Only a week removed from Life Is Good’s winning 3-year-old debut and with Essential Quality still a month away from his, all was quiet at the top of the Kentucky Derby futures market in the last week.
Bettors and bookmakers appear to be watching and waiting for new prospects to show whether they will be legitimate contenders for May 1 at Churchill Downs. Between Circa Sports and William Hill, eight new horses not yet on the formal road to the Derby have been posted in Nevada since the start of the new year.
Rock Your World (33-1 Circa). Will he make the move from turf? That would be the most important question about this colt that John Sadler trains for the Hronis brothers. He certainly would seem capable since he is by Candy Ride out of an Empire Maker mare. Bred by Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally, 88, he made an impressive debut New Year’s Day in a Santa Anita turf sprint, winning by 1 3/4 lengths against 11 other starters. His 1:08.47 time earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 80.
Amount (40-1 Circa, 45-1 William Hill). First posted in Europe before his debut, this Todd Pletcher-trained colt by Curlin won his first race last month by 5 3/4 lengths as an odds-on favorite going seven furlongs at Gulfstream Park. Mike Repole and Vinny Viola, two of Pletcher’s most loyal owners, bought Amount for $110,000.
Roman Centurian (65-1 William Hill). It should come as no surprise that this $550,000 colt trained by Simon Callaghan fit better in his second race, a win at 1 1/6 miles, than in his first, a fourth-place finish to Life Is Good at 6 1/2 furlongs. He is by 2003 Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker out of a mare by 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini. Carrying odds of 7-1, he won by 3 3/4 lengths going two turns last Sunday at Santa Anita, earning him an 80 Beyer.
Drain the Clock (125-1 William Hill). Never mind the name that might have had the Jockey Club doing a double take. This Maclean’s Music colt owned by Nick Cosato’s Slam Dunk Racing and trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. might be 4-for-4 if not for a broken iron that caused him to lose his rider in his third start. He graduated from minor tracks to a black-type stakes win this month at Gulfstream Park, earning an 83 Beyer for the six-furlong performance.
The Chosen Vron (125-1 William Hill). Talk about a modest path that may or may not lead to the Derby trail. Eric Kruljac is the owner-trainer of this gelding by Vronsky that won as a 2-1 favorite against nine rivals in his first start opening weekend at Santa Anita. The race was filled with 10 California-bred maidens.
Papetu (150-1 Circa). Already with five races to his name, this Dialed In colt trained by Antonio Sano showed signs of improvement with his second-place finish to Mutasaabeq this month in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park. That is also where he won his first two races last June and before finishing out of the money last summer in the Saratoga Special (G2) and the Hopeful (G1).
Simovitch (150-1 Circa). It took four tries in as many one-turn miles for this Street Sense colt to get his first win. The Donald Dizney homebred finally did it Saturday for trainer Bill Mott at Gulfstream Park, winning as the second choice by 3 1/2 lengths over 10 other starters in a $50,000 maiden race. Maybe it was a question of class, since Simovitch was never shorter than 10-1 in his first three races.
Kahuna Magic (200-1 Circa). By Into Mischief. Those three words carry a lot of weight since he was the top sire last year and produced a likely Horse of the Year in Authentic. John Shirreffs trains this unraced Jerry Moss homebred that has been a steady presence on the southern California work tab since Thanksgiving.
Following are the horses listed at Circa Sports and William Hill Nevada with their Kentucky Derby odds:
Circa WH
350-1 500-1 Advance Cash
100-1 Affable
65-1 Alain Barows
250-1 150-1 Al Heybay
100-1 Alexander Valley
300-1 175-1 All Mo
200-1 150-1 Ambivalent
200-1 American Admiral
40-1 45-1 Amount
300-1 200-1 Ampersand
200-1 135-1 Angkor
25-1 Arabian Prince
300-1 250-1 Ascot Storm
225-1 150-1 Awesome Gerry
300-1 Baafeed
90-1 Barraza
300-1 250-1 Basso
400-1 Beatbox
200-1 125-1 Beep Beep
350-1 150-1 Belafonte
175-1 175-1 Big Daddy Dave
300-1 200-1 Big Flame
300-1 200-1 Blue Gator
300-1 150-1 Bob’s Edge
300-1 120-1 Boca Boy
200-1 125-1 Bolden
350-1 140-1 Bold Minister
300-1 200-1 Boomer
175-1 Bracken
200-1 150-1 Breeze On By
110-1 Broadway
80-1 65-1 Brooklyn Strong
125-1 By George
25-1 25-1 Caddo River
175-1 150-1 Cajun Commander
175-1 100-1 Calibrate
300-1 175-1 Camp Hope
75-1 75-1 Capo Kane
150-1 75-1 Cazadero
300-1 125-1 Chicks For Free
400-1 Civil War
45-1 25-1 Classier
200-1 175-1 Cousin Larry
100-1 Cowan
350-1 Crazy Shot
350-1 200-1 Dalton
500-1 Dayoutoftheoffice
100-1 Defeater
250-1 Democrat
200-1 60-1 Donegal Bay
125-1 Drain the Clock
200-1 50-1 Dr. Schivel
250-1 Dreamer’s Disease
300-1 Drop Anchor
150-1 Dynamic One
250-1 Dyn O Mite
150-1 120-1 Eagle Orb
200-1 75-1 Editor in Chief
600-1 100-1 Effinity
250-1 Engrave
600-1 350-1 Erawan
12-1 8-1 Essential Quality
200-1 125-1 Ethical Judgement
200-1 125-1 Eucharist
125-1 Excellent Timing
275-1 250-1 Famous Gent
225-1 150-1 Fauci
55-1 Fenway
125-1 Find New Roads
200-1 100-1 Founder
125-1 120-1 Freedom Fighter
150-1 150-1 Fury Kap
200-1 125-1 Gagetown
300-1 Game Day Play
200-1 175-1 Garoppolo
150-1 75-1 Get Her Number
175-1 Ghazaaly
600-1 Girl Daddy
250-1 125-1 Girther
100-1 Golden Pal
45-1 45-1 Greatest Honour
225-1 150-1 Hendavid
600-1 Hendrick
600-1 350-1 Hercules
200-1 140-1 Herd Immunity
100-1 100-1 Hidden Stash
50-1 40-1 Highly Motivated
600-1 200-1 Highway Bound
200-1 150-1 Hold the Salsa
250-1 Hopkins
250-1 200-1 Horn Of Plenty
70-1 50-1 Hot Rod Charlie
200-1 75-1 Huntsinger
200-1 100-1 Hyperfocus
200-1 175-1 Inspector Frost
250-1 160-1 Isolate
300-1 250-1 It Can Be Done
45-1 40-1 Jackie’s Warrior
125-1 75-1 Jaxon Traveler
275-1 Joe Frazier
225-1 125-1 Judge N Jury
200-1 Kahuna Magic
50-1 40-1 Keepmeinmind
200-1 150-1 Kenny Had a Notion
125-1 125-1 King Fury
200-1 125-1 Known Agenda
200-1 150-1 Kwist
100-1 Lamutanaatty
80-1 Lemon Pop
75-1 Lidstrom
9-1 8-1 Life Is Good
300-1 130-1 Likeable
300-1 250-1 Lookin For Trouble
125-1 Lord Of War
300-1 150-1 Lugamo
40-1 35-1 Mandaloun
150-1 Manor House
50-1 25-1 Medina Spirit
80-1 75-1 Midnight Bourbon
300-1 250-1 Momos
65-1 50-1 Mutasaabeq
125-1 My Man Bags
125-1 Never Surprised
125-1 125-1 Next
125-1 125-1 No Cents
250-1 North Pole
500-1 Notable Exception
500-1 Notary
250-1 150-1 Nova Rags
275-1 Number One Dude
50-1 50-1 Olympiad
250-1 Oncoming Train
500-1 Original
200-1 Outadore
150-1 Overtook
150-1 Papetu
200-1 100-1 Parnelli
200-1 Petruchio
225-1 175-1 Pickin’ Time
250-1 Pico d’Oro
300-1 125-1 Poppy’s Pride
300-1 200-1 Positivity
28-1 35-1 Prate
17-1 22-1 Prime Factor
125-1 125-1 Prisoner
250-1 Proud Contender
200-1 125-1 Quick Tempo
250-1 250-1 Raison d’Air
275-1 250-1 Real Talk
100-1 32-1 Red Flag
150-1 100-1 Reinvestment Risk
125-1 150-1 Restored Order
100-1 125-1 Return the Ring
125-1 Ricochet
125-1 120-1 Risk Taking
200-1 Rock Sugar
33-1 Rock Your World
200-1 125-1 Roderick
65-1 Roman Centurian
100-1 100-1 Rombauer
350-1 Rosenquist
200-1 150-1 Run Snappy
200-1 Runway Magic
300-1 200-1 Saffa’s Day
125-1 90-1 Santa Cruiser
75-1 50-1 Savile Row
200-1 Scarlet Fusion
125-1 125-1 Scarred
250-1 250-1 Schnell
225-1 225-1 Seazan
400-1 200-1 Seminole Beach
45-1 45-1 Señor Buscador
150-1 Shackqueenking
300-1 Shaftesbury
150-1 Simovitch
95-1 85-1 Sittin On Go
500-1 125-1 Slashing
85-1 75-1 Smiley Sobotka
200-1 140-1 Sonic Brees
500-1 175-1 Son Of A Beast
200-1 140-1 Sound The Charge
90-1 65-1 Speaker’s Corner
55-1 35-1 Spielberg
125-1 125-1 Starrininmydreams
125-1 75-1 Stayin’ Out Late
500-1 250-1 Superman Shaq
125-1 100-1 Super Stock
100-1 125-1 Swiftsure
175-1 130-1 Swill
250-1 175-1 Swot Analysis
300-1 250-1 Tacoflavoredkisses
75-1 90-1 Team Merchants
90-1 75-1 Ten For Ten
250-1 Tenor
125-1 The Chosen Vron
55-1 The Great One
150-1 100-1 Therideofalifetime
200-1 150-1 Thranduil
400-1 200-1 Tiz Handsome
350-1 200-1 Tiz Mandate
300-1 Touchdown Brown
200-1 140-1 Twilight Blue
200-1 250-1 Ultimate Badger
125-1 200-1 Uno
200-1 175-1 Upstriker
500-1 500-1 Valiant Thor
150-1 150-1 Va Va Vegas
500-1 Vequist
100-1 50-1 Vittorio
250-1 150-1 Waist Deep
200-1 Warrior’s Pride
400-1 200-1 Waspirant
300-1 200-1 Weston
125-1 Weyburn
150-1 200-1 What’s Up Surfer
90-1 100-1 Whiskey Double
200-1 150-1 Willy Boi
95-1 100-1 Wipe the Slate
75-1 Witsel
200-1 150-1 Work Out
250-1 200-1 Wyfire
250-1 175-1 Xtreme Mayhem
