FL Derby (Grade 1) (KYD)- $1,000.000 Purse
GP- For Three Year Olds
One Mile and One Eighth on the Dirt
April 2, 2016

You have to feel good for a trainer like Cherrytree Hill Farm as he qualifies for his first ever KYD.  He’s been in this virtual business now for seven years, and has started over 11,000 horses within that time.   Before Compress, none of those races ever led to a graded stake victory, but now with this amazing talent in his barn, Cherrytree Hill Farm has been able to cross several items off of his list of goals to achieve within the game, that all of us have or have had.  On Saturday, Compress raced a little differently then what we are used to seeing out of him, and the end result was him going wire to wire against a field that will be just as good as the one he will see at CD next month.  Compress may be doing more then just going to KYD if he runs like he did today, and that would add another great chapter to his success story this year.  For now, though, the trainer will enjoy this hard-earned win.  For Compress, it is his fifth win in six career starts and his career earnings are now just a buck shy of $900.000.     It is the third time that jockey R Bejarano has been aboard the FL Derby winner.  There were some other good stories to come out of this race, such a second place finisher Ned Isakoff allowing Jerry Garcia’s conservative prep season schedule to pay off.   And how about that filly, Fast Witch?  I didn’t give her much credit in the preview but she topped the likes of Missing In Action, Le Quartier and several others in her fifth place finish.  It proved to be an interesting day in Derby preps as both the FL Derby and the Spiral were won by wire-to-wire winners.  Here, we’ll congratulate Cherrytree Hill Farm on the big win!  The time of the victory was 1:47.85, the second fastest FL Derby ever.  Here is a more in depth look.

1st- 10- Compress (10/1)- The start was the key for our eventual race winner from Cherrytree Hill Farm.  After all, this has not been Compress’ racing style in the past.  He’s always been a closer, and has sometimes has come from way far back to do so.  Today, a tactical change was made by the trainer, and it paid off in a huge way.   It was a great start, though it seemed like Missing In Action or Admirals Aces would be the ones setting the opening fractions.  A second push around the first turn allowed Compress to even get ahead of those two, and as entered the backstretch run, he was on the rail, clearing the competition by a length and a half and setting the opening ½ fraction in :47.93, and would extend his lead further late in the backstretch, and into the final turn, running six furlongs in 1:11.33.   At the top of the stretch, the lead increased to about three lengths, and he was still running well.  It was looking good, but within the pack, Ned Isakoff was weaving his way through traffic, and would be charging hard in the stretch.  Ned Isakoff had cut the entire gap, and was looking to pass.  However, R Bejarano would not allow that to happen, and Compress impressively hung in there, and kept Ned Isakoff from swiping the race away in the final strides.  Much to like here for the winner, and his trainer.  Congrats to Cherrytree Hill Farm on this big win!  As for Compress, this is a three year old colt by Crush (by Jolly Be Great) and out of Catahoula Rose.  He was bred in Florida as a second quarter two year old by Cherrytree Hill Farm, and they’ve been together throughout.  Congratulations to the connections!

2nd- 2- Ned Isakoff (4/1)- The Jerry Garcia Racing entry looked good today in earning his second place finish that will see his horse through to the KYD as well.  He was not a quick starter out of the gate, and essentially be midpack as they moved into the turn.  J J Castellano would not allow his mount to get comfortable in the backstretch and urged him forward a few positions before ultimately settling into the seventh position, and four lengths back.  As they moved into the turn, Castellano again got aggressive, and began to push down hard on Roger The Australian, who had been in the lane that he wanted.    That move set him up beautifully for the stretch, as even though he was four wide, he had nothing but daylight in front of him. In a blink of an eye, he was second, but still had about three lengths to make up on Compress.   He was flying at the end, and did all he could.  He’ll get his picture taken with the winner at the wire, and they’ll meet again next month at CD.

3rd- 8- Palestinian (15/1)- Just as we may have been expecting Compress to be at the back early and was instead at the front, it was also a different style for Palestinian.  The Nakamura Stables entry is usually out on the lead early, but here he would be towards the back, about five lengths from the early lead.  This led to him begin in unfamiliar territory as he got horribly boxed in at the top of the stretch.   With a furlong to go, he had to thread a very tight needle between Engine Failure and Fast Witch, but would get the job done.  He was full of run and had plenty left in the tank.  In retrospect though, I don’t know if he would have been any better then this even if he did not get boxed in at the top of the stretch.

4th- 15- Admirals Aces (34/1)- Got off to a good start for trainer Grimley, and it looked as though he would be leading them around the opening turn before Compress was shot out of a cannon and ended up doing so.   Admirals Aces would then back off and would run in the middle of a three wide battle for second.  He would maintain the second position around the turn, and seemed to be doing well as he pulled away from Missing In Action.  At the top of the stretch, however, he would have no answer for Ned Isakoff, but tried to valiantly battle to hang on for third.  He would almost do so.

