premier horse race.
It wasn’t that Mr. Money had a challenging post to overcome in Churchill Downs’ Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes a month ago, launching from post 6 in a compact field of seven. Rather, it was how the Goldencents colt reacted to a very moderate pace. Instead of tugging to be on the lead, Mr. Money was content to let Gabriel Saez settle back a length or two off the pace, waiting to get his cues from the jockey. When the time came to kick in, Mr. Money drew off through the stretch for a 6 1/2-length victory over a quality rival in Signalman.
On paper, Mr. Money appears to be a stick-out. His Indiana Derby competitors are hoping that the outside post could be an equalizer for the most-accomplished horse in the field and the only one coming into the 1 1/16-mile stakes off consecutive victories. The thinking is that Mr. Money could get hung way out wide around the first turn, losing ground that could prove the difference at the finish, or be forced to expend too much energy early to get a good position, defusing his finish.
But Calhoun says the last race proved to him that Mr. Money has learned how to race.
"The Pat Day Mile, that’s a fast race run down the backside (out of the mile chute) and speed usually carries,” he said. “They run fast and go fast. I didn’t think there was a lot of thought process, a lot of worry about so much rating in that race. But I thought coming back in the next race, going on around two turns, he had to prove himself that he could settle, relax and rate. That’s where he’s showed me he’s moved forward, that he mentally learned how to wait on the rider and settle. That was a race that made me realize he was moving forward. It wasn’t a talent situation. It was more learning how to race.”
Otherwise, Calhoun would be sweating out Mr. Money’s post position.
“You’d worry about getting too cranked up from the 11 hole and then trying to get him to settle,” he acknowledged. “That’s not a big concern after his last race and makes me feel a lot more confident.”
All the same, Calhoun would have preferred to be a couple of spots closer to the rail.
“But that being said, he breaks sharp,” he said. “There are a couple of speed horses in there, but he ought to be able to get pretty good position into the first turn. My only real concern is not giving up too much ground on the first turn. I think he looks solid in there. There are few nice horses in there that have been running very well, running some nice (handicapping) numbers.
But I think if he runs, he has a very good chance.
“Alwaysmining has been very consistent up there (in the Mid-Atlantic). You’ve got to respect him. The other horse who looks pretty strong in there is the horse who was second in the Ohio Derby.”
That would be Math Wizard (a son of Algorithms), who lost the Ohio Derby by only a half-length to the well-regarded Owendale. Math Wizard twice was claimed for $16,000 out of maiden-claiming races at Gulfstream Park last winter, winning the second time in a romp, and then was claimed again for $25,000 in his subsequent start in an 18-length victory.
Before dismissing horses who run for as cheap as $16,000 maiden-claiming races, consider that Florida Derby winner and the disqualified Kentucky Derby first-place finisher Maximum Security also started off in a $16,000 maiden-claiming race. In fact, Math Wizard was the third-place finisher that day.
Knowing that anything can happen in a horse race, Calhoun will take his chances if Mr. Money runs his race.
“Either he doesn’t bring his race or he gets in some kind of significant traffic trouble,” he said. “I think he’s good enough to overcome some problems here and there in this race. I’d be more concerned if he doesn’t bring his A game — and I have no reason to think he’s going to bring anything other than his A game.”
With Dignity attempts to go to 3-for-3 in Indiana Oaks
While Fair Grounds Oaks winner Street Band is the morning-line favorite for Saturday’s $200,000, Grade 3 Indiana Oaks, the buzz horse is another Churchill Downs-based horse, Whitham Thoroughbreds’ With Dignity.
The 2-for-2 With Dignity has anywhere from three to 13 fewer starts than her 11 rivals. (Another filly with only two starts, Hallawallah, needs a defection by 8:30 a.m. Saturday in order to race.) But it also means she could have more upside.
With Dignity won her debut sprinting May 11 at Churchill Downs by a half-length over Dos Vinos, who won the next time out. Three weeks later, With Dignity overcame considerable trouble for a rallying 3 1/4-length victory in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race.
“I threw a lot at her,” said trainer Ian Wilkes. “After breaking her maiden, I came back in three weeks and then ran her two turns against winners. For her to do that — and then she got in all sorts of trouble in the race — it was a really good race for this filly, tremendous race. I was able to give her a little more time to the Indiana Oaks, and now I think she’s starting to blossom. I think she’s starting to get better, improve more.”
Having just gotten up to upstate New York for the summer season, Wilkes and jockey Julien Leparoux both will fly back from Saratoga for the race.
“She’s a nice filly,” Leparoux said. “I’ve been breezing her since Florida this past winter. She’s doing well. So far she’s won two races. I think she was pretty impressive last time, got in all kinds of trouble and still won pretty easily. Hopefully she’ll run well Saturday. I think she has a big shot. She’s pretty easy to ride. She can put me anywhere I want. She’s got a good mind.”
With Dignity is out of the same mare (Ivory Empress) as the Wilkes-trained multiple graded-stakes winner McCraken and the stakes-placed Bondurant.
“The family’s been very good to me,” Wilkes said. “You always have that hope. You know there’s going to be some talent in there with these horses.
“I think she’s up for this. Yes, Larry Jones’ filly Street Band is going to be formidable. She’s got the seasoning, she’s got the experience. That’s going to be tough. But it’s a good stepping stone. The water gets deeper as we go. I hope my filly is up to it, and I believe in her. I’m actually quite excited. She’s not a one-dimensional filly. I can be close, I can come from out of it. I can be inside, I can be outside. This makes it a little easier for Julien. We don’t have to force anything, make her do anything.”
Sally’s Curlin could give Johnsen biggest win as horse owner
Trainer Dale Romans will have two horses in the Indiana Oaks in Frank Jones’ allowance winner Shacklette and maiden-winner Sally’s Curlin. Shacklette needed 11 races to win but that started a streak where she won three of her past five starts. Sally’s Curlin rallied to win her fifth start by 4 1/2 lengths with the addition of blinkers.
Sally’s Curlin’s co-owner Corey Johnsen has been better known in the industry for staging big races that other people win, such as launching the once-Grade 1 Super Derby while in management at Louisiana Downs and with the big-money races at Kentucky Downs, the all-grass track where he was president until its sale earlier this year. He also helped bring the Breeders’ Cup to Lone Star Park in 2004.
“My next step in life is going to be doing something I’ve always dreamed of,” Johnsen said, “and that’s being a horse owner and bringing people into the business and helping them enjoy it.”
Johnsen has owned horses for years; he’s just getting into it in a bigger way now that he’s not involved in running racetracks. While he has raced stakes winners and graded-stakes placed horses, he has never raced a horse who won a graded stakes.
“I’ve always felt from the first time I saw this filly that she could be the best filly I’ve ever owned part of,” said Johnsen, whose C.J. Thoroughbreds campaigns Sally’s Curlin with Left Turn Racing and Bill Casner. “It’s really rewarding to watch her really show her talent. A twelve-horse field against winners in the Indiana Oaks is a tough step up, but it was the next logical step. Dale Romans has done a great job with her and said her last workout was one of her best ever. So it’s time to go.
“If we could just have things go really right, run 1-2-3, that would be a great next step for Sally’s Curlin. But even if she doesn’t finish in the top three, I’m not going to get discouraged with her. Because I think she’ll be a better 4-year-old than a 3-year-old.”
Mexican’s 15-for-16 star Kukulkan in Schaefer
One of the most intriguing horses running on Saturday’s showcase card is the Mexican-bred Kukulkan in the $100,000 Michael G. Schaefer Memorial for older horses on dirt. The 4-year-old colt went 13 for 13 in his native country and is 15 for 16 overall. He won the $300,000 Caribbean Classic (or Clasico del Caribe) for thoroughbreds from Latin America and the Caribbean at Gulfstream Park last December. Kukulkan returned to Florida to run in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup. He only beat one horse that day but regrouped to win a Churchill Downs allowance race on May 24.
Kukulkan has been training in Lexington under the care of trainer Ignacio Correas.
“I worked him the week before (race) at Keeneland, and he worked really well,” said jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. “‘Nacho’ had convinced them to run him in the allowance race just to build him up for the stakes here. That’s kind of what the plan is for Saturday. They’re going to run him at Indiana to see where he stacks up against stakes-quality horses here. He won 13 in a row — all Mexican-breds. And then he won the Clasico Caribbean.
“He showed he knows how to win. We were going down the backside and the whole way around there, he kind of threw his ears up. He has a lot of confidence in himself. I think they’re doing the right thing by kind of building him into the better races. He’s actually a really good-looking horse. I haven’t been around too many Mexican-bred horses, but he looks like a racehorse.”
The Indiana Derby Night racing program gets underway at 5:30 p.m. The Indiana Oaks, set as Race 8 on the 10-race card, has an estimated post time of 9:15 p.m. with the Indiana Derby set to enter the gates at 10:00 p.m. A special All Stakes Pick 4 will be featured on Races 6 – 9.
Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing continues through Wednesday, Nov. 6. Racing is conducted Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 2:15 p.m. and Saturday at 6:15 p.m. More information about the season is available at www.indianagrand.com.
Indiana Grand Racing & Casino, which is owned and operated by a subsidiary of Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ: CZR), holds multiple awards for customer service, entertainment, gaming, dining, and diversity. Located in Shelbyville, Ind., Indiana Grand features 2,200 of the latest slots and electronic table games in addition to a one-mile dirt racecourse and a seven-eighths mile turf course offering live Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing each year. Simulcast wagering is also offered year-round at Winner’s Circle Brewpub & OTB located on the casino floor as well as a Winner’s Circle OTB located in Clarksville, Ind. For more information, please visit www.IndianaGrand.com. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing at racetracks and 21 or older to gamble at casinos. Know When To Stop Before You Start.® Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-9-WITH-IT (1-800-994-8448) ©2019 Caesars License Company, LLC.
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Photo by Coady Photography
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