DOLLASE HOPES HE DOESN'T GET (ALY)ROBBED FROM DERBY START
Alyrob may be on the outside looking in. One of the leading Kentucky Derby contenders, the gelded son of Alysheba may not get a chance in the Run for the Roses on May 4.
The Derby is limited to 20 horses. If more than 20 are entered, preference will be given to horses that have earned the most money in graded races. Alyrob has earned only $53,000, and not a peso from a graded race.
He would have had another $200,000 and likely made it with ease, had he not been disqualified from second and placed last in the Santa Anita Derby.
"Don Richardson (vice president of racing at Churchill Downs and the man who keeps the head count) said he thinks I'm going to be in the race, and he's on top of it," said Alyrob's trainer, Wally Dollase. "He's saying there will be a 20-horse field, and by his calculations, we'll make the cut. That's what he's guessing, anyway.
"I'm hoping some of the people who shouldn't be in the race might reconsider when the time comes for them to put up the $30,000 to enter, and they know who they are. Some of those on the fence just want to participate for the social aspect of it, and it's a sad thing.
"What I told Richardson was that they should do it like the Breeders' Cup, where so many horses get in on a graded points system, and a panel selects the last two or four, or whatever it is. Then it's fair, because things like this happen. It could happen down the road that a great horse from Europe won't get in for the same reason."
Either way, Dollase plans to ship Alyrob to Churchill Downs and has two options if he doesn't run in the Derby: the $100,000-added Crown Royal American Turf Friday before the Derby, or the $500,000-guaranteed Illinois Derby at Sportsman's Park on May 11.
On the possibility of running Alyrob on the grass for the first time: "I know Alyshebas love the turf, but I wouldn't go back there (solely) for a $100,000 race. But I will go back there to take a chance (that he gets into the Derby). If he doesn't make either race in Kentucky, I'd probably work him a mile the day of the Derby and run him the next Saturday in the Illinois Derby (Alyrob worked seven furlongs at Hollywood Park Tuesday in 1:25 2/5 under jockey Corey Nakatani).
"Alyrob is doing super. He had a nice half-mile work Wednesday (:49 1/5, breezing), just perfect, for his first work back since the Santa Anita Derby. He doesn't need a lot of hard work, because he's dead fit. He's a light horse, extremely athletic and he doesn't need any honing on any hard work.
"He'll get more out of a mile-and-a-half gallop than a right amount of work."
Now all he needs is a chance to show it.
SHOE SIZES UP DERBY; 'SONG' OFF TUNE?
World's winningest jockey-turned-trainer Bill Shoemaker is far from convinced that Kentucky Derby favorite Unbridled's Song will win the race.
"It looks like a wide open Derby this year," Shoe said. "Unbridled's Song, I don't know if he can get a mile-and-a-quarter. Just from watching him on TV, he might have been loafing like they said (in winning the Wood), but he didn't look like he was striding out that far.
"A mile-and-a-quarter is a lot different race (than the 1 1/8 miles of the Florida Derby and the Wood)."
Shoemaker had no Derby pick. "I think it's a wide open race and anyone of eight or 10 of 'em can win it."
