King Guillermo Gets Acquainted With Churchill Downs

Although the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) is still more than five weeks away, some of the race's star power, both equine and human, is already at Churchill Downs.

King Guillermo, the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner owned by retired Major League Baseball All-Star Victor Martinez, arrived at Churchill July 27. The Uncle Mo  colt traveled from Florida to receive extended on-track preparation for the Sept. 5 Derby, and Martinez and trainer Juan Carlos Avila decided to come to Kentucky to monitor his first days at the track.

Martinez and Avila observed his morning training July 29 at Churchill, with the baseball slugger capturing images of the colt on his phone.

"Like I always say, dreams are free," he said by telephone. "When we buy these horses, we dream about having a horse in the Kentucky Derby. Now that we're here, I'm enjoying every single moment since we departed from Florida, all the way to here."

King Guillermo got his first look at the @churchilldowns track this morning.

His owner, 5-time @mlb All-Star, Victor Martinez was up early to watch the #KyDerby contender train. pic.twitter.com/L3pHy3IYpG

— Kentucky Derby (@KentuckyDerby) July 29, 2020

Martinez said he and Avila would return to Florida July 30 while the colt remains at Churchill. The owner said he will return to Churchill about a week before the Derby, though plans call for Avila to return earlier.

King Guillermo is following an unconventional preparation for the Derby, not having kept a regular racing schedule, albeit during an unusual year in which the Derby was postponed due to COVID-19. He last started on the original date of the Derby, May 2, finishing second in a division of the Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park that was won by Nadal, a colt since retired due to injury.

The time away was meant to leave him with four months' rest before the Derby. His win in the Tampa Bay Derby came following a break of three months.

One of the smaller colts being pointed toward the Derby, he does not require the active racing and training regimen of heavier horses, his connections believe. He last breezed July 25 at Gulfstream Park, covering five furlongs on a fast track in 1:00.11.

"We decided to bring him early and let him get acclimated here, let him be comfortable," said Martinez, who races King Guillermo under his stable name, Victoria's Ranch.

The sixth-ranked horse on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 90 points, King Guillermo is not the only leading Derby prospect already training at Churchill. Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) winner Art Collector, fifth on the leaderboard, breezed at Churchill last week, as did Lecomte Stakes (G3) winner Enforceable, the 12th-ranked horse, and Major Fed, who is 16th.

Two other graded stakes-winning 3-year-olds on dirt, Shared Sense and Dean Martini, also are Churchill-based, though neither was an original nominee to the Triple Crown. Each can be supplemented to the Derby at a cost of $45,000 in addition to the race’s entry and starting fees.