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by Frank Vespe
New Jersey-bred, Maryland-based Irish War Cry will take the long way home in Saturday’s Grade 1, $2 million Kentucky Derby.
The Graham Motion-trained winner of the Grade 2 Wood Memorial will leave from post 17 with Rajiv Maragh in the irons. The son of Curlin is, at 6-1, the fourth choice on the morning line. Post position assignments, and odds, were announced this morning.
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Irish War Cry, a homebred for Isabelle de Tomaso, has won four of five career starts. His triumphs also include wins in the Grade 2 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park and the $100,000 Marylander Stakes at Laurel Park.
The only other horse bred in the mid-Atlantic region entered in the 1 1/4-mile Derby is Fast and Accurate, a Pennsylvania-bred Hansen colt trained by Mike Maker for owner Kendall Hansen. Fast and Accurate, a winner of three straight, including the Grade 3 Spiral at Turfway Park, was bred by John R. Penn. He is 50-1 on the morning line and will be in post number three.
Linemaker Mike Battaglia has installed Classic Empire as the 4-1 morning line favorite. Last year’s Eclipse winner as champion two-year-old colt, the son of Pioneerof the Nile’s season got off to a rocky start when he was a middling third behind Irish War Cry in the Holy Bull. But, after some training issues, the Mark Casse trainee made amends by rallying to win the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby. He’ll be in post 14.
Two other horses, Always Dreaming and McCraken, are 5-1. The former, a winner of three straight for Todd Pletcher, including the Grade 1 Florida Derby, is in post number five. The latter won the first four starts of his career for trainer Ian Wilkes before finishing third in the Grade 2 Blue Grass at Keeneland. He’s in post 15.
Two horses — Royal Mo and Master Plan — are on the also-eligible list and will only draw in if other runners scratch.
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KENTUCKY DERBY POST POSITIONS AND ODDS
- Lookin at Lee — 20-1
- Thunder Snow — 20-1
- Fast and Accurate — 50-1
- Untrapped — 30-1
- Always Dreaming — 5-1
- State of Honor — 30-1
- Girvin — 15-1
- Hence — 15-1
- Irap — 20-1
- Gunnevera — 15-1
- Battle of Midway — 30-1
- Sonneteer — 50-1
- J Boys Echo — 20-1
- Classic Empire — 4-1
- McCraken — 5-1
- Tapwrit — 20-1
- Irish War Cry — 6-1
- Gormley — 15-1
- Practical Joke — 20-1
- Patch — 30-1
- (ae) Royal Mo — 20-1
- (ae) Master Plan — 50-1
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