McCarthy Not Thinking Past Jeff Ruby With Endlessly

Six weeks before the $5 million Kentucky Derby (G1) May 4 at Churchill Downs, there are already individuals with "Derby Fever," caught up in the desire to run any eligible horse in the first leg of the Triple Crown.

Michael McCarthy, at least at this stage, seems immune. The pragmatic trainer, who runs morning-line favorite Endlessly  in the $700,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) March 23 at Turfway Park, said he was not looking ahead to the Derby with his multiple stakes winner, even though a first- or second-place finish in the 1 1/8-mile race on Turfway's synthetic Tapeta surface would likely give the 3-year-old enough qualifying points to run in the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby on dirt.

"Not thinking anything past Saturday," McCarthy told publicist Jennie Rees of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. "I mean, obviously his best races have been on the turf and synthetic, obviously mimicking the grass. So we'll see what happens here Saturday but the future for him is most likely on the grass."

Endlessly, bred by Mrs. Jerry Amerman, races for Amerman Racing, as did his sire, Mill Ridge Farm stallion Oscar Performance  , who won the 2016 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T), among other races.

Oscar Performance's progeny have won stakes on all types of surfaces, including graded dirt events this year from Red Carpet Ready  and Tumbarumba  at Gulfstream Park.

Endlessly raced strictly on turf in four starts last year. He won a maiden race at Del Mar, the Del Mar Juvenile Turf Stakes (G3T) there, and the Zuma Beach Stakes (G3T) at Santa Anita Park before his sole defeat when a close eighth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Nov. 3 at Santa Anita.

Off for more than three months, he rallied from seventh to win the Feb. 10 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields, scoring under Umberto Rispoli, who returns aboard the colt Saturday.

The El Camino Real Derby, like the Jeff Ruby, is a 1 1/8-mile race on Tapeta. It serves as a qualifier for the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes (G1), which will be held May 18 at Pimlico Race Course at 1 3/16 miles on dirt.

McCarthy won those two races three years ago with John and Diane Fradkin's homebred Rombauer  . Rombauer, however, had pre-Preakness dirt experience in graded company, having run second in the 2020 American Pharoah Stakes (G1) at 2 at Santa Anita and second at 3 in the 2021 Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland. The latter race came between the El Camino Real and the Preakness.

In the last couple of years, horses have exited the Jeff Ruby and run well at Churchill Downs in the Run for the Roses. Two Phil's  , who captured the 2023 Jeff Ruby, ran second behind Mage   in the Derby a year after Jeff Ruby show finisher Rich Strike  upset the 2022 Derby at 80-1 odds.

Lil E. Tee and Animal Kingdom  won both the Jeff Ruby and Kentucky Derby in 1992 and 2011, respectively. Animal Kingdom captured the Jeff Ruby over Polytrack, the prior synthetic surface at Turfway, while Lil E. Tee scored over its previous dirt surface.

Of these top synthetic-to-dirt performers, only Animal Kingdom was unraced on dirt before the Derby.

McCarthy has not started a horse in the American classic since becoming a full-time head trainer in 2014, though he assisted Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher when Super Saver  gave Pletcher the first of two Derby wins in 2010.

"If I thought (Endlessly) was a dirt horse, I may have tried him on it a while ago," McCarthy said. "He's just been very consistent on the grass. He moves like a grass horse. The style in which he's most comfortable running, tucking in behind the speed, is conducive to the grass.

"So obviously it would be a big thrill to run a horse in the Kentucky Derby but it takes the right type of horse. We'll get past Saturday and see what happens."

He suggested Endlessly could run at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May, saying an undercard race such as the $600,000 American Turf Stakes (G2T) at 1 1/16 miles on turf "probably would suit him."