By Claire Novak
Special to Hawthorne Race Course
Currency Swap
brought trainer Terri Pompay the first Grade 1 victory of her career in the
Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga last September. This year after spending some time
on the sidelines, the blaze-faced colt is back with another big goal – to win Saturday’s
running of the $500,000 TVG Illinois Derby (gr. II) and secure a place in the Kentucky
Derby field.
That First Saturday in May is on the minds of all connections
for this 1 1/8-mile prep at Hawthorne Race Course, where 14 runners plus three also-eligibles
were entered Wednesday. Nine of the 14 visited the winner’s circle last time
out, including Repole Stable’s Todd Pletcher trainee Our Entourage (second
choice at 9-2) and the promising maiden winner Morgan’s Guerrilla (10-1), who
will be ridden by top jock Rosie Napravnik for trainer Michael Maker.
Currency Swap, the 4-1 choice on the morning line, returned
to the races March 16 at Gulfstream Park
and finished second to Wood Memorial (gr. I) contender Gemologist in a one-mile
allowance event.
“He was on the farm after we took the small chip out of his
ankle following the Hopeful,” said Pompay. “We got him back and he’s been
great, he’s moved forward all along, but still – in the quest to go on the
Derby trail, we’re a little behind the eight ball.”
A win and the resulting $300,000 share of the Illinois Derby
purse would certainly help this bay son of High Cotton secure his place in the 20-horse
Kentucky Derby field; he currently ranks 27th by graded earnings with $150,000 from
his 2-year-old stakes score for Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence.
“I put him in the allowance race to get a race into him coming
back off the bench and he ran well, but we ran into Gemologist who is a
monster,” said Pompay. “We weren’t really as tight as we should have been in
that race coming off a seven-month layoff, but it’s great to have him back and
training well. I was crushed when we didn’t get to go to the Breeders’ Cup. I
really thought we could win the Juvenile and I knew I had a really special
horse – and I wanted to prove it and show him off.”
If headed to the Kentucky Derby, Pompay would become one of
the predominant storylines – attempting to become the first female trainer in
the race’s 137-year history to win.
“My dream is to go to the Derby,
but I want to go to the Derby with
a horse I think has a really good shot,” she said. “I’d love to be able to win
the Illinois Derby and have that option, and if he won there and the owners
said ‘Let’s go!’ I’d love to give Kentucky
a try. He’s proved to me he’s a real special horse and I’m hoping he runs a
terrific race on Saturday.”
Converging from all points across the nation, contenders for
the 55th running of the Illinois Derby last made starts in New
York, Maryland, Texas,
Arkansas, and Florida.
Kidwells Petite Stable’s Pretension, third choice in the Illinois Derby at 5-1,
and Skeedattle Stable’s Hamilton Smith trainee Done Talking (20-1) were at
Aqueduct Race Course on March 3 for the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes; they emerged a
respective fifth and 10th from the New York prep.
“The Gotham race was kind of screwed
up,” trainer Christopher Grove said of Pretension, a Bluegrass Cat colt who won
the Sweet Envoy Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 11 and was never worse than second
in five starts before missing the board in the Gotham. “Going
into the first turn, a horse of Pletcher’s came over on him and he got shuffled
back. He doesn’t have to be on the lead but he likes to lay up close, two or three
lengths off the pace. So he was five or six lengths back which was a new spot
for him, and he made a real nice move to be within two lengths of Hansen, but
then Hansen just drew off.”
Jockey Javier Santiago, who will be back in the saddle this
Saturday, fell ill on Gotham day – resulting in the
substitution of Hall of Fame rider Edgar Prado.
“I asked Edgar if there was a question of distance, and he
said ‘Not at all,’” Grove remarked. “He said he’ll get the distance, that’s not
a problem, it was just the problem of losing a lot of momentum going into the
first turn. He recovered from that race well and turned in his best mile work
ever for me on March 23. That’s when I thought, now he’s growing up, he’s ready. We came back into the Gotham
in three weeks which probably wasn’t ideal for him. We’ve had five weeks
between races this time and that encourages us that he’s sitting on a big
effort.”
