LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The promise of youth once more has faded with age.
Action This Day could become the first juvenile champion in 25 years to win tomorrow’s 130th Kentucky Derby. However, the defending 2-year-old champion hasn’t won a race since the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Oct.25. He suffered a three-stitch gash in a hind leg in a race that led to a back injury in his next outing. Now Action This Day is 30-1 after three straight losses.
“It’s frustrating to get a champion beat,” trainer Richard Mandella. “You’re always glad when it’s minor setbacks instead of major setbacks.”
Action This Day has undergone ultrasound and acupuncture therapies and received anti-inflammatories. A chiropractor makes weekly visits to re-align his back. If Action This Day were human, he would be Ken Griffey Jr.
Coincidentally, Mandella’s 2-year-old filly champion, Halfbridled, also has suffered several problems that left her the third choice in today’s Kentucky Oaks. Mandella has gone from holding a pair of aces to holding nothing.
“It’s very frustrating that I had two champions that failed to perform this year,” he said.
All thoroughbreds become a year older Jan.1, but aging is especially hard on 3-year-olds. Because they mature at different rates, many are unable to withstand longer races. No Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner ever has finished better than third in the Derby, while Spectacular Bid was the last 2-year-old champion to don the winner’s rose blanket.
“The changing of their form from 2 to 3 to 4 is a maturity thing,” Mandella said. “They sometimes go through changes that upset them. It can go all types of directions.”
But why can’t it go forward? The thought makes Mandella’s forehead wrinkle.
“I have too many real things to think about it,” he said. “I can’t deal with mysteries.”
Action This Day was a well-beaten sixth in the Blue Grass Stakes on April10, which Mandella attributes to the back injury. He was seventh in the San Felipe Stakes on March14 after clipping heels with another horse. Action This Day finished fourth in the Sham Stakes on Feb.8 after a poor trip.
But Mandella dismissed past problems. Action This Day is finally healthy in what is expected to be a wide-open Derby. The champion could rise again.
“He’s going to be the best he can be on Saturday,” Mandella said. “Whether that’s good enough, I don’t know. He could be better than last year.”
Down the stretch
Look for the first wet Derby in 10 years. Rain is expected today through tomorrow morning, leaving the track at least muddy. Trainer Nick Zito’s Go for Gin won in the slop in 1994. Zito now has favorite The Cliff’s Edge and long shot Birdstone. …
How ready is Friends Lake after a seven-week layoff? The Florida Derby winner nearly wore out rider Amanda Roxborough during a morning gallop yesterday. “I’ve got holes in my gloves and blisters on my fingers,” Roxborough said. “That’s how hard he was pulling me. …
Kentuckyderby.com is offering $5 million to anyone picking the 20-horse race in correct order. However, the odds are 243,290,208,176,640,000 to 1.
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