Saturday's Lexington Stakes at Keeneland is the last chance to pick up meaningful graded earnings for Kentucky Derby hopefuls but given where the graded earnings stand right now, this prep is likely just window dressing.
Below is the current graded earnings list with horses in bold the probable Lexington starters. The Lexington is a race that offers a purse of $300,000 with approximately $180,000 going to the winner.
Looking at the current graded earnings list it is entirely likely that the winner of the Lexington will still not have enough earnings to get into the Derby. Uptowncharlybrown currently has $29,000 in earnings, add in $180,000 and he's a shade under $210K...which puts him at 25th on the current list. (UPDATED: There is a possibility that Drosselmeyer will enter the Lexington, although I can't seem to find anything current on his status. If he were to enter, then a win would most certainly get him in the Derby.)
Other thoughts on the current graded earnings list:
- I'd love to see Uh Oh Bango find his way into the Derby just for the mere fact that I'd like there to something besides fifteen speed horses in the race. Plus, he might be an interesting long shot play should we see the race fall apart in the stretch...which at this point wouldn't surprise me. (UPDATED: From the DRF...looks like Uh Oh Bango is now off the Derby trail with an injury.)
- We got a bunch of turf horses in the current Top 20, I think partly due synthetic racing and partly due to a thin crop of good three year olds. Dean's Kitten, Interactif, Paddy O'Prado, and Stately Victor are all horses that are essentially "turf/synthetic only".
- It was announced today that Odysseus, winner of the Tampa Bay Derby and last place finisher in the Polytrack Blue Grass, is off the Derby trail with a bone chip.
- One good thing about the low earnings of the probable Lexington contenders, it's a pretty safe bet that if a zero earnings horse wins the race he still won't have enough to get in. I'm sure some don't view that as a "good" thing but after a prep season where we've seen a bunch of mediocre performances I really don't need to see any more N1X horses squeezed into the Derby. Just my take.
The complete graded earnings list is below the jump.
Rank |
Horse |
GrStk Earnings |
1 |
Lookin At Lucky |
$1,480,000 |
2 |
Noble's Promise |
738,000 |
3 |
Rule |
645,000 |
4 |
Sidney's Candy |
630,000 |
5 |
Line of David |
600,000 |
Eskendereya |
600,000 |
|
7 |
Mission Impazible |
485,934 |
8 |
Ice Box |
457,500 |
9 |
Stately Victor |
451,112 |
10 |
Endorsement |
400,000 |
11 |
Conveyance |
386,000 |
12 |
American Lion |
378,000 |
13 |
Dublin |
373,208 |
14 |
Super Saver |
363,832 |
15 |
Discreetly Mine |
340,000 |
16 |
Dean's Kitten |
326,475 |
17 |
Interactif |
307,950 |
18 |
Awesome Act |
285,000 |
19 |
Paddy O'Prado |
250,950 |
20 |
Homeboykris |
250,500 |
21 |
Uh Oh Bango |
237,952 |
22 |
Jackson Bend |
230,000 |
23 |
Backtalk |
225,916 |
24 |
Make Music for Me |
218,750 |
25 |
Setsuko |
180,000 |
A Little Warm |
180,000 |
|
27 |
Pleasant Prince |
166,250 |
28 |
Tempted to Tapit |
156,000 |
29 |
Caracortado |
153,000 |
30 |
Connemara |
138,500 |
31 |
Schoolyard Dreams |
137,500 |
32 |
Northern Giant |
132,000 |
33 |
Eightyfiveinafifty |
120,000 |
34 |
First Dude |
97,500 |
35 |
Alphie's Bet |
90,000 |
36 |
Drosselmeyer |
87,000 |
37 |
Pulsion |
85,000 |
38 |
The Program |
75,500 |
39 |
Ron the Greek |
70,500 |
40 |
Ailalea |
69,900 |
41 |
Nacho Friend |
64,500 |
42 |
Who's Up |
60,000 |
43 |
Fly by Phil |
58,280 |
44 |
Switch |
58,000 |
45 |
Hurricane Ike |
56,111 |
46 |
Smiling Tiger |
54,000 |
47 |
Roman Invasion |
50,000 |
48 |
Marcello |
50,000 |
49 |
Codoy |
47,500 |
50 |
Classical Slew |
45,000 |
Litigation Risk |
45,000 |
|
Ibboyee |
45,000 |
|
53 |
Dave in Dixie |
44,550 |
54 |
Turf Melody |
42,957 |
55 |
Peppi Knows |
41,000 |
56 |
Lentenor |
37,500 |
57 |
Tiny Woods |
31,000 |
58 |
Cardiff Giant |
29,000 |
Uptowncharlybrown |
29,000 |
|
60 |
Chief Counsel |
24,250 |
61 |
Worldly |
23,360 |
62 |
Letsgetitonmon |
22,700 |
63 |
Gleam of Hope |
22,650 |
64 |
Citrus Kid |
21,000 |
Stay Put |
21,000 |
|
66 |
Remand |
20,000 |
Maximus Ruler |
20,000 |
|
Brady Blue Eyes |
20,000 |
|
69 |
Our Champion |
19,700 |
70 |
Domonation |
19,500 |
71 |
Lost Aptitude |
18,800 |
72 |
Lucky Rave (GB) |
18,000 |
Fearless Cowboy |
18,000 |
|
74 |
Hear Ye Hear Ye |
16,667 |
75 |
Privilaged |
15,000 |
Toboggan Slide |
15,000 |
|
77 |
Activity Report |
14,787 |
78 |
Outlaw Man |
14,000 |
n/a |
Exhi |
358 |
Prince Will I Am |
0 |
|
Distored Dave |
0 |
|
Game on Dude |
0 |
|
Kettle River |
0 |
|
Krypton |
0 |
|
Workin for Hops |
0 |