Harry and Tom Meyerhoff’s Hakama (6-1), runner-up by a head
in the March 17 Private Terms Stakes at Laurel Park for trainer Michael
Trombetta, could be setting that pace for Pretension to run at. So could Z
Rockstar (10-1), sent in from the Oaklawn
Park arsenal of trainer Donnie K.
Von Hemel for owner Robert Zoellner. The steel gray son of Rockport Harbor ran
a 96 Beyer Speed Figure while winning a March 16 allowance race in Arkansas by
2 ¼ lengths last out and was never worse than third before a failed sixth-place
bid in the Feb. 20 Southwest Stakes.
Chris Richard trainee Ring It Up (15-1) was fourth in the
Southwest for owner James McIngvale, while two horses with similar odds –
Orlano DiRienzo’s Romancing the Gold from the barn of Jeremiah Englehart and
Stephen Baker’s Saturday Launch for Kenny McPeek – exit respective allowance
wins at Aqueduct March 7 and Gulfstream March 11. Saturday Launch will mimic
Our Entourage in switching from turf to dirt in the Illinois Derby; both the
McPeek trainee and the Repole Stables runner have made multiple starts on the
lawn. Our Entourage has more experience of the two, with a runner-up debut
effort at Saratoga last year and a
fifth in the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct last November.
Bluegrass Hall LLC’s Skyring (20-1), a maiden winner last
time out at Oaklawn March 17 for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, and a
trio of 30-1 shots – Black Gold Racing’s Slamit for trainer Tim Ice, Jose Luis
Gonzalez’s Frankie Is Rock for local trainer Rodolfo “Rudy” Aguilar, and Oak
Knoll Farm and Team Wilcox’s Fastestwhogetspaid from the barn of Brian Williamson
complete the field.
Midwest Thoroughbreds’ Brad Cox trainee Explain has first
preference on the also-eligible list, followed by Arm Force from the barn of California
trainer Eoin Harty and Defiant Flyer for horsewoman Liane P. Davis.
First run in 1923, the Illinois Derby was formerly scheduled
between the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, thus competing with the second
leg of the Triple Crown. In 2001 it was moved four weeks prior to the Kentucky
Derby and instantly became a major Triple Crown prep. The 2002 Illinois Derby
(run at Sportsman’s Park) produced dual classic winner War Emblem, winner of
that year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. Runners like 2003 winner Ten
Most Wanted, 2004 victor Pollard’s Vision, 2005 winner Greely’s Galaxy, 2006
winner Sweetnorthernsaint, Recapturetheglory in 2008 and Musket Man in 2009 went
on to prominent stakes careers following their Illinois Derby scores.
“We’re thrilled to have the largest field we’ve ever had for
the Illinois Derby,” said track president Tim Carey. “We’re extremely proud that
the race has shaped up the way it has, especially since we were able to raise
the purse this year. It’s indicative of what we could accomplish and the kind
of horses we could have running in Illinois
on a regular basis if we had slots at the racetracks to fund a competitive
purse structure.”
Post time for the Illinois Derby is an approximate 5:46 p.m. CDT. The race is ninth on the card
and will be televised locally for the first time by WGN and nationally by
sponsor TVG.
$500,000 TVG Illinois Derby
Post Position, Horse, Jockey, Odds
1. Romancing the Gold, Irad Ortiz Jr., 15-1
2. Hakama, Julian Pimentel, 6-1
3. Ring it Up, Lindie Wade, 15-1
4. Currency Swap, Shaun Bridgmohan, 4-1
5. Pretension, Javier Santiago, 5-1
6. Skyring, Ramon A. Vazquez, 20-1
7. Saturday Launch, Chris Emigh, 15-1
8. Z Rockstar, Quincy Hamilton, 10-1
9. Fastestwhogetspaid, Israel
Ocampo, 30-1
10. Frankie Is Rock, Eduardo E. Perez, 30-1
11. Our Entourage, Eddie Castro, 9-2
12. Morgan’s Guerrilla, Rosie Napravnik, 10-1
13. Done Talking, Sheldon Russell, 20-1
14. Slamit, Channing Hill, 20-1
15AE. Explain, Francisco C. Torres, 20-1
16AE. Arm Force, Eddie Castro, 15-1
17AE. Defiant Flyer, Seth B. Martinez, 30-1