The AR Derby (Grade 1)- $1,500.000 Purse
OP- For Three Year Olds
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
March 29, 2025

Earlier in the day, Daemon asserted himself as the KYD favorite with five weeks to go before the big race by winning the FL Derby. This would lead all eyes to OP, where virtual race fans looked to see if the other top contender, Extreme Jet, could also get a big win in the AR Derby. Boss Spearman and Wood Duck Stables would say “not so fast” to that, edging out Without Warning at the wire with Extreme Jet settling for third. We didn’t pick Boss Spearman, although our selections were not entirely awful as three of the four that we did pick would end up finishing in the top four picks. In looking at this win for Boss Spearman, it’s interesting to point out that he was not starting from the outside in this race, and perhaps that led to him not being quite as far back early on as he had been in his prior two races. It allowed him to have a little more pace than he did in during the Withers, and if he can carry that into the KYD, then just maybe he can spoil the day for Daemon there like he did to Extreme Jet here. Boss Spearman is trained by Wood Duck Stables, who wins the AR Derby for the first time. Jockey P Lopez was aboard for his second win in this race. Congratulations to them! The time of the win was 1:48.06, which is among the better such times. Before beginning, it should be noted that we had two scratches here: Banned and Fawkes. I suspect that we’ll see the former (at least) in one of the preps next week instead. Here’s a look at this race:

(½ Mile- :46.80)- Extreme Jet breaks well out of the gate for Mb Stables, but not so fast at taking the early race lead, says the Williams9-trained Decal, who surges to the front and has the field clear by a length before entering the first turn. Without Warning, trained by TwinTowersRacing, also starts well, and moves into the second position by half a length over Extreme Jet. Running fourth by himself is Real Creepy, who is trained by Red Fox Farms. Up next is where we find our eventual winner from Wood Duck Stables, Boss Spearman. As mentioned, I loved his early positioning out of him early in the race, situated comfortably in the middle of the pack while running along the rail, four lengths from the lead. He has company with him in the form of the Team 7 Illusions- trained Black Swan Event. It’s a length to Alydar (D J C Racing Stables), and another to the trailing three: Whatever Will Be (Asgar), Gogh Cab Gogh (Alydar Stables), and Edged Out (TwinTowersRacing).

(3/4 Mile- 1:11.00)- The field heads down the backstretch with not much changing in the running order as they are content to ride this portion out. That means Decal is still out in front, but entering the turn, Without Warning gives warning that he is about to make his run, beginning to push forward with the ability to easily run to the outside of Decal. Extreme Jet stays in third, with not much room at this point to do anything if he had wished to. It’s another length to Real Creepy, and right behind him, we see P Lopez and Boss Spearman show their intentions as to how they are going to make their move forward. For now, it was just about positioning, as Boss Spearman came off the rail to pass Real Creepy, and that would set him up well to get the other four in front of him. Black Swan Event was still beside him, and had no problem also moving over as that could also benefit him. It’s another length to Alydar, and another to Whatever Will Be and Gogh Cab Gogh, and they needed to go go go. Edged Out could take solace that his stablemate was doing a lot better.

(Top of Stretch, 1.7F To Go)- At the front of the pack, Decal is still the race leader, and is doing all he can to fend off both Without Warning and Extreme Jet. It’s been a valiant effort to this point, as he holds a half-length advantage on Without Warning. An opening would be created for Extreme Jet between them, and he was all set to take advantage of that. At this point, you would really have to say that Extreme Jet had no excuses. Looking further back, after Boss Spearman made the pass of Real Creepy, he would make a power move to the outside and go four wide. For a horse that has shown plenty of stretch kick previously, the top three had to be quite concerned. Black Swan Event was no longer able to hang with him and dropped back into the clutches of Whatever Will Be, who was hitting his best stride. So, too, was Edged Out but he had a lot of ground to make up here. Alydar was lacking response, and Alydar’s entry, Gogh Cab Gogh tried to move to the outside but didn’t seem to have much kick in him.

(Finish- 1:48.06)- With a furlong to go, Extreme Jet’s supporters were probably waiting for him to take the lead at this point, and with him not doing so, and the advance of Boss Spearman, it didn’t look like this would be his day. Now, all eyes were on that horse on the outside, making progress and it seemed like he would have enough time to get by all of them. Would any of the top three be able to dig in deeper and hold the boss off? Coming to the wire, Without Warning would be that horse, finding a little more, and Boss Spearman had to give it all he could to get by that one. At the wire, they would hit the line at the same time, making P Lopez wonder if he would just be involved in his second dead heat win in the AR Derby in three years. The photo would show that Boss Spearman had gotten the head bob just in time, giving him the big 100 KYD points (and 130 total), and firmly cementing himself into the KYD. Second place is enough for Without Warning to cement his spot, giving him 100, and third place Extreme Jet has 97 of his own. Decal, a horse that was on the bubble coming in, will continue to be, but being up to 39 points and 16th on the leaderboard will have Williams9 eagerly watch the races next weekend. Whatever Will Be does not get enough and will pursue other options. Behind them in the running order are Edged Out, Gogh Cab Gogh, Real Creepy, Alydar, and Black Swan Event.

About The Winner- Boss Spearman, trained by Wood Duck Stables and ridden by P Lopez, is a three-year-old gelding by Power and it out of Blind Luck. He was bred by Panionios Racing in West Virginia as a yearling and was acquired by Wood Duck Stables in January of this year for $150.000 in private sales. Congratulations to the connections! The win is his fifth in 10 starts and second stake win, each of which are graded. His career earnings are now $1,135.400.

Track: Fast
Time: :46⁴  1:11  1:35³  1:48

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 4 – 7 Paid 307.20
$1 Trifecta: 4 – 7 – 6 Paid 647.20

Scratched: Fawkes, Banned(L)

— NS

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES