EYE-OPENER: Orb, with exercise rider Jennifer Patterson up, is on the way to clocking 1:00 4/5 over five furlongs in his workout yesterday in preparation for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. (Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE — Verrazano, undefeated in four starts, will likely be the morning-line favorite for Saturday’s 139th Kentucky Derby when post positions are drawn tomorrow (NBC Sports Network, 5 p.m.). But when the betting windows close at 6:24 p.m. post time, don’t be surprised if Orb is the public’s choice.
Trained by Hall-of-Famer Shug McGaughey, Orb also sports a four-race winning streak, including the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby. Yesterday at Churchill Downs, the handsome bay son of Malibu Moon was the buzz of the backstretch after working four furlongs in a swift :47 4/5, out five in 1:00 4/5. But it wasn’t so much the time of the drill as the effortless way he did it.
With exercise rider Jennifer Patterson standing straight in the saddle and still as a statue, Orb broke off just behind his workmate, Overwhelming, and simply overwhelmed him, drawing clear without being urged and galloping out far, far in front.
“I wanted to work him a half-mile to put him in the game,” McGaughey said. “I was hoping this is what I’d see. He dropped his head and walked home the way you’d want him to and didn’t break a sweat. Jenn was happy, and that makes me happy. She felt like she was never out of a high gallop.”
McGaughey, 62, is a Kentucky native who was stabled at Churchill early in his career. At 0-for-6 in the Derby, he hasn’t had a starter since Saarland in 2002. Before that, in 1989, he suffered a crushing defeat when 4-5 favorite Easy Goer finished second in the slop to Sunday Silence.
“The Kentucky Derby is at the top of my list,” he said. “It always has been, and until I win it, it always will be. I’m excited, really excited. I have been since the Florida Derby. I know the nerves will start settling in, but I’m having a good time. This is what I want to do, and this is where I want to be.”
When Orb, a homebred colt who races for McGaughey’s longtime clients Stuart Janney and the Phipps family, first came to McGaughey’s barn, he gave no hint of being a Derby horse. But like a hothouse flower, he blossomed overnight this winter at Payson Park in Florida.
“He made such improvement from the Fountain of Youth to the Florida Derby, mentally, physically and in his works,” McGaughey said. “I was amazed at what I was seeing. When he ran the way he ran [winning the Florida Derby by 2 3/4 lengths], that really showed me something.”
Since arriving at Churchill, McGaughey said, things have gone “better than the way I wanted. He’s been handling the track well from day one. I’ve been very encouraged by what we’ve seen. I’m going into it with the attitude that as of Monday, April 29, we’ve done everything we can do to make things happen right.”
John Velazquez, who rode Orb in the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby, opted to stick with Verrazano, trained by Velazquez’s top client, Todd Pletcher. So Orb will be reunited with Joel Rosario, who rode him in his first five starts.
A 28-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, Rosario is on a hot streak. Fresh off the riding title at Keeneland, he won five races on opening day last Saturday at Churchill. He lost the mount on Orb when his agent, Ron Anderson, opted for another horse in the Fountain of Youth after McGaughey told him Orb was unlikely to run. But that opened the way for Rosario to win the Dubai World Cup with Animal Kingdom on March 30, the same day as the Florida Derby.
“I feel like I traded $1 million for $10 million,” Anderson said — and he got the mount back for the Derby anyway.