Hallandale Beach, Florida.
Four horses that hit the plateau in major preparatory races on Saturday have clinched their place in 2022 Kentucky Derby.
white shelter from the Florida Derby (G1), Tiz the Bomb from the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) and Cyberknife from the Arkansas Derby (G1) have literally earned their place. The Barber Road allowance winner, whose second-place finish in the Arkansas Derby put him in the money for the third time in an Oaklawn build, also secured a spot in the starting grid of 20 horses from Churchill Downs on May 7.
Despite finishing third as the favorite in the Florida Derby, Simplification already had enough points to make it to Louisville.
Florida Derby runners-up Charge It and Tawny Port on Saturday and Jeff Ruby Steaks, respectively, made their first appearances on the qualifying standings. With 40 points each, they are on what could be the dividing line after the final major preparations next week.
With at least 50 points each, 12 horses have been guaranteed invitations to the Derby. Since Saturday brings the last three 100-40-20-10 preparations – the Wood Memorial (G2), the Blue Grass (G1) and the Santa Anita Derby (G1) – up to six horses that are not already in the top 20 could jump into the mix by finishing first or second.
13 other horses are mathematically within reach of the 40-point threshold if they were to finish third or fourth in one of the last major preparations. Although not all of them are registered for Saturday’s races, there could still be a stalemate at 40, which means that tiebreakers in stakes could be invoked.
The Lexington Stakes (G3), the final 20-8-4-2 of the points preparations, could be used on April 16 at Keeneland as a final supplement for horses on the qualifying bubble.
As of last week, connections from the top two UAE Derby runners-up (G2) – Crown Pride from Japan and Summer Is Tomorrow from Dubai – have confirmed plans to ship to Kentucky. Japan racing liaison Kate Hunter said no other horses from that country’s separate track to the Derby would join Crown Pride. Churchill Downs showed no track horses from Europe coming to Louisville.
Here is the current Road to the Kentucky Derby standings confirmed by Churchill Downs on Saturday night:
Rk. | Horse | Pts. | Coach | *Earnings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Epicenter | 164 | Steve Asmussen | $940,000 |
2 | white shelter | 112 | Saffie Joseph Jr. | $769,650 |
3 | Tiz the bomb | 110 | Kenny McPeek | $1,012,610 |
4 | Cyberknife | 100 | Brad Cox | $752,000 |
5 | Crown Pride | 100 | Koichi Shintani | $671,544 |
6 | Simplification | 74 | Tami Bobo | $482,150 |
7 | Classic pavement | 66 | Brian Lynch | $466,100 |
8 | Slow down Andy | 60 | Doug O’Neill | $475,000 |
9 | barber’s road | 58 | John Ortiz | $589,700 |
ten | An Ojo | 54 | Ricky Courville | $661,250 |
11 | forbidden kingdom | 50 | Richard Mandel | $392,000 |
12 | Morello | 50 | Steve Asmussen | $220,000 |
13 | Zozo | 40 | Brad Cox | $200,000 |
14 | summer is tomorrow | 40 | Bhupat Seemar | $200,000 |
15 | charge it | 40 | Todd Plecher | $188,000 |
16 | Port Tawny | 40 | Brad Cox | $122,000 |
17 | smile of happiness | 30 | Kenny McPeek | $314,410 |
18 | Pioneer of Medina | 25 | Todd Plecher | $116,000 |
19 | papacap | 24 | Marc Casse | $609,000 |
20 | Grantham | 21 | Microphone manufacturer | $85,000 |
21 | Rich Strike | 21 | Eric Rose | $74,500 |
22 | secret oath | 20 | D. Wayne Lukas | $436,707 |
23 | Rattle N Roll | 20 | Kenny McPeek | $344,000 |
24 | ethereal road | 20 | D. Wayne Lukas | $200,000 |
25 | goodbye bobby | 20 | Todd Fincher | $176,700 |
26 | Island Falcon | 20 | Said bin Suroor | $100,000 |
27 | On time | 20 | Kelly Breen | $76,800 |
28 | dean’s list | 20 | Todd Plecher | $60,000 |
29 | Zandon | 14 | Chad Brown | $90,000 |
30 | Mo Donegal | 12 | Todd Plecher | $161,500 |
31 | Major General | ten | Todd Plecher | $177,525 |
32 | fast attack | ten | Kenny McPeek | $175,834 |
33 | Doppleganger | ten | Tim Yakteen | $154,500 |
X | pepper spray | ten | Edouard Kereluk | $144,956 |
34 | Early voting | ten | Chad Brown | $137,500 |
35 | call me midnight | ten | Keith Desormeaux | $133,500 |
36 | Courvoisier | ten | Kelly Breen | $93,750 |
37 | Chief Dowagiac | ten | Tom Amos | $93,150 |
38 | O Captain | ten | Gustave Delgado | $76,500 |
39 | Merry Jack | ten | Doug O’Neill | $52,000 |
40 | golden code | ten | Todd Plecher | $36,000 |
41 | Kavod | 7 | Chris Hartman | $286,000 |
42 | Order performance | 6 | Todd Plecher | $200,000 |
43 | Life is Beautiful | 5 | Robert Klesaris | $48,000 |
44 | Golden Glider | 5 | Dale Romans | $41,000 |
45 | blue bird | 5 | Luis Mendez | $29,250 |
46 | Immanuel | 5 | Todd Plecher | $19,200 |
47 | giant game | 4 | Dale Romans | $182,500 |
48 | Cabo Spirit | 4 | Georges Papaprodromou | $125,340 |
49 | stolen base | 4 | Microphone manufacturer | $101,040 |
50 | Difficult to tame | 4 | Chris Davis | $57,750 |
51 | Be smarter | 4 | Alfredo Velasquez | $51,250 |
52 | Ben Diesel | 3 | Dallas Stewart | $104,233 |
53 | red buttons | 2 | Dale Romans | $53,075 |
54 | midnight chrome | 2 | Tyler Servis | $32,500 |
55 | Golden age | 2 | Bill Word | $30,000 |
56 | Ignitis | 2 | Wayne Lucas | $29,643 |
57 | Volcanic | 2 | Marc Casse | $21,500 |
58 | my prankster | 1 | Todd Plecher | $121,380 |
59 | American sanctuary | 1 | Chris Davis | $104,600 |
60 | Hit hard | 1 | Matthew Williams | $42,250 |
61 | galt | 1 | Bill Word | $32,000 |
62 | Bourbon Heist | 1 | Ian Wilkes | $14,438 |
63 | Trafalgar | 1 | Al Stall Jr. | $12,000 |
64 | Unbridled Bomber | 1 | Jim Ryerson | $10,250 |
65 | He Belator | 1 | Jose Bautista | $6,000 |
(f) Filly | ||||
*Unrestricted wagers | ||||
x Not nominated |