Track record in GIII Davis pushes McCraken up the Derby Points List

By Ron Correll
Senior columnist
Tracksideview

McCraken shown winning the Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club; All Photos Provided by Coady Photography

Finally we saw a 3-year-old carry his form through from his Juvenile season when McCraken set a track record (1:42.45) in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes on Feb. 11 at Tampa Bay Downs in Florida.

The regally bred son of Ghostzapper ran his record to four wins without a defeat in the mile-and-a-sixteenth race on the Oldsmar oval. The good news for the Ian Wilkes trainee is his other three wins came on the track at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

McCraken set off the pace until jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. gave him his head at the three-eighths pole. Another bit of encouragement at the top of the stretch provided all the urging the colt needed to carry on to victory. The next three in order of finish were Tapwrit, State of Honor and Wild Shot.

Wilkes said McCraken didn’t have all the screws tighten down and this was just the first step on the road to the first Saturday in May at Louisville. Wilkes didn’t mention what the next step would be, but he has several options.

We’ll jump back to the Holy Bull on Feb.4 and it seems that Juvenile Champion Classic Empire was brewing a foot abscess in his right front hoof prior to the race and that may account for his lackluster performance. Trainer Mark Casse said the colt was showing some discomfort a day after the race and the abscess finally drained on Feb. 8. Casse said the colt would be jogging very soon.
The next points’ races will be the El Camino Real Derby on Feb 18. at Golden Gate Field in Northern California and the Southwest Stakes on Feb. 20 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

From now on I’m only going to list the top 20 colts in points’ order. The full list can be found at the Churchill Downs web site.

Classic Empire, 32 points
El Areeb 20
McCraken 20
Gormley 20
Gunnevera 14
Practical Joke 14
Uncontested 11
Lookin At Lee 10
Irish War Cry 10
Mastery 10
Mo Town 10
Guest Suite 10
Royal Mo 10
Irap 8
Wild Shot 7
True Timber 6
No Dozing 5
Bonus Points 5
Klimt 4
Hot Sean 4