The Santa Anita Derby winner I’ll Have Another’s Derby plans in the air
The 3-year-old J. Paul Reddam owned colt, I’ll Have Another, has really blossomed as a three-year-old, especially when he showed nothing in his juvenile career, when he finished second to Creative Cause in the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes and then a dismal 6th in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes to winner Currency Swap.
However, the Flower Alley colt has really come to his own in the new campaign where he has 2 wins in as many starts. Trained by Doug F. O’Neill, I’ll Have Another served a real good run to win the Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita Park, where he defeated the likes of Empire Way in second and Rousing Sermon in third.
Out of mare Arch’s Gal Edith by Arch, I’ll Have Another still wasn’t taken seriously among other early Kentucky Derby favourites, where Creative Cause was one of the favourites coming into the Santa Anita Derby. But I’ll Have Another with his emphatic nose victory over Creative Cause has ripped open the Derby field, and it could be anybody’s race which makes it all the more exciting.
Doug O’Neill, though, has revealed that connections aren’t sure when to send I’ll Have Another for the Kentucky Derby. But on the other hand Creative Cause’s connections have given out a date to ship the colt to Churchill Downs, and that date is 28th of April.
“He came out great,” said O’Neill of 4-1 second choice I’ll Have Another. “He ate up his dinner and his legs were ice cold this morning,” O’Neill said. “I’m not sure whether we’ll ship to Kentucky a few weeks out or a week out. Plans haven’t been finalized.”
On the other hand, the 9 to 10 favourite in the Santa Anita Derby, Creative Cause, shouldn’t take it as bigger of a set back as it already is. Mike Harrington clearly has time to fix on what’s lacking with the colt in training, and by the time his colt shapes up to take the Kentucky Derby field, he will be much improved than the Santa Anita Derby.
“He looks good this morning,” Harrington said of Creative Cause. “He was a little tired but none the worse for wear.”
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