Rebel Stakes winner Magnum Moon now goes above the title in the Grade 1 $1 million Arkansas Derby rather than sharing the marquee with another unbeaten horse.
An injury to top Kentucky Derby contender McKinzie prompted trainer Bob Baffert to keep Justify in California for Saturday's Grade 1 $1 million Santa Anita Derby. Baffert now is pointing Solomini to an Oaklawn rematch with Magnum Moon April 14 after the colt's runner-up finish to the Todd Pletcher trainee in the Grade 2 $900,000 Rebel Stakes on March 17.
McKinzie was scheduled to face multiple Grade 1 winner Bolt d'Oro in the Santa Anita Derby, continuing their rivalry from a stretch-long battle in the Grade 2 San Felipe on March 10. In a controversial outcome, McKinzie crossed the finish line first but was disqualified and placed second for bumping Bolt d'Oro in the stretch.
Unbeaten in two starts and preparing his stakes debut, Justify needs a first- or second-place finish in his last Kentucky Derby prep (100 or 40 points) to qualify for the May 5 classic at Churchill Downs. Justify and Magnum Moon, who earned 40 points in the Rebel, are challenging tradition in that no horse unraced as a 2-year-old has won the Kentucky Derby since Apollo in 1882.
Justify, who worked six furlongs in 1:13 1-5 Monday at Santa Anita in company with 7-year-old Grade 1 winner Hoppertunity, Oaklawn's 2014 Rebel winner, will have Mike Smith aboard Saturday. The Scat Daddy colt can join Big Brown in 2008 as the only Kentucky Derby winners off three lifetime starts in the past 103 years.
Solomini, sired by two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, Oaklawn's 2007 Arkansas Derby and Rebel winner, worked five furlongs in 59 4-5 seconds at Santa Anita. West Coast rider Flavien Prat keeps the mount.
Trainer Steve Asmussen reportedly plans at least two Arkansas Derby starters: Rebel third-place finisher Combatant and last-out Sunland Park Derby runner-up Dream Baby Dream. Asmussen entered the late-running Zing Zang in Saturday's Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, which also drew the Wayne Lukas-trained Grade 1 winner and Oaklawn-raced Sporting Chance.
In passing
Larry Wolken, former head of Turf Catering, Oaklawn's longtime food vendor, died Friday in Hot Springs at the age of 87.
Oaklawn was among the tracks Turf Catering served when Wolken took over the company from his father, Joe, in 1965. Turf Catering was Keeneland's food vendor when the Lexington, Ky., track opened in 1936 and until it bought the company from the Wolken family in 2015. Patrons at Fair Grounds in New Orleans and The Red Mile in Lexington, Ky., also purchased Turf Catering products, including signature items burgoo and bread pudding.
In the 1990s, Wolken retired and turned the business over to sons Brad and Mike. He worked with the Cella family at Oaklawn, where Turf Catering ran concessions from 1934-2000, and with four different presidents of Keeneland.
A Chicago native and University of Illinois graduate, Wolken was a member of Thoroughbred Club of America and also raced horses. His stakes winner Hook It Up and stakes-placed Apple Jackie both were trained by the late Doug Davis Jr. After his retirement, Hook It Up became a mount for the Lexington Police Department.
According to an item on Bloodhorse.com, the Wolken family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Old Friends Retirement Farm and/or the Permanently Disabled Jockeys fund. The family plans a private ceremony in Hot Springs honoring Wolken's memory this summer.
* One of racing's most colorful figures, longtime jockey agent Harry "The Hat" Hacek died Saturday in a hospice facility near Hot Springs, according to a Santa Anita release.
Hacek, believed to be in his early 70s, represented such prominent jockeys as Oaklawn champion Larry Snyder and Garrett Gomez, Steve Cauthen, Eddie Delahoussaye, Kent Desormeaux, Sandy Hawley, Darrel McHargue, Craig Perret and Alex Solis.
Hacek had been in failing health for some time, suffering from diabetes, according to the Santa Anita release.
Sports on 04/04/2018