2014 Kentucky Derby Contenders: We Miss Artie

We Miss Artie

Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Owner: Ken & Sarah Ramsey
Jockey: Javier Castellano
Sire: Artie Schiller
Dam: Athena's Gift (Fusaichi Pegasus)
Lifetime Record: 8-3-2-0
Lifetime Earnings: $609.000

Future Wager Odds: Pool 1 - 4/5 (Field); Pool 2 - 3/2 (Field); Pool 3 - 3/1 (Field); Pool 4 - 36/1

Notable Races: G3-Spiral Stakes (1^st); G2-Fountain of Youth (8^th); Kitten's Joy (2^nd); Breeders' Cup Juvenile (7^th); G1-Breeders' Futurity (1^st); G2-With Anticipation (6^th)

The Good

He's a two time graded stakes winner with the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity highlighting his victories and that's really all I got. There are lots of "good" things I could write about this colt but pretty much all of them involve when he's raced over a synthetic or grass surface. As a result, we turn to the next section...

The Bad

Where to begin?

We Miss Artie has never won a race on dirt and, unfortunately, his two tries on dirt against graded company were pretty awful. I suppose we could say his Breeders' Cup Juvenile was "okay" given the fact that he lost by only four lengths at the wire, but we're really searching to find positives when "7^th, beaten four lengths" qualifies as a good effort on dirt. Additionally, this Ontario-bred son of turf champion Artie Schiller is clearly better on synthetics than on dirt, and that's a big negative coming into the Derby.

While it's certainly possible We Miss Artie can run a big race on dirt in the Derby, I don't find it very probable. And figuring out the probabilities is everything in this game.

Final Thoughts

I'd love to see Ken Ramsey standing in the winner's circle at Churchill Downs but I don't think We Miss Artie is the colt that's going to get him there. If, however, this colt is able to pull off a major upset on Saturday, Ken's victory speech is sure to be "Must See TV".