Champion 2-year-old colt Hansen, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs, and Champagne winner Union Rags, beaten a head as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup, have been named the 126-pound co-highweights on The Jockey Club’s Experimental Free Handicap ranking last year’s top 2-year-olds.
Hansen and Union Rags head the list of 12 colts who are Dosage System dual-qualifiers for this year’s Kentucky Derby on May 5.
To be a dual-qualifier, a horse must 1) be the highweight, or ranked within 10 pounds of the highweight, on the Experimental; and 2) have a Dosage Index (DI) of 4.00 or lower.
The Dosage Index is figured using a formula based on the chefs-de-race (influential sires) in a horse’s four-generation pedigree. Chefs-de-race are classified into five categories ranging from speed to stamina. The lower the DI, theoretically, the more stamina the horse should have.
Here is the list of Dosage dual-qualifiers:
Weight, Horse, DI
126, Hansen, 3.50
126, Union Rags, 2.14
124, Creative Cause, 1.43
121, Wrote, 1.08
120, Currency Swap, 3.00
120, Liaison, 3.00
119, Rousing Sermon, 2.60
118, Gemoligist, 2.73
118, Secret Circle, 2.53
116, Brother Francis, 1.40
116, Sabercat, 2.73
116, Trinniberg, 3.00