J Boys Echo joins Kentucky Derby hunt with Gotham score

Ron Correll
Senior columnist
Tracksideview

The best 3-year-old in the country did run on March 4, but it wasn’t in the Gotham at Aqueduct or the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park and she’s not a colt.

Unique Bella won the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel at Santa Anita Park in Southern California and in my opinion all her male counterparts should be glad that her connections are not pointing her to the Kentucky Derby although she is Triple Crown nominated. Her owners want to keep the daughter of Tapit out of Unrivaled Belle among her own kind.

On the colt side March 4 the picture only got muddier as J Boys Echo won the Gotham and odds-on favorite El Areeb finished a disappointing third. Cloud Computing was second and Action Everyday was fourth. I have never been a fan of inner-track racing at Aqueduct and each year the results confirm my thoughts.

Odds-on favorite Irish War Cry couldn’t even hit the board in the Fountain of Youth as Gunnevera took down the top prize and picked up 50 points for his effort. At least this son of Dialed In showed promise as a 2-year-old and took a step forward in the Holy Bull by finishing second.

Gunnevera powered past the early leaders in the Fountain of Youth rounding the second turn and won going away. Practical Joke was second, Three Rules was third and Talk Logistics was fourth.

A minor injury to report is McCraken came out of a Feb. 27 work with a little stiffness according to trainer Ian Wilkes. Let’s hope it’s only minor and I’m still going to use him on my list. The Tampa Bay Derby could be in doubt for him

One of three Japanese colts could be in the Kentucky Derby starting gate if the connections choose to come. The three colts in order of preference are Epicharis, Mont Saint Legame and Adirato. The colts have 50, 40 and 20 points respectively, but I’m not going to add them to any list until a decision is made on coming to the United States.

The next two races, both on March 11, will be the Tampa Bay Derby on the west coast of Florida and the San Felipe and Santa Anita Park.

Since we are into March I’m going to start a weekly top 10 picks from my point of view. The full points’ list can be found at the Churchill Downs web site.

Gunnevera 64 points

Uncontested 11

Cover Photo: J Boys Echo; Joe Labozzetta Photography