3-Way Derby Trial ‘Bob’ Decided by DQ
Martin Cherry homebred Embellishing Bob (Northern Afleet) went from maiden winner to graded winner with the help of the stewards in a thrilling renewal of the GIII Derby Trial S. under the lights at Churchill Downs Saturday. Glued to the right flank of odds-on choice Bayern (Northern Afleet) through splits of :23.23 and :46.62, the 9-2 shot stayed right with that foe at the head of the lane. They pin-balled off each other several times in upper stretch, and Brian Hernandez, Jr. gave Embellishing Bob a firm tug of the reins and he righted the ship. There was plenty of daylight between the leaders past the eight pole until Bayern began to drift out on Embellishing Bob in the final sixteenth as Myositis Dan (Istan) rallied resolutely on the far outside. Bayern got his nose down on the line with Embellishing Bob ahead of the late arrival by a similar margin, but it was clear after the head-on replay that Bayern’s herding of Embellishing Bob was significant, and the stewards reversed the order of the top two. “There didn’t look to be a whole lot of speed in the race, so I just rode it the way it came up,” said Hernandez. “He’s a young horse, but he’s talented and we tried to take advantage of that tonight. We asked him to run hard and he did. He showed just how good he is.”
Saturday, Churchill Downs
DERBY TRIAL S.-GIII, $176,700, CDX, 4-26, 3yo, 1m, 1:36 3/5, ft.
1–#@EMBELLISHING BOB, 118, c, 3, by Northern Afleet
1st Dam: Kirsche, by Defrere
2nd Dam: Miss Insync, by Miswaki
3rd Dam: Syncopating Lady, by In Reality
O/B-Martin Cherry (KY); T-Steve Margolis; J-Brian
Joseph Hernandez, Jr. $106,267. Lifetime Record:
4-2-1-1, $143,017. Werk Nick Rating: D.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Bayern*, 118, c, 3, Offlee Wild–Alittlebitearly, by
Thunder Gulch. ($320,000 2yo ‘13 FTMMAY).
O-Kaleem Shah Inc; B-Helen Alexander (KY); T-Bob
Baffert. $34,280.
3–Myositis Dan, 118, c, 3, Istan–Cranberry Sauce, by
Harlan’s Holiday. O/B-Brereton C Jones (KY);
T-Thomas F Proctor. $17,140.
Margins: NO, NO, 1 3/4. Odds: 4.80, 0.80, 7.10.
Also Ran: Laddie Boy, Friendswith K Mill, Spot, Matador, Big Sugar Soda. Scratched: Bitters ‘n Bourbon, Chitu. *DQ’d from first for interference.
Click for the brisnet.com chart or the brisnet.com PPs. VIDEO.
Embellishing Bob was third behind next-out allowance romper The Trunk Monkey (Old Fashioned) and subsequent maiden and allowance winner Glacken Too (Smoke Glacken) on debut at Fair Grounds Jan. 31. He was out-nosed by Saint Finian (Pioneerof the Nile)–one spot behind him in the debut heat–when trying
5 1/2 panels of New Orleans sod Mar. 1, but put it all together for a four-length romp back on the main track Mar. 29, good for a 98 Beyer Speed Figure that equaled the mark earned by Bayern when he garnered the “TDN Rising Star”distinction at Santa Anita in February.
“We were happy with his last race at the Fair Grounds,” said winning conditioner Steve Margolis when asked about stepping right into graded company off the maiden score. “And it was like Mr. Cherry said, ‘Let’s take a shot.’ He’s been doing really good and I knew the one-turn mile wasn’t out of his reach.” As to what could be next for the promising colt, Margolis offered, “We’ve got to look at his family and take a little more conservative of a route. His family is a lot of seven-furlong horses, maybe milers, so I’ll talk with Mr. Cherry about it… There’s the [June 7 GII] Woody Stephens on Belmont Day. We’ll just have to kick it around, but he’s a nice colt and he’s run good every time we’ve run him. He did get bumped legitimately by [Bayern] with his hind end, and so he dug in and ran a big race.”
Baffert, trainer of Bayern and Chitu (Henny Hughes), who scratched from this spot to run in the GI Kentucky Derby next Saturday, said he was not considering running Bayern in the Derby should he get in, and would not commit yet to the GI Preakness S. Bayern most recently finished third in the GI Arkansas Derby Apr. 12.