Kentucky Derby Series Continues With Springboard Mile

Four locally-based runners will try to fend off five invading 2-year-olds, most by way of Churchill Downs, when Remington Park hosts the $400,000 Springboard Mile Stakes the evening of Dec. 17.

The Oklahoma track's richest race for juveniles, the two-turn mile race on dirt offers Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying points on a 10-4-2-1 scale to its top four finishers provided they do not race with the diuretic Lasix. Unlike some states, Oklahoma still permits Lasix in its juvenile races and stakes races. The drug, used to control respiratory bleeding in horses, is in the midst of a race-day medication phase-out in many parts of the country. 

Churchill Downs officials implemented the no-points-with-Lasix rules with the 2020-21 Road to the Kentucky Derby and Road to the Kentucky Oaks series, leaving last year's Lasix-treated winner, Senor Buscador , without any qualifying points from the Springboard Mile. It proved a moot point when he fell off the Triple Crown trail due to injury.

This year, four of the Springboard's nine competitors—Make It Big , Rich Strike , Revenir , and Osbourne —race without Lasix. Of that quartet, only Revenir has raced with the medication this year.

Make It Big, 2-for-2 in Florida, is the 7-2 morning-line favorite under Jose Ortiz, who comes in from his base in New York for the ride.

By Neolithic   out the Congrats  mare Ruby On My Mind , Make It Big is owned by Red Oak Stable and trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. The Springboard Mile will be the first open company test for the colt, who faced Florida-breds in breaking his maiden and winning the Ocala Stud Juvenile Sprint Stakes. Both races were at Gulfstream Park at seven furlongs. 

Trainer Todd Fincher will attempt to win his second consecutive Springboard, starting Bye Bye Bobby  for owner B4 Farms. Fincher saddled Senor Buscador in the race last year.

Bye Bye Bobby has had only one race, a victory in the Zia Park Juvenile Stakes Nov. 23 in New Mexico. The Kentucky-bred colt by Quality Road   from the Red Bullet  mare Revel in the Win  won the six-furlong event with a closing move to score by 1 1/2 lengths under Roimes Chirinos, who maintains the mount.

Of those without stakes experience, Classic Moment  (Classic Empire  ) and Osbourne  (Tapiture  ) appear dangerous, coming off fast maiden victories in dirt sprints at Churchill Downs. Classic Moment races for owners L and N Racing and Winchell Thoroughbreds, while Southern Springs Stables, The Estate of Floyd Sagely, Mark Tauber, and Keith Johnston own Osbourne.

Ron Moquett trains Osbourne, and Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen trains Classic Moment and fellow entry Concept  (Gun Runner  ), a stakes winner at Remington for owner/breeders Tony Holmes and Winchell Thoroughbreds.

Four other stakes precede the Springboard Mile Friday night, with the night's feature set as the 12th race with a late 10:28 p.m. CT post time.