Most trainers who just watched their unbeaten 3-year-old colt win the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct by 5 1/4 lengths would run to the phone, making hotel reservations in Louisville for the first Saturday in May.
Not Ben Perkins Jr. After saddling Richly Blended yesterday to take the Grade 3, $200,000 Gotham wire to wire under Rick Wilson, running the colt’s record to 3-for-3 by a combined 28 lengths, Perkins indicated the Kentucky Derby was not on his radar screen.
“I never get [Derby fever],” he said. “I thought he’d get a one-turn mile, which is like a long sprint. Two-turn races are so much different.”
Mr. John, making his second start of the year, chased the quick pace (:22.4, :46, 1:10.3) set by Richly Blended and held for second, a neck in front of Voodoo. The big disappointment in the Gotham was Scorpion, fifth as the 9-5 choice.
“I hate to make excuses,” said his trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, “but I don’t think he got a good hold of the track.”
Jockey David Flores concurred: “When I got to the turn, I asked him to pick it up but he was spinning his wheels. He didn’t handle the track.”
Richly Blended ran the mile in 1:35, paying $8.80 and topping a $54.50 exacta.