Disarm May Punch Kentucky Derby Ticket in Lexington

The final race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, the $400,000 Lexington Stakes (G3) April 15 at Keeneland, may not offer many points, but for Louisiana Derby (G2) runner-up Disarm , perhaps just enough.

The 40 points up for grabs, distributed on a 20-8-6-4-2 scale to eligible runners finishing in the top-five positions, could move the Winchell Thoroughbreds-owned and Steve Asmussen-trained colt into the 20-horse field for the May 6 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs. As of April 12, he ranked 26th on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 40 points. Churchill Downs uses qualifying points as a preference system when the popular classic lures over 20 horses.

Finish third or better Saturday, and he will leap ahead of enough horses to be safely in the Derby field. 

Last year, Peachtree Stable's Tawny Port  vaulted into the Derby lineup for trainer Brad Cox by winning the Lexington. Three weeks later, Tawny Port ran a close seventh in the Derby.

My Boy Jack  similarly qualified for the Derby by winning the 2018 Lexington before a troubled fifth-place finish in the Run for the Roses.

The last Lexington winner who captured the Derby was Charismatic, who took both races in 1999. The only other horse to win the Derby out of the Lexington was Swale, who ran a well-beaten second in the slop in the 1984 Lexington.

Disarm, having been the runner-up behind Kingsbarns  in the Louisiana Derby after a bottled-up trip until the stretch, commands attention in Saturday's 1 1/16-mile race. Though he has just a single win in four starts—a maiden win at Saratoga Race Course last summer—he has shown promise in all of his outings.

Jose Ortiz rides the Gun Runner   colt, replacing last-out jockey Joel Rosario, who is at Oaklawn Park Saturday, riding Clairiere  for Asmussen in the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) and with other mounts on the card.

None of the 10 other 3-year-olds in the Lexington would appear to have enough points to make the Derby even with a victory unless the Derby were to have a slew of defections.

One of the other favorites, Zedan Racing Stables' Arabian Lion , is ineligible for Kentucky Derby competition, as he is trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who Churchill Downs Inc. has barred from racing at its tracks through early July due to equine medication positives.

The son of Justify   has been away since running last of four in the Feb. 4 Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park. He had previously trailed at the finish of the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) Dec. 17.

Prior to those defeats, he had been second in a well-rated allowance optional claiming race Nov. 4 at Keeneland after an Oct. 9 debut win at Santa Anita Park.

Irad Ortiz, Jr. rides from the outside post.

Cox, who starts the promising, lightly-raced duo of Thrash and Payne's Demolition Duke  and Godolphin's First Mission , seeks his third win in the Lexington, having initially won the race in 2018 with Owendale , three years before Tawny Port's success. Both of his colts in Saturday's race have run speed figures that rank them among the quickest runners in the field.

Similarly fast is Empirestrikesfast , a debut winner last month in a 1 1/16-mile race at Gulfstream Park for Pin Oak Stud and Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. The gelded son of Empire Maker  will be ridden by Frankie Dettori.

Entries: Stonestreet Lexington S. (G3)

Keeneland, Saturday, April 15, 2023, Race 9

• Grade III
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $400,000
• 3 yo
• 5:16 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Baseline Beater (KY)	Corey J. Lanerie	118	Neil L. Pessin	20/1
2	2Reinvest (KY)	Joseph Talamo	118	Timothy E. Hamm	30/1
3	3Demolition Duke (KY)	Flavien Prat	118	Brad H. Cox	6/1
4	4Transect (KY)	Gerardo Corrales	118	Paulo H. Lobo	30/1
5	5First Mission (KY)	Luis Saez	118	Brad H. Cox	3/1
6	6Disarm (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	118	Steven M. Asmussen	7/2
7	7Denington (KY)	Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.	118	Kenneth G. McPeek	20/1
8	8Empirestrikesfast (KY)	Lanfranco Dettori	118	William I. Mott	4/1
9	9Prairie Hawk (KY)	John R. Velazquez	118	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	15/1
10	10Curly Larry and Mo (NY)	Reylu Gutierrez	118	Caio Caramori	50/1
11	11Arabian Lion (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	118	Bob Baffert	7/2