By My Standards, Street Band On To Louisville

Chester Thomas is headed to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) after his 3-year-old colt By My Standards captured the $1 million Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) March 23 by three-quarters of a length over Spinoff. Favored at odds of 4-5, War of Will struggled home ninth after stumbling at the break and possibly pulling a hind-end muscle. 

Thomas lives 40 minutes from Ellis Park, which the businessman and entrepreneur considers his hometown track and where he is a two-time leading owner. He hooped and hollered as he led By My Standards in tight circles on the track before bringing him into the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots winner's circle.

"We're going to see you at the Derby!" he yelped while giving Churchill Downs clerk of scales Javier Torres, who came up during Thomas' post-race interviews to offer congratulations, a spontaneous bear hug. "What about that?"

By My Standards provided Thomas' Allied Racing Stable with its first graded stakes victory, capitalizing on his one shot to make the May 4 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and earning 100 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. 

Trainer Bret Calhoun could not have been more satisfied with the way By My Standards looked the morning following his triumphant win.

The jump from maiden level to major stakes was a route Thomas and Calhoun also took with Mr. Money, who in that next start finished fourth in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) last fall. Mr. Money also ran in the Louisiana Derby, finishing fifth.

"Usually, that's not our move," said Calhoun, who is looking at his first Kentucky Derby starter. "You kind of see what they're up against, and if you're confident in the horse, you've got to take a shot. And this was the last shot to get to the Derby. Chester has been great. He's let me do what I needed to do at every point. If the horse needs time, it gets time. 'Don't push this spot or that spot.' I asked him to supplement the other horse for $100,000 to the Breeders' Cup. He never hesitated, and the horse rewarded us. He's really made my job easy.

"This was my idea. Chester was on board. Our biggest concern was not getting in. We thought it might overfill and we wouldn't get in."

"We've never had anything that we even thought really deserved to discuss being on the Derby trail," Calhoun said. "We think this is a legitimate horse. We didn't want to get caught up in Derby fever unless we had a legitimate horse. We didn't want to just be there to be there. We want to be there if we have a contender, and we believe he is a contender."

Calhoun likes the timing of the Louisiana Derby, which is six weeks out from the Kentucky Derby. He plans on breezing the horse in two weeks. 

"Hopefully we'll get an easy breeze in 12, 13, 14 days," Calhoun said. "He worked a little quicker up to this race than he had previously, so hopefully we can take it easy first work back then give him another easy one after that. Then we'll do a little bit more after that in the middle there. He's ready. We have to maintain what we've got. The Derby is a whole different deal. It's not just the race, it's everything that goes into going up there. We'll do a lot of stuff preparing him for that. He's got a great mind. We're lucky in that sense that he'll handle everything."

Noting the Kentucky Derby's 1 1/4-mile distance, Thomas said: "I think he can get the distance. He's a strong closer. He's got a great mind, he's smart, and we've got a great team."

Trainer Mark Casse took to Twitter Sunday reporting that although War of Will, also known as WOW, was sore, he may still be in contention for the Run for the Roses. War of Will appeared to lose his action in his hind end shortly after breaking from post 6 in the Louisiana Derby. The bay colt never got into contention after that en route to suffering his first loss in four starts on dirt.

"(Owner) Gary Barber and I want to thank all the well-wishers for WOW," he said on social media. "Although it was a disappointing defeat, the most important factor is that we have a happy, healthy horse. More evaluations are needed, but we are still hopeful he will be able to compete in the KY Derby!"

Casse said the son of War Front  was much improved Sunday morning.

"It's amazing how much better he was today," Casse said. "I just feel fortunate that he's OK first and foremost. We're fairly certain that he probably caught his patella a little bit right at the start. So what we'll do is we'll do some exercising and probably laser treatment to strengthen the patella muscle. But we feel optimistic that we can still make the Derby."

A race prior to the Louisiana Derby, Henderson, Ky., resident and Ellis Park mainstay Larry Jones won the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) for the fourth time, with Sophie Doyle winning the biggest race of her riding career as Street Band surged late in the stretch for a 3 3/4-length victory over Liora.

Jones trains, co-bred, and co-owns Street Band with wife Cindy and their partner Ray Francis. Street Band became the latest graded stakes winner to come out of Ellis Park's 2-year-old program, capturing a maiden race at the track last summer. Jones was in Arkansas Saturday with his Oaklawn Park string, but he'll be on hand for the next one, as Street Band could give him his fourth victory in the May 3 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1).

Rachel Alexandra Stakes (G2) winner Serengeti Empress, the odds-on favorite in the race, set the pace but was eased to finish last of seven due to bleeding. Trainer Tom Amoss reported that Serengeti Empress was fine the morning after the race. He went on to say that "no timetable and no racing plans" have yet been made.