Although there are is a bevy of Presidents Day stakes action around the country, the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes February 15 at Oaklawn Park will take center stage in a Road to the Kentucky Derby points race that has drawn a field of 14 set to go a mile and a sixteenth.
With the 10-4-2-1 points scale in place and awarded to the first through fourth finishers, 5/2 Collected is the morning line favorite after starting his promising career with two wins in three starts, including a last-out score in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita. The Bob Baffert trainee is the latest from the Hall of Fame conditioner’s barn to invade Oaklawn with high expectations following the likes of Bodemeister (2012) and American Pharoah (2015) who both won key preps in Hot Springs before launching successful Triple Crown campaigns. Collected’s lone defeat was a second-place finish in the grade 3 Cecil DeMille Stakes November 29 at Del Mar.
Trainer Ron Moquett opted not to start Whitmore (5/1) in the Smarty Jones last month due to the large field and belief that his star three year-old colt needed more experience. Instead, Whitmore made his 2016 debut in a softer allowance spot where he posted his second victory in three starts. Whitmore’s lone defeat came in the Grade 3 Delta Jackpot where he finished fifth.
Discreetness (6/1) has four wins under his belt from six starts and posted a solid win in the aforementioned Smarty Jones with a grinding performance to catch today’s rival Gordy Florida (12/1). There’s no reason to think the William Fires trainee cannot improve despite drawing the far outside post.
There will always be Kentucky Derby entrants that would be much better suited to skip the race entirely and find a better spot if not for the gusto of their well-meaning owners, but the Road to the Derby point qualifying system has been remarkably efficient at making the race more of a level-playing field since its inception four years ago.
On Saturday at Keeneland, the featured race is the $250,000 Dixiana Elkhorn Stakes. Scheduled to be run at one mile on the turf, the Grade 2 event has drawn a field of eight colts and geldings.
With a largely underwhelming, and thus far, slow, group of three year-olds set to contest the 2016 Kentucky Derby, logical handicappers searching for a pick outside of the undefeated and likely highly-favored Nyquist may have already begun the hand-wringing process.
On Friday at Oaklawn Park, the featured race is the $600,000 Apple Blossom Stakes. Restricted to fillies and mares, the Grade 1 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth on the main track and has drawn a field of six.
Kentucky Derby Points System Doing Its Job
08 May 2016There will always be Kentucky Derby entrants that would be much better suited to skip the race entirely and find a better spot if not for the gusto of their well-meaning owners, but the Road to the Derby point qualifying system...
Leave a comment