John Henry Classic

When a Grade 1 12 furlong turf race attracts the 2^nd, 3^rd and 6^th ranked horses in the division as well as the winner of the prestigious Sand Castle Golden Turf Classic, I think it deserves a write-up, Bluegrass Derby or no Bluegrass Derby. Although the race is on the under-card to the main feature, how many of the horses in the feature race will we be talking about a year from now? One? Two? I guarantee that horses in this race will still be talked about this time next year, maybe even in 5 years! On to the combatants.

With a best-ever 97 speed-figure (over 8.5 furlongs) this son of Arazi is here to give owner cbrady a day out on Bluegrass Derby day. At least he can say he had a horse that competed in a Grade 1 race on the Bluegrass card. Unlikely to finish within 10 lengths of the winner.

Another challenger that has pretensions above his station. Without a stakes win in numerous attempts it would need an act of divine intervention for him to win this.

Named after the aircraft manufacturer, I doubt he will even get off the ground. Prefers the dirt and I can only assume he’s here to try and make an honest pace. Unlikely to even get on the lead.

Okay, it’s the first time I get to write-up my own stable star! He’s had a tough time of it this year, missing his intended engagement at the Equinics, which put his training schedule into a tail-spin. He is still not on an even keel and this outing is more a case of waking him up. He got close to his best LTO when making Horseshoe Bay fight for the win in the San Francisco Capitan Handicap–G1 and had Puppet Regime 17 lengths behind on that day. The latter was probably still feeling the effects of a personal best in Dubai. He has the services of B Renfroe on Saturday and the only other time they were paired together resulted in a runaway success in the Canada Turf-G1 in 2004. Let’s see if lightning can strike twice!

Three outings over 12 furlongs resulted in an average beating of 33 lengths each time. Need I say more?

Only one outing over the trip to his credit, where he was 22-lengths adrift in a poor time. That was 11 months ago, has he grown-up sufficiently in a year to banish that performance to history? Although the pedigree screams stayer, it seems that genetics had a different view on this occasion.

This fellow just keeps perplexing the pundits. A solid if unspectacular pedigree, which he is out-running with aplomb. Every hurdle that is placed in front of him he clears with ease and narrowly failed last time to land a 5-timer, just running out of ground in Dubai against Puppet Regime. The time that day was exceptionally fast and Puppet Regime has already paid the penalty. Will an extra 2 weeks rest enable this horse to shake off the effects of that race. Time will tell!

Step forward ‘The Legend’. The horse to which all others will be compared to in years to come. He may not be the same force of old where he just needed to turn up to win but he is still a class act and will turn over lesser foes with ease as shown in his last race where he defeated a subsequent G1 winner and an Equinics winner. He has only ever finished off the board once over 12 furlongs (last year’s star-studded Breeder’s Bowl Turf) and the last time he failed to record a triple-digit speed figure was in his 2^nd race as a 3yo over 7.5 furlongs! Will his tally of G1 wins (currently standing at 15) ever be bettered? Make the most of this guy while he is around because his like do not appear too often.

I knew about this guy, long before he made a name for himself. In his 7^th race (an allowance over 9.5 furlongs) he made very good horses look like donkeys. I had a horse in that race, Recoil, who I thought might be decent. Puppet Regime beat him by 20 lengths, and just for the record, Recoil got beaten a nose in last weeks All Comers Stakes-G1. This guy oozes class! It’s unfortunate we never got to see him compete in any of the Derbies but being a late foal it has taken him time to mature. He is now the finished article as evidenced by his victory in Dubai. You can throw out his last run as he was probably suffering fatigue from a fast race, my only concern is that he comes back again 2 weeks after a dismal showing. Whatever his fate on Saturday this guy will be around at the top of the tree for a couple more years yet.

A solid sprinter/miler who would have a chance in a stakes race over a mile but at this distance in a Grade 1, not for me.

Summary