Top U.S owner/trainer talk Plate?
Neil sends in a note from today's El Paso Times regarding Mike Pegram's Canadian-bred gelding Wanna Runner, who won Sunland Park's Winstar Derby on Saturday.
Wanna Runner, bred by Ontario's own Yvonne Schwabe, was the subject of a lot of talk at Woodbine on Sunday. Will the horse come to Woodbine for the June 25 Plate or will his connections race him again to see if he is Kentucky Derby material? Note that Wanna Runner's graded stakes earnings keep him at the bottom rung of Derby hopefuls so if the race is oversubscribed, he might not get into the field.
Here's the note from the El Paso Times:
Talk after each WinStar inevitably turns to the possibility of running in the Kentucky Derby, one of sport's grandest spectacles the first Saturday in May each year.
"It's up to Bobby," Pegram said of what appears to be a very slim possibility of running at Churchill Downs in five weeks. "There's a whole lot of horse racing between now and then.
"Going to the Derby and finishing fifth or sixth doesn't float my boat. There's still the Santa Anita Derby, the Arkansas Derby, the Blue Grass (Stakes)."
Baffert claimed with a goofy smile after the race that he had "Derby" fever. But a more realistic possibility than the Kentucky Derby for the Canadian-bred Wanna Runner might be the Triple Crown north of the border.
The $1 million Queen's Plate, the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown and that country's equivalent of the Kentucky Derby, will be run June 25 at Woodbine in Toronto. In fact, of 191 horses nominated for the Queen's Plate, Wanna Runner is the second-favorite in the Winterbook odds at 6-1, trailing only Unification (4-1).
Wanna Runner, bred by Ontario's own Yvonne Schwabe, was the subject of a lot of talk at Woodbine on Sunday. Will the horse come to Woodbine for the June 25 Plate or will his connections race him again to see if he is Kentucky Derby material? Note that Wanna Runner's graded stakes earnings keep him at the bottom rung of Derby hopefuls so if the race is oversubscribed, he might not get into the field.
Here's the note from the El Paso Times:
Talk after each WinStar inevitably turns to the possibility of running in the Kentucky Derby, one of sport's grandest spectacles the first Saturday in May each year.
"It's up to Bobby," Pegram said of what appears to be a very slim possibility of running at Churchill Downs in five weeks. "There's a whole lot of horse racing between now and then.
"Going to the Derby and finishing fifth or sixth doesn't float my boat. There's still the Santa Anita Derby, the Arkansas Derby, the Blue Grass (Stakes)."
Baffert claimed with a goofy smile after the race that he had "Derby" fever. But a more realistic possibility than the Kentucky Derby for the Canadian-bred Wanna Runner might be the Triple Crown north of the border.
The $1 million Queen's Plate, the first jewel of the Canadian Triple Crown and that country's equivalent of the Kentucky Derby, will be run June 25 at Woodbine in Toronto. In fact, of 191 horses nominated for the Queen's Plate, Wanna Runner is the second-favorite in the Winterbook odds at 6-1, trailing only Unification (4-1).
posted by Jen Morrison @ 7:59 PM
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