Winning stakes at Keeneland Race Course and Ellis Park, Art Collector enjoys strong grassroots support in the 146th Kentucky Derby Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs. But the horse to beat comes from New York.
Tiz the Law, adding Grade 1 victories in in his home state's two biggest races, returns to Kentucky with the fanfare surrounding a sure first-ballot winner. The Constitution colt can complete one triple crown of note and position himself as the 14th horse to sweep the traditional three spring classics with a Derby Day triumph.
His 5 1/2-length victory Saturday in the Travers Stakes came exactly one year after the colt's triumphant unveiling at Saratoga Race Course in owner Jack Knowlton's hometown. The colt's fourth Grade 1 score in seven races followed victories in the Florida Derby and Belmont Stakes, establishing himself as the clear favorite in Louisville although it means revisiting the site of his only defeat, a third-place Grade 2 finish on Thanksgiving weekend.
If anything, Tiz the Law is getting stronger with each start as evidenced going the Derby distance of a mile and a quarter in the Travers. The colt followed trainer Barclay Tagg's plan of pressing the pace into the far turn, where jockey Manny Franco sent him with a rush past second choice Uncle Chuck.
"I was very pleased with the way he ran," Tagg said. "He did everything a good horse ought to do and did it perfectly."
Even so, a maximum 20 horses is lining up for the Derby, a first-Saturday-in-May staple but this year postponed four months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The lateness of the Derby is made to order for Art Collector, who has fleshed out his reputation without leaving the commonwealth of Kentucky. Trainer Tommy Drury Jr., looking to saddle his first horse in the Kentucky Derby, paired his last-out victory in Keeneland's Blue Grass Stakes with Sunday's punctual effort in the nine-furlong Ellis Park Derby. Holding off Attachment Rate in the stretch, Art Collector drew off by 3 1/2 lengths with regular jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. aboard.
"I walk out of the paddock and you're 1-9 in the biggest race in the history of Ellis, at least to my knowledge," said Drury, who trains the Bernardini colt for breeder Bruce Lunsford. "I'm surprised that my legs are still holding up underneath me. It's a big day for us. We got what we're looking for."
Coming off three straight allowance wins at Churchill Downs, Art Collector totaled 150 points in two stakes to rank third (behind Tiz the Law, 372, and Authentic, 200) among Derby qualifiers. Only the Pegasus Stakes on Saturday at the Meadowlands remains on the list of prep races issued by Churchill Downs.
The highest-ranking Derby contender to race at Oaklawn Park is King Guillermo, sixth with 90 points including a second-place finish to Nadal in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby May 2, his last start. Nadal won that race by three lengths but has since suffered a career-ending injury while Charlatan, the first-division Arkansas Derby winner, was disqualified after a positive drug test.
Despite losing Nadal and Charlatan, trainer Bob Baffert has contenders in Grade 1 winner Authentic and last-out Del Mar upsetter Thousand Words, the latter placing 11th in the April 11 Oaklawn Stakes.
Trainer Ken McPeek has a decision whether to enter filly Swiss Skydiver, Oaklawn's Grade 3 Fantasy winner, in the Kentucky Oaks, for which she is the points leader, or the Derby, for which she qualified when second to Art Collector in the Blue Grass.
Though it was in a non-points allowance race, Rushie won at Oaklawn May 2 and has qualified for the Derby with Santa Anita Derby and Blue Grass thirds. Beyond that, champion Storm the Court is winless since the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, one Oaklawn start included, and may stay on the turf after a second-place finish over the surface Sunday at Del Mar. Others with a chance to run for the roses include Oaklawn campaigner Anneau d'Or and local winners Finnick the Fierce and Pneumatic.
Even if Swiss Skydiver skips the race, the Kentucky Oaks Sept. 4 has strong Oaklawn connections. Speech, second in points (160), came off an Oaklawn second May 2 to win the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland in Swiss Skydiver's absence. Bonny South (110 points) and Shedaresthedevil (90) points, both trained by Brad Cox, won in Hot Springs with the latter co-owned by local horseman Staton Flurry.
Venetian Harbor (90) ran second in the Fantasy and to the Baffert-trained Gamine in Saturday's Grade 1 Test at Saratoga. Gamine, like Charlatan in the Arkansas Derby, tested positive for banned medication after her Oaklawn win but has punched her ticket to Kentucky with two Grade 1 scores in New York by a combined 25-plus lengths.