THE HOMESTRETCH: Word from the Bob Baffert barn is that Semoran will run in the Kentucky Derby. "I just have to draw a line through the Blue Grass (sixth-place finish)," Baffert said. "He came back kicking and squealing after the race. Maybe he was dehydrated from the Lasix, I don't know." Semoran, Cavonnier and Criollito all are at Churchill Downs awaiting their next starts. If Alyrob doesn't make the Derby, it wouldn't necessarily leave Corey Nakatani without a mount. He could wind up on Semoran . . . Baffert says Santa Anita Derby winner Cavonnier is doing well at Churchill Downs where he awaits the Kentucky Derby. Cavonnier is stabled with April Mayberry, oldest daughter of trainer Brian Mayberry. "He's very happy," Baffert said of Cavonnier. "He saw the twin spires and he went nuts." On his Derby jockey: "Chris McCarron told me to sit tight, don't panic and have your horse ready." McCarron's
agent, Scott McClellan, has committed to Cavonnier over Louis Quatorze . . . Agent Ron Anderson, on why Gary Stevens chose Editor's Note for the Kentucky Derby: "He's a seasoned horse, he can go a mile-and-a-quarter. Believe me, I think he's got a very good chance." . . . Bob Meldahl, agent for Nakatani and Laffit Pincay Jr., is hoping Alyrob gets in the race. Pincay, meanwhile, is scheduled to ride rank outsider E.C.'s Dream . . . The only guy happier than Baffert about Cavonnier's Santa Anita Derby victory was trainer Jude Feld. It was Feld's Ready to Order who beat Cavonnier by a head in the California Breeders' Champion Stakes last Dec. 28. Ready to Order is out with a badly bruised foot, but Feld hopes to have him back in time for the Super Derby and later the Molson Million. "We're thrilled with the result of the Santa Anita Derby," the ever-jovial Feld said . . . Gary Lewis, who trained recently retired Jumron to a fourth-place finish in last year's Kentucky Derby: "That place gets to you. I was in tears before they started playing My Old Kentucky Home." . . . Wally Dollase on his first visit to Chile, where he bought what he hopes will be another graded U.S. stakes winner for owners Richard and Martha Stephen of Manhattan Beach: "I've been to Argentina a couple times, but never Chile. They have fantastic racing and the friendliest people of any country I've ever bought horses in. Very enthusiastic and sporting." Dollase
purchased a "pretty nice dirt horse" who set a track record at one of the three Santiago-area ovals and has won "seven or eight races out of 11." The horse's name is Cannondale. Dollase was also negotiating for two outstanding grass horses . . . Although there was no official public statement from Santa Anita of action taken on starter Tucker Slender's handling of ornery gate horse Lit De Justice in the Potrero Grande Handicap, word is that he was suspended five days. Slender, who used a 10-foot long buggy whip in an effort to get the 9-5 second choice in the gate, was in a no-win bind. If he scratched the horse, it would have resulted in a six-figure refund and risked the disgruntlement of bettors and track management . . . Geri's development under Bill Mott is no surprise to his former trainer, Bill Shoemaker. "He's a good horse and I always told them (owner Allen Paulson and Mott) that," Shoe said. "Mr. Paulson has farms in Florida and Kentucky and all his operation is going to be back east, so he's not going to send me horses anymore." Did Paulson at least give him a breeding share in Geri? "He said he
might," Shoe smiled . . . Answer to Internet subscriber Alan Hawthorne: Golden Attraction may be back at Wayne Lukas' barn soon. The 3-year-old filly is recovering from a stress fracture in a hind cannon bone . . . Congrats to Roger Stein, who donated first prize of $5,000 to charity after winning the Barbary Coast's "Breakfast at the
Barbary" handicapping contest. The trainer gave $2,500 to Nathan Adelson Hospice in
memory of Julia Muniz, late mother of Barbary race book manager Muggsy Muniz, and $1,250 each to the Shoemaker Foundation and the Don MacBeth Foundation . . . Joy Scott, a single parent who has overcome her share of personal woes, set a single-season Santa Anita meet victory record for female riders with eight, including Purdue Cadet, a $231 winner last Dec. 26. Robyn Smith held the former mark of five (1972 and 1976). Scott, 37, whose love of horses is surpassed only by her love for her son, Jesse, boasted an average $2 win mutuel of $51.50 . . . Kent Desormeaux, who finished eighth on Afternoon Deelites in last year's Derby, may not have a mount this year. "We're still
open," said agent Gene Short. "Right now, I'm riding here (Hollywood Park) . . . Baffert,
on trying to explain Semoran's next-to-last finish in the Blue Grass Stakes: "The jock said
his boots were too tight."
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