As I write this, we have just 67 full days until the Kentucky Derby and 17 days until my favorite holiday, Saint Patrick’s Day! There are many reasons I love this holiday. One is directly connected to my love of Thoroughbred horse racing.
Generally, when 3/17 roles around, the weather in the Bluegrass is improving. Then 3 weeks later, Keeneland opens for the live Spring Meet leading right into the KY Derby, the 1st Saturday of May. I have the house decorated for St. Patrick’s now but it is pretty easy for me to pull that off as my home is fairly Irish themed to begin with. Getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day is so easy and that’s a huge part of the appeal to me. However, getting ready for racing and KY Derby takes a lot more planning. I’ve been watching the road to the KY Derby since it started, 9/12/15, where it will end, at Churchill Downs on 5/7/16. 21 Derby prep races are finished now. Only 14 races remain to determine which horses will have the points needed to place them in the 20 available post positions. There is still way too much in the air to cover all the Thoroughbreds in a blog but only 4 in the current top 20 of the leaderboard will have riders dressed in green! These 4 are ready for St. Patrick’s Day.
St. Patrick was a 5th century missionary and bishop in Ireland. He is believed to have died on 3/17 and that is why he is celebrated on this day. Ireland has fun folklore and superstition including fairies and leprechauns. Legend has it, that for St. Patrick’s Day, you must wear green to be invisible to the leprechauns which will pinch you if they see you. In fact, people will pinch you as well if your not in green, as a reminder. Mor Spirit, Exaggerator, Greenpointcrusader and Swipe have the fortune of being owned by green silk farms.
Mor Spirit is the Pennsylvania bred colt of sire, Eskenderey and dam Im a Dixie Girl by Dixie Union. He is 4th on the KY Derby leaderboard with a score of 24 points. He is trained by Bob Baffert. Baffert has trained several KY Derby winners. He was 2nd with Cavonnier in 1996. Silver Charm won in 1997. He trained 3rd place winner, Indian Charlie in 1998. That same year he trained the 1st place winner Real Quiet. In 2001 Congaree showed 3rd. The following year, 2002, he worked with War Emblem to come in 1st. Pioneer of the Nile was 2nd in 2009. He trained 2nd place Bodemeister in 2012. In 2015 he was responsible for both Dortmund, in 3rd, and American Pharoah, the huge winner! Mor Spirit is owned by Michael Lund Peterson. Peterson’s silks are green and white with stripes in V like formations on the front and horizontal stripes on the sleeves. His jockey is Gary L. Stevens. Stevens was 1st 3 times in the KY Derby. He won in 1988 with Winning Colors, in 1995 with Thunder Gulch and 1997 with Silver Charm. Mor Spirit got his points in 3 races. On 11/28/15 in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes(G2) at Churchill Downs he ran 2nd for 4 points. On 12/19/15 he was 1st in the Los Alamitos Futurity(G1) at Los Alimitos for 10 points. Then on 2/6/16 he got 10 points for winning the Robert B. Lewis Stakes(G3). In 5 career starts he has always achieved 1st or 2nd place.
Exaggerator is 9th on the leaderboard with 16 points. He has had 7 career starts. I saw him run at the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, seen above. That is where he picked up 2 points for his 4th place finish in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on 10/31/15. Before that he was 2nd at the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity also at Keeneland on 10/3/15, earning 4 points. He earned 10 points finishing 1st at the Delta Down Jackpot Stakes at Delta Downs on 11/21/15. Exaggerator is the KY Bred son of Curlin and Dawn Raid by Vindication. Curlin was 3rd in the KY Derby in 2007. Exagerrator has Kent J. Desormeaux for a rider. Desormeaux has had several KY Derby successes. In 1990 he was 3rd with Pleasant Tap. Real Quiet was 1st in 1998. In 2000 he was 1st with Fusaichi Pegasus. He was 1st again on Big Brown in 2008. He finished 3rd in 2004, 2010 and 2012 on Imperialism, Paddy O’ Prado and Dullahan respectively. The brother of the jockey is the trainer, J. Keith Desormeaux. Big Cheif Racing, LCC. own Exaggerator. They have a green cap and a green silk with a white hoop with green sleeves with a white hoop.
Greenpointcrusader finished 7th at the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland, pictured ahead of the pack above. He gained no points for that effort but he got 10 points for winning the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park on 10/3/15 and 4 points for placing 2nd at the Holly Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park om 1/30/16. His score of 14 puts him 12th on the leaderboard. He is KY bred. His sire is Bernardini. His dam is Ava Knowsthecode by Cryptoclearance, who was 4th in the 1987 KY Derby. Greenpointcrusader has John R Velazquez for a jockey. The rider was 2nd in the KY Derby on Invisible Ink in 2001 and 1st in 2011 with Animal Kingdom. He is trained by T. Dominick Schettino and owned by St. Elias Stable, MeB Racing Stables, LCC and Brooklyn Boyz Stables. This partnership uses a green cap with a green silk having 2 white hoops on the sleeves.
Lucky 13 on the leaderboard is Swipe. He is sired by Birdstone who ran 8th in the 2004 KY Derby. Swipe is KY bred and his dam is Avalanche Lily by Grand Slam. Swipe is also trained by J. Keith Desormeaux. His owner is also Big Chief Racing, LCC with James C. Justice and Billy R. Shelton. Having the same owner, they use the same silks as Exaggerator. Swipe, seen above was also in the Sentient Jet BC Juvenile. He placed 2nd scoring 8 points and then was 2nd again in the Front Runner at Santa Anita on 9/26/15 for 4 more points. He has a career of 7 starts. He has not raced in 2016 but he did have a workout on 2/27/16 at Santa Anita. Swipe has Victor Espinoza for a jockey. He was 3rd in the KY Derby with Congaree in 2001. He won the KY Derby in 2002 on War Emblem. He has won the KY Derby back to back the past 2 years with California Chrome in 2014 and American Pharoah in 2015.
These KY Derby contenders are rocking the green. Don’t forget to wear green on St. Patrick’s or you may suffer a pinch. To be safe, wear it all month. I will!
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