Handsome Mike will bypass the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park
The 3-year-old Doug F. O’Neill trained colt, Handsome Mike’s Kentucky Derby hopes are dimmed if not completely squashed when his connections said that he will not enter the Arkansas Derby, because the J. Paul Reddam owned colt is getting sick according to
his connections after a blood test proved that the colt isn’t right health wise.
“When he got here, we tested him and the results were borderline,” said Leandro Mora, assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill. “We gave him vitamins and stuff and trained him through it and he seemed super. Then we gave him another check and I noticed a him coughing
a couple times and this time the blood work came back and he’s not 100%.”
The Kentucky bred son of Scat Daddy, out of mare Classic Strike by Smart Strike, Handsome Mike has been right up there with the big boys, and has landed three back to back finishes on the board starting with the Grade 3 Sham Stakes.
He finished 4th on the day to winner Out of Bounds in a mile long contest of speed and stamina, as Handsome Mike allowed Secret Circle and Longview Drive the other two to finish before him.
He came a little closer in the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby with a third place finish to winner Daddy Nose Best with a stretched out distance of 1 1/8 miles and a switch from dirt to synthetic.
Handsome Mike was pegged back to fourth again in the Grader 3 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park on 24 March, 2012, to the Graham Motion unheralded, Went the day Well, who downed Holiday Promise in second and Heavy Breathing in third while he covered the distance
in 1 minute and 51.33 seconds.
“We were looking forward to him getting a good chunk of it so he could qualify,” said Mora. “Now we will see if we can clear it up in time and maybe try to get to Keeneland (for the Lexington Stakes).”
If he wins the Lexington Stakes, Handsome Mike might go for the Kentucky Derby with just enough earnings, but if he fails to win it then he might start in the Grade 2 American Turf Stakes on 4 May, 2012, at Churchill Downs.
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