Instagrand Cuts Back in Pat Day Mile

Last year Instagrand won his first two starts by a combined 20 1/4 lengths, including a 10 1/4-length score in the Best Pal Stakes (G2), and his connections knew they had a colt with plenty of promise.

While many would have suffered from a strong case of Derby Fever, owner Larry Best of OXO Equine took his $1.2 million son of Into Mischief  down a different path. In September Best decided to give Instagrand a break, with the colt having a gradual return with his first three-furlong work back Dec. 30 for Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. In total, there were seven months between races from the end of his juvenile season to the beginning of his 3-year-old year.

Instagrand shipped east to Aqueduct Racetrack for his season debut, where he finished third behind Haikal and Mind Control in the Gotham Stakes (G3). Mind Control went on to win the Bay Shore Stakes (G3) four weeks later, while Haikal is a hopeful for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).

Derby Dreams may still have been alive, but after setting a pressured pace in the 1 1/8-mile Santa Anita Derby (G1), Instagrand again finished third after being overtaken in the stretch April 6 to complete the trifecta with Roadster and Game Winner.

The flashy bay will still run at Churchill Downs on Derby Day, but he'll dial back in distance in the $400,000 Pat Day Mile presented by LG and E and KU (G3).

"He ran a big race in the Santa Anita Derby, and Jerry and Larry Best sat down and decided it would be best to cut him back to a mile," said Hollendorfer's assistant Don Chatlos. "He's trained really well (at Churchill Downs) and we are not of the thinking that he can't (eventually go longer again). … We know he has heart, that's for sure.

"He's been training really well. I know everybody says that," Chatlos continued. "But we really made it here without (any issues). From the time Jerry and Mr. Best decided to turn him out last year at the end of the summer and brought him back, he's really marched straight forward the whole time. 

"The four horses that have finished in front of him in his last two races are pretty good horses," the assistant said with a laugh. "These are the types of horses you dream of getting. He's been as easy as he can be from day one, and we have our fingers crossed that that's how he'll stay through this year."

At morning-line odds of 6-5, Instagrand will face an overflow field of 14 sophomores in the May 4 event, with the competitive Global Campaign waiting for a defection as an also-eligible.

In the Aug. 11 Best Pal at Del Mar, Instagrand defeated a short field of four others, but runner-up Sparky Ville returned to win the Sunny Slope Stakes two starts later. Sparky Ville then further complemented Instagrand by winning the Feb. 10 San Vicente Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park over a solid field.

"(Instagrand) has kinda come in where he left off. Obviously he's more mature, he's filled out more," Chatlos said. "Mentally—that's why he was so precocious and won those races so easily—he was way ahead of those 2-year-olds at that time. Our hope is that that's what carries him a little further than he probably wants to go, but because he's so chill, he will do whatever the rider wants. ... Mentally, he's been a very tough horse from the beginning."

Bred in Kentucky by Stoneway Farm, Instagrand is the second foal out of the Lawyer Ron mare Assets of War. He was purchased by OXO Equine at The Gulfstream Sale, Fasig-Tipton's selected 2-year-olds in training sale.

Instagrand will be ridden by Javier Castellano from post 10.

The only other horse at single-digit program odds is the Todd Pletcher-trained Last Judgment, who drew the outside. The Congrats  colt comes into the Pat Day Mile off two wins this year—a Feb. 9 maiden special weight race at Gulfstream Park and a March 16 optional-claiming allowance at Oaklawn Park. In that most recent effort going 1 1/16 miles, he defeated San Vicente runner-up Dessman by 1 1/2 lengths.

Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) runners Market King and Dream Maker will be looking for their first graded wins in Saturday's test.

Trained by D. Wayne Lukas, Market King finished 11th in the Blue Grass but was third behind Derby favorites Omaha Beach and Game Winner in a division of the Rebel Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn.

The Mark Casse-trained Dream Maker also finished way back in the Blue Grass, but the Tapit  colt has been training forwardly since arriving in Kentucky, posting bullet works at both Keeneland and Churchill Downs, with four-furlong works timed in :46 flat and :47 3/5, respectively.

Texas-bred Mr Money Bags could provide some competition. Owned by his breeder, Roy Cobb, and trained by Mike Neatherlin, the Silver City gelding has won four of his five starts. He comes into his graded stakes debut off two Sam Houston Park stakes victories by 11 1/2 lengths and seven lengths. He has won his four starts by a combined 29 3/4 lengths, and his only loss was a third in his first start of the year in the Big Drama Stakes at Delta Downs.