Seeing enough in their charges coming out of Saturday’s Listed Jerome Stakes, all three trainers of the top three finishers, Courvoisier, Smarten Up, and Cooke Creek, plan running their colts in Aqueduct’s next Kentucky Derby prep, the Grade 3 Withers Stakes. That 1 1/8-mile prep, set for Feb. 5 at […]
Tag: Cooke Creek
Oaklawn’s Smarty Jones Packs In, Sends Out a Record-Sized Field
Whichever candidate wins Saturday’s Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park will get themselves a dress rehearsal for the Kentucky Derby and its cavalry-charge-sized field. Because, barring any scratches, the Smarty Jones will send out the largest field in event history with 14 horses. The one-mile Smarty Jones, the first of […]
The Jerome Stakes Provide a New York Fork in the Derby Road
The Listed Jerome Stakes, one of four New Year’s Day Kentucky Derby preps, generally doesn’t prove anything come Derby time. But the Aqueduct one-turn mile race for 3-year-olds that dates to 1866 does serve as a proving ground of sorts. The eight newly minted 3-year-olds competing for the 10-4-2-1 Derby […]