The Road Ahead

Dear Partners and Friends, 

Many of you regularly ask what our stakes/prep schedule will look like as we get ready for the Oaks/Derby so you can give some thought to races you might want to attend.

With the usual caveat that we have to let the horses tell us when and where they are ready to run we nevertheless here give you some possibilities we will be considering. These are the plans we would follow as long as the horses continue to merit this type of aggressive placement.

Puca:

Feb. 21: Either Davona Dale (Gulfstream) or Rachel Alexandra (Fairgrounds).  One of these will be Puca's first race back. We would like to run her about the end of January but there are no good races for her then.

April 4: Aqueduct in The Gazelle, Grade II, 300K. Mile and an eighth (the Oaks distance).

May 1: The Kentucky Oaks

Keen Ice:

Ice will follow the New York prep. trail and it looks like this:

February 7: Aqueduct in the Withers, Grade III, 250K, mile and a sixteenth. Ten point Derby race.

March 7: Aqueduct in the Gotham, Grade III, 400K, mile and a sixteenth. Fifty point Derby race.

April 4: Aqueduct or Keeneland, both Grade I's, both One Million Dollars, both a mile and an eighth, both 100 point Derby races.

May 2: The Dance!

Danny Boy: 

Either Feb. 16 at Oaklawn Park or Feb. 21 at Fair Grounds. Oaklawn: The Southwest, Grade III, 300K, mile and a sixteenth. Ten point Derby race. Or, Feb. 21 at Fair Grounds, The Risen Star, Grade II, 400K, mile and a sixteenth. Fifty point Derby race. 

Danny Boy could also be held back for the February 28 Palm Beach Stakes as his first race back. The plusses include the karma of this being the route Paddy O'Prado and Dullahan took. It would allow Danny to achieve greater fitness both training up to and running on the grass. The minus is this is not a Derby point race. It would mean Danny would have to finish third or better in his lone Derby prep around April 4. We will see how Rock Shandy and Keen Ice are doing, talk with Dale Romans and then make a final call.

Either March 28 (Louisiana Derby), April 4 (Wood) or April 4 (Blue Grass). Danny Boy would NOT run in the same race as Keen Ice who we hope to have in one of the later two. So:

March 28: Louisiana Derby, Grade II, 750K, mile and an eighth, 100 point Derby Race.

April 4: The Wood Memorial, Grade I, One Million dollars, mile and an eighth, 100 Derby points.

April 4: The Blue Grass Stakes, Grade I, One million dollars, mile and an eighth, 100 Derby points.

May 2: The Dance!

Rock Shandy (all preps at Santa Anita):

January 10: The Sham, Grade III, 100K, one mile, 10 point Derby Race

February 7: The Robert and Beverly Lewis, Grade III, 200K, mile and a sixteenth, 10 Derby Points

March 7: The San Felipe, Grade II, 400K, mile and a sixteenth, 50 Derby points

April 4: The Santa Anita Derby, Grade I, One Million dollars, mile and an eighth, 100 point Derby race.

May 2: The Dance

We are certainly not counting The Big Wind, Brother O'Connell or Dunbrody out of big races but the calendar may work against them for the first half of the year. 

How do you all feel about having four of our eight horses taking dead aim on the biggest races in the world? I think we call that a pretty good strike rate ;).

Onward!

Jerry