Nehro looking good for the Oaklawn Handicap at Oaklawn Park
Zayat Stables owned 4-year-old colt, Nehro, was going to find himself in a tough spot against tough competitors in the New Orleans Handicap, and it was going to be a lot tougher if the colt had been muscle cramps in training for the big race.
That was the main reason why Nehro was scratched from the New Orleans Handicap, but instead of ruling out a possibility of a race, trainer Steven Asmussen stayed on and looked at the Oaklawn Handicap as a potential replacement for the New Orleans Handicap.
It had to regroup the team, if the Oaklawn Handicap was to be materialised for Nehro, but it wasn’t just that, a lot depended on how he turned out of his recent works, and there was a sense of relief in Asmussen’s voice when he talked about the Nehro after his most recent work.
The 4-year-old son of Mineshaft was a hot runner last year with three second place finishes in big races last year. Though, the chances of a 3-year-old colt that breaks his maiden in the same year of the Derby are pretty bleak.
Nehro did that, and went to the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby for the prep race session before the first week of May. He turned out pretty good, finishing second to winner Pants On Fire.
Traditionally there are 2 or 3 prep races before the Kentucky Derby, and Asmussen on a short notice, just after racing his colt raced him again in a span of 21 days in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, and the result was similar as the Louisiana Derby, and Nehro finished second again this time to winner Archarcharch.
Come the Kentucky Derby, and Nehro was expected to breakout from his runner-up obsession and topple over the record books by winning the Kentucky Derby, but he was stuck in the vicious second place cycle, and he did it again this time behind the winner Animal Kingdom.
He was back with a band this year after finishing 4th in the Belmont Stakes last year, and bagged in allowance race this year and was ready to go, but he kept getting tied up in his works.
Now he is pointed toward the Oaklawn Handicap, as he breezed problem free five furlongs in 1 minute and 2 1/5 seconds.
Tags: