LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Forty Tales overtook pacesetter Zee Brothers in the deep stretch and held off stablemate Capo Bastone by a neck Saturday night in the Grade 3 Derby Trial at Churchill Downs.
The victory gives Forty Tales enough points to enter the Kentucky Derby next week, but trainer Todd Pletcher, who is going to be a busy man next Saturday if Forty Tales runs or not, said the horse was “very unlikely to wheel back in a week.”
Pletcher already trains five horses eligible for the May 4 race and could have a record six starters.
Joel Rosario rode Forty Tales, one of his five winners on opening night of Churchill’s spring meet - a day after concluding the spring meet at Keeneland with a record 38 victory.
Owned by Pernetti Racing Stable, Forty Tales ran the mile in 1:35.77 and paid $8.20, $4 and $3.20. Capo Bastone returned $5 and $4.20, and Ruler of Love paid $8.40 to show.
Titletown Five, trained by D. Wayne Lukas and co-owned by NFL Hall of Famer Paul Hornung, could have qualified for the Derby with a victory. But Titletown Five earned 2 points with a pace-pressing fourth-place finish, leaving him with no chance of making the Derby.
Pletcher’s stable has dominated the 2013 Derby trail by winning the Tampa Bay Derby, Withers, Wood Memorial, Arkansas Derby, Louisiana Derby, Lexington Stakes, and now the Derby Trial, but the trainer said he knows that no number of entrants guarantees a victory.
“I have a tremendous appreciation for how difficult the Kentucky Derby is to win,” Pletcher said. “Even if you have the best horse, a lot of times that doesn’t mean you’re going to succeed.”
Pletcher is 1 for 31 in the Derby, and it wasn’t until three years ago that he ended an 0-for-24 skid when Super Saver, one of four horses he entered, won under a rail-hugging ride by Calvin Borel.
A full field of 20 horses is expected for the 1 1/4-mile race when they break from the gate at Churchill Downs in Lousville, Ky.
“You have to have everything go right on the day and during the race, and get lucky with the weather, and the track condition, and all those things,” Pletcher said. “But all that being said, we couldn’t be more happy with the cards that we’re holding at the moment.”
His ace is Verrazano, undefeated in four career starts this year, a stat that could make him the favorite. The colt will try to buck a Derby jinx that has no horse since Apollo in 1882 winning without racing as a 2-year-old.
Besides Verrazano and Revolutionary, his other entries include Arkansas Derby winner Over-analyze, Palace Malice and Charming Kitten. And there could still be a sixth horse - Winning Cause.
Pletcher’s mentor, Lukas, has a shot at making Derby history. Lukas, a 77-year-old Hall of Famer, could become the oldest trainer to win with either Will Take Charge or Oxbow. The four-time Derby winner would surpass Charlie Whittingham, who was 76 when Sunday Silence won in 1989.
Sports, Pages 28 on 04/28/2013