Optimizer will run under Calumet silks in the Kentucky Derby
Brad Kelley the owner and breeder of Kentucky Derby contender, Optimizer, acquired the rights to use Calumet’s silks tomorrow, and devil’s red and blue silks will be seen again at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Derby.
Kelley said he requested the stewards and they didn’t have any problem with it.
Kelley, who owns Bluegrass Hall and Hurricane Hall racing and breeding operations, will have a new farm called the Calumet Investment Group Trust, which is an 800-acre property, as the arrangement was announced on 3 May, 2012, that farm and all its assets
are bought out by Kelley for something between $36 million and $40 million.
Jon Court will be riding Optimizer in the Grade 1, $2 million Kentucky Derby, and he will be wearing Calumet’s silks rather than his black with golden cheverons.
"As far as we know, he is riding with the Calumet silks tomorrow," said Barbara Borden, acting chief steward at Churchill Downs. "We did get the request and did not have a problem with it."
Bred in Kentucky by Bluegrass Hall LLC, Optimizer is one of the seasoned campaigners in the Kentucky Derby, after 9 career starts, but he is still to be a dominant force in the Derby because he never won after he broke his maiden at first asking in the next
eight starts.
It will be amazing if Optimizer goes on to break his eight race losing streak in the Kentucky Derby.
So far, the son of English Channel doesn’t have anything to write home about, and since the start of the 2012 season, Optimizer has managed a single placed finished out of 4 starts this season and that too in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes when he finished second
to winner, Secret Circle at Oaklawn Park.
He finished sixth in the Smarty Jones Stakes over at a mile, and then fell further away in his next start to finish ninth in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes to winner, El Padrino.
Out of A. P. Indy mare Indy Pick, Optimizer is exiting an unplaced 9th in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby to winner and Kentucky Derby favourite, Bodemeister.
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