BLACK CLOWN<\/STRONG> draws post\u00a0five at 15\/1\u00a0in this years running of the Bluegrass Derby.\u00a0 <\/STRONG>Oh what a feeling to have a runner in the Big Dance.\u00a0 Trainer Semi3 <\/EM>who is usually pretty well composed was seen pumping his fist and yelling oh yeah when the entry was pulled.\u00a0 The five hole in a full field of twenty is not a bad place to be said the trainer of the number 11th ranked classic distance runner in the division.\u00a0 While I had the trainer’s ear, I asked if the six weeks since the last start was a concern?\u00a0 The reply I received was if you are going to make a run at the Triple you need a well rested horse and this horse knows this strip pretty well.\u00a0 He has been a handful in his morning works going 6 furlongs in 112.2\/5 while under tight wraps from the Jockey who gets the assignment this Saturday P.Cadigan.\u00a0 After the work I caught up with the Jockey and asked him how his mount went.\u00a0 He said he is as sharp as a tack, \u00a0I was so lucky to get the mount on BLACK CLOWN.<\/STRONG>\u00a0 Cadigan went on to say that he believes the patience that his trainer has shown should pay dividends come Saturday.\u00a0 He also said that the fact that he is winless this year is of no concern, his last race shows he is on the upswing and I am just the guy to get the job done.\u00a0 I plan on rewarding Semi3<\/EM> for putting his faith in me.<\/P> BLACK CLOWN\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Afleet\u00a0\u00a0 x\u00a0 Gone West\u00a0\u00a0 x\u00a0 Broad Brush\u00a0\u00a0 3yo\u00a0 Brown Colt<\/STRONG><\/P> 12 starts\u00a0\u00a0 2 wins\u00a0\u00a0 6 places\u00a0 1 show\u00a0\u00a0 $528,280<\/STRONG><\/P> BLACK CLOWN <\/STRONG>enters the Derby at the longest odd’s he has ever gone to post at.\u00a0 He made his first start in AK in Wk 2433 a 6f T sprint and finished a game second beaten just a length for the win.\u00a0 Trainer Semi3<\/EM> gave him\u00a0five weeks and made the switch to the main track while keeping him in AK where he scored his first victory in a 5 furlong dash, winning as the favorite.\u00a0\u00a0Five weeks later it was time to try Stakes quality horses for the first time going 6 f and he just missed as third choice on a head bob after opening up more than two lengths in that one.\u00a0 True to form the trainer opted for that\u00a0five week rest period but this time tried graded company at 5.5 furlongs in the Montana Futurity G3.\u00a0 <\/STRONG>Drawing the outside post of 14 in this race, he was not as close in the early stages as he had been in his previous but did close well for the place beaten less than a length for the win.\u00a0 In his next race, he stretched out to a mile for the first time in KY and ran a very impressive race again finishing in the runner-up position with a stellar 93Sp in the G3 Pea Peach Juvenile.\u00a0 <\/STRONG>Six weeks later Semi3 shipped to IL to run in the G2 Darling Squash Futurity <\/STRONG>where BLACK CLOWN<\/STRONG> scored a going away victory for his first and only graded victory to date.\u00a0 He shipped to NY for the Breeder’s Bowl Juvenile G1<\/STRONG>\u00a0in his next start and ran a big race finishing 2nd at 10\/1. He ended the year with a bit of a disapointment in the Movieland Futurity G1<\/STRONG>\u00a0where he ran 6th the only time he was off the board in eight attempts as a 2yo.<\/P> BLACK CLOWN <\/STRONG>started this years march towards the Derby right where he left off.\u00a0 On the West Coast of CA with much the same result a dismal showing in the G3 The San Somebody<\/STRONG> Stakes<\/STRONG> where he finished 7th.\u00a0 With two off the board showings it was time to leave California and head elsewhere and trainer Semi3<\/EM> opted to change surfaces as well as he pointed BLACK<\/STRONG> CLOWN<\/STRONG> to a non graded 9 F T Stakes.\u00a0 That resulted in a place showing\u00a0being beat by just a head as the overwhelming favorite.\u00a0 Three weeks later he was back in KY and caught an off track in the G3 Gary Asher\u00a0Memorial Stakes<\/STRONG> where he made a run before flattening out late and finishing fifth.\u00a0His last start was a promising third in the Sleepy Fan G2 <\/STRONG>where he ran a 99 SP and that race should serve as a good tune up for the Derby.\u00a0 <\/P> I like his chances in this race, he is well rested, has a nice post position.\u00a0The trainer seems to have mapped out a plan all along, although I am sure he would have liked to have seen a little more than he has seen in his four attempts this year.\u00a0In a field this big any thing can happen and just having a starter is a big deal.\u00a0 Great job by the trainer just getting him here.\u00a0Best of luck Semi3 <\/EM>in this race and going forward…..<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" #5 BLACK CLOWN <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-horses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}