DANZA DYNAMIC IN ARKANSAS

   Eclipse Thoroughbred’s Danza (Street Boss), making just his fourth lifetime start and dismissed at 41-1, came bounding home a much-the-best 4 3/4-winner of Saturday’s GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park. Favored Bayern (Offlee Wild) took charge in the early going as Danza, breaking from the rail, settled in his wake. Pressed by longshot Thundergram (Graeme Hall), the favorite set fractions of :23.72 and :47.71. Niggled at to keep pace with the leaders leaving the backstretch, Danza surged through an opening along the rail to come into the straight on top. He drifted out slightly in the final furlong, but was straightened by jockey Joe Bravo and he powered clear. Ride on Curlin (Curlin), six wide into the stretch, closed for second and Bayern was third. 
   “That was a pretty great effort,” confirmed winning rider Joe Bravo. “Todd [Pletcher] was pretty high on the horse and he told me this morning that he was going to be fresh so don’t take anything away from him. Try to save as much as you can and let him run his race. It was textbook, just textbook. Everything unfolded like a dream. It’s really fun to have a special horse like that and have him run like that. I’m not a fortune teller, but hopefully, in a couple of weeks we can do that again. I’m crossing my fingers he’s my Derby horse.” 
Danza graduated on debut at Belmont last July and was a close-up third behind Corfu (Malibu Moon) and Wired Bryan (Stormy Atlantic) in the Aug. 11 GII Saratoga Special. Sidelined by a knee injury after that effort, Danza returned with a third-place effort in a Mar. 1 optional claimer at Gulfstream Park. 
(Click here for a TDN APB on Danza w/ Eclipse’s Aron Wellman) 
   Danza, a half to graded stakes winner Majestic Harbor (Rockport Harbor), is out of stakes placed Champagne Royale (French Deputy). The 13-year-old mare has a yearling filly by Majestic Warrior and was bred to Shackleford last spring. 

Say What? 
“I had a good comfortable trip, a nice comfortable pace and it picked up nice. Approaching the quarter-pole, the winner came up inside of me. I thought I was going to be able to stay with him and I thought my horse was going to give him a little fight, but he didn’t.” 
Gary Stevens, rider of third-place finisher Bayern 

“The race didn’t work out the way we wanted today. I thought he was pretty wide behind a moderate pace and that made it a very long race for him today. We’ll see how he comes of it. He goes on to Louisville tomorrow and we’ll see where we go from there.” 
Steve Asmussen, trainer of fourth-place finisher Tapiture 

Saturday, Oaklawn Park 
ARKANSAS DERBY-GI, $1,000,000, OPX, 4-12, 3yo, 
1 1/8m, 1:49 3/5, ft. 
1–s#@DANZA, 118, c, 3, by Street Boss 
     1st Dam: Champagne Royale (SP), by French Deputy 
     2nd Dam: All Tanked Up, by Tank’s Prospect 
     3rd Dam: All Week End, by Al Hattab 
($105,000 yrl ’12 KEESEP). O-Eclipse Thoroughbred 
Partners; B-Liberation Farm & Brandywine Farm (KY); 
T-Todd A Pletcher; J-Joe Bravo. $600,000. Lifetime 
Record: 4-2-0-2, $666,428. Werk Nick Rating: A. 
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. 
2–Ride On Curlin, 118, c, 3, Curlin–Magical Ride, by 
Storm Cat. ($25,000 yrl ’12 KEESEP). O-Daniel J 
Dougherty; B-G Watts Humphrey Jr & Louise Ireland 
Humphrey Revocable Trust-2 (KY); T-William G 
Gowan. $200,000. 
3–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. $100,000. 
Margins: 4 3/4, HF, 2. Odds: 41.30, 7.20, 1.60. 
Also Ran: Tapiture, Conquest Titan, Commissioner, Thundergram, Strong Mandate. Scratched: Knock Em Flat.Click for the brisnet.com chart, the brisnet.com PPs or the free brisnet.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO.