Florida Derby and Wood Memorial scrapped as Alpha gets pointed to Louisiana Derby

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Florida Derby and Wood Memorial scrapped as Alpha gets pointed to Louisiana Derby
Kiaran P. McLaughlin made it very clear that he wants his South Florida based 3-year-old colt, Alpha, on a winning streak and evade those races which will be hard for the colt to handle. The trainer was looking to elude the all important Grade 1 , $1 million Florida Derby where Union Rags and El Padrino were pointed and the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct was always in doubt since Hansen was taking the field there.
After some real soul searching, Kiaran McLaughlin is confident that, Alpha will do good in the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby over a distance of 1 1/8 miles on 1 April, 2012, at Fair Grounds’ dirt course.
Despite doing so well at Aqueduct in his last two encounters, McLaughlin scrapped the Wood Memorial and opted for Fair Grounds, where Godolphin Racing owned colt has never run before, but McLaughlin is confident of his chances there, and made it clear while talking to the officials at Fair Grounds saying that the Godolphin Racing’s Simon Crisford makes all the decisions, and after a lengthy discussion on 19 March it was decided that Louisiana Derby is the spot for Alpha in his Kentucky Derby pursuits.
"We will stay here in Florida and work this last time, make sure all is well for everybody going into the Florida Derby (gr. I), and then we’ll enter at the Fair Grounds, most likely.”

The Kentucky bred son of Bernardini, out of mare Munnaya by Nijinsky II, Alpha will fly to New Orleans on 28 March, 2012, but before that he will turn in a special work for McLaughlin at his Palm Meadows base in Florida.
“A two-hour flight from West Palm (Beach) to New Orleans is almost as easy as vanning from Palm Meadows to Gulfstream,” McLaughlin said. “It’s a million dollars, a grade II, and we like the timing of it, being five weeks to the (Kentucky) Derby, or one day short of five weeks.”
The 2009 Eclipse Award winner for outstanding jockey, Julien Leparoux will take the mount on Alpha in the Louisiana Derby against thirteen other riders over 1 1/8 miles.