Carpe Diem Bounces Out of Blue Grass Win

WinStar Farm and Stonestreet Stables' Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) hopeful Carpe Diem came out of his three-length victory in the Toyota Blue Grass (gr. I) "great", trainer Todd Pletcher said April 5.

 

The Giant's Causeway   colt will remain at Keeneland "for now," Pletcher said in a text to Keeneland's publicity staff Sunday morning. 

 

In addition to Carpe Diem, runner-up Danzig Moon punched his ticket to the Kentucky Derby, while the next starts for Blue Grass third-place finisher Ocho Ocho Ocho and fourth-place finisher Frammento are to be determined.

 

Carpe Diem has 164 qualifying points toward the May 2 Kentucky Derby to put him safely in the starting gate for the race. He is third on the "Road to the Kentucky Derby" leaderboard behind Louisiana Derby (gr. II) winner International Star and Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) winner Dortmund.

 

Sarah Campion, assistant to trainer Mark Casse, said Danzig Moon came out of the race well and most likely will ship to Churchill Downs Monday to join the Casse string.

 

John Oxley's son of Malibu Moon   has 45 points toward the Kentucky Derby and stands 12th on the leaderboard. 

 

Early Sunday morning, DP Racing's Ocho Ocho Ocho left Keeneland to return to California. The Street Sense   colt is 19th on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

 

"He got pretty tired yesterday, but then he had a right to, since he did not get much out of his first race of the year," trainer Jim Cassidy said, referring to the colt's troubled trip in the San Felipe (gr. II), in which he finished eighth.

 

Cassidy said the Kentucky Derby remains a possibility, but he wants to see how the colt responds from the race back at Santa Anita Park.

 

"I'd like to see him bounce back like Evening Jewel did back in 2010," Cassidy said before leaving Lexington. "She was exhausted after she won the (Central Bank) Ashland (gr. I) and I thought there was no way she would come back in four weeks in the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I). But after three days, she was climbing over the webbing, so we came back for the Oaks."

 

In the Oaks, Evening Jewel was beaten a nose by Blind Luck.

 

Also picking up Derby points Saturday was Mossarosa's Frammento, who rallied to finish fourth.

 

"He would have easily been second or third if he had gotten to the outside in the stretch where he would have exploded," trainer Nick Zito said.

 

Frammento, a son of Midshipman  , has 20 points and is 28th on the Derby leaderboard.

 

"He is a true mile-and-a-quarter horse," Zito said. "We'll run if we can get in. We'll see what happens. He loves it here and we will stay here until we know (if he gets in). It doesn't matter when we go over there (to Churchill), because he ran on it and trained on it last fall."

 

Cheyenne Stables' Classy Class in good order the morning after finishing fifth in the Blue Grass and the son of Discreetly Mine   eventually will return to New York with future races probably at a one-turn mile or seven furlongs, said Austin Luttrell, assistant to trainer Kiaran McLaughlin.

 

Thirty minutes before the Blue Grass, McLaughlin won the $1 million TwinSpires.com Wood Memorial (gr. I) at Aqueduct Racetrack with Godolphin Racing's Frosted.

 

Luttrell said Frosted, the fourth-leading point earner on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard, likely will come to Keeneland to continue preparations for the Kentucky Derby.

 

Trainer Marya Montoya said Team Valor International's Unrivaled was fine the morning after running seventh in his stakes debut in the Blue Grass.

 

"He ate all his dinner, came out of the race good," Montoya said of the Super Saver   colt. "He's a little tired."

 

Unrivaled is to leave Keeneland the morning of April 6 and return to Montoya's base at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. She said the colt's future plans are to be determined.