5th (dh)- 1- Engine Failure (9/1)- The Mb Stables entry was not that quick out of the gate, and was near the back at the very start and as the run around the turn began.  However, J R Velazquez would not just be content with keeping Engine Failure in this position, would have been along the rail.  As the backstretch run began, Engine Failure took a lane to the inside of Ned Isakoff and made a concerted effort to advance as others may have been content to ride it out.  Ran well in the turn, and seemed to be waiting for either Admirals Aces or Fast Witch to back off and take their lane, but they would not do so, and Ned Isakoff kept him from going outside of them.  Excuses went out the window when Palestinian cruised by.

5th (dh)- 7- Fast Witch (18/1)- Joshua Stables gave his filly a real tough assignment today, but she definitely proved that she was up to the task.  Right from the start, she was ready to run and would be part of a three wide group battling it out for second a length and a half behind the pacesetting Compress, and she was able to maintain this position throughout the backstretch,   Going into the turn, she was still second and looking sharp.  She would hang in there, and while she would never challenge Compress, or have any means of holding off the likes of Ned Isakoff, she did well to keep several others behind her.

7th- 12- Missing In Action (9/1)- The winner of the last month’s Gotham got off to another good start here, but was not as fast as Compress was out of the gate.  Still, the Downwind Stables entry was on the lead, and stalking the leader about a length or two for the lead.  During the backstretch run, he not only lost touch with Compress but would lose some ground to Fast Witch and Admirals Aces, the two in which he had been running with.  He showed some grit for a while around the turn and into the top of the stretch, but would ultimately fall out of contention.

8th- 5- Ghost Star (9/2)- The second entry from Mb Stables did not get off to a good start, and would be eight lengths out of it and ahead of only Team Panther as they moved into the backstretch.  Made no headway over that portion of the race, but started to look for a lane as they moved into the turn.   There would be no lane to be found, and with a furlong to go, he was last of them all.  Eventually, some room did open up in the stretch, and Ghost Star showed some admirable late stride, but at that point, it didn’t mean all that much.

9th- 9- Roger The Australian (15/1)-   Threshold’s longshot got off to a pretty good start, opting to stalk the stalkers, running fifth and about three lengths from the lead.  However, he was doing while running four-wide around the entire distance of the opening turn.  Kept a steady stride going over the backstretch trip, and still seemed to be running well as they moved into the turn, but when Ned Isakoff and Engine Failure zoomed by, it was apparent that Roger The Australian would not have anything for the leaders.

10th- 4- Blue Guy (9/1)- The second Grimley entry did not get off to that bad of a start, and it seemed as though he would assume a midpack position before dropping back several lengths in the opening turn.  He would end up near the back runners by the time the backstretch run was to start, and then the quickly looked to regain those lengths lost.   Blue Guy would begin to move up in the turn but would find himself jammed up in the middle at the top of the stretch (and ironically by his stablemate), and having to check up like that would do him in.

11th- 3- Le Quartier (8/1)- Gdp Inc’s impressive deep closer went near the back of the pack at the start, to no one’s surprise.   At the top of the backstretch, J L Ortiz seemed to have him in a good spot, just six lengths off the lead with the potential to have a good lane to make such a move.   As they made their way around the turn, we were waiting for Le Quartier to begin to make that close.  Around the turn though, that push was not coming, and he doesn’t really have an excuse for not doing so as Ned Isakoff’s own move gave him room to run if he wanted it.

12th- 16- Team Panther (15/1)- Everyone was very interested in what the Running Farms maiden would accomplish fresh off being gelded.   At start, he opted to keep Ghost Star company at the very back of the pack.  He would remain there throughout the turn, and into the backstretch.  He held his own though, so the trainer should feel good about the potential he will have going forward.  If he can build off of this, we’ll be seeing him in stakes company more, but probably after a maiden win.

13th- 11- Xmas Grey (76/1)- The Blushing Meadows entry got off to an average start.  While he would be midpack early, he had to take the opening turn about four to five wide.  He would stay in this lane over the course of the backstretch run, and because of that, jockey J C Caraballo had no other option but to swing Xmas Grey about six or even seven wide around the final turn.  He maintained his ground well here, but this extra race track to cover would prove to be too much.

14th- 6- Pump Action Shotgun (51/1)- Had a good spot along the rail at the beginning of the race for last year’s FL Derby winner, D J C Racing Stables.  He was towards the back, but only about five lengths back early on.   This is where he would stay for the backstretch trip, and as they moved around the turn, he did not use his inside position to his advantage even with their being plenty of room to do so.  Pump Action Shotgun would just not be up to the task today.

Track: Fast
Time: :47⁴  1:11¹  1:35²  1:47⁴

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 10 – 2 Paid 137.30
$1 Trifecta: 10 – 2 – 8 Paid 1,564.10

Scratched: Edwin Drood, Mystery Boy

— NS

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES