West Virginia Derby Attracts 60 Nominees
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The $750,000 West Virginia Derby (gr. I)—to be held Aug. 1 at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort—has attracted 60 nominees, track officials said July 22.
The 1 1/8-mile Derby is one of nine races, all of them open stakes, on the special afternoon program that begins at 2 p.m. EDT. The Derby will be broadcast on TVG and HRTV.
Among those expected to start in the West Virginia Derby is Charles Fipke's Tale of Verve, who finished second to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (gr. I) in May. The Tale of Ekati colt, trained by Dallas Stewart, worked five furlongs in 1:00 at Churchill Downs June 20.
Stewart, 55, spent a dozen years as an assistant to Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas before establishing his own stable. He hasn't had a West Virginia Derby starter but he does have a stakes victory at Mountaineer: the 2006 West Virginia Secretary of State with Hot Storm.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who conditions American Pharoah, has a pair of nominees: Juddmonte Farm's Fame and Power, who won the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in May and has placed twice in graded company, and multiple graded stakes winner Gimme Da Lute, whose most recent victory came in the July 4 Los Alamitos Derby (gr. II) for owners Karl Watson, Mike Pegram, and Paul Weitman.
Trainer Todd Pletcher has nominated a record 10 horses to this year's West Virginia Derby, including Cheyenne Stables and Mac Nichol's Madefromlucky, who won the grade II Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park in May.