We are now (26) Kentucky Derby prep races in with the weekend of racing being focused on Tampa Bay Down’s biggest day with the Tampa Bay Derby which awards the following points to the top four finishers (50-20-10-5).
With the four stakes races from this past weekend there was a lot of shifting with the top contenders with several new horses moving to the top of the list. I’m not sure who the most impressive was from the weekend but Simplification, Forbidden Kingdom and Morello all looked good. The road to the derby has improved with some of the recent performances, for that reason I am going to drop the Bob Baffert trained horses from my top rankings until something changes.
My current Top 5 rankings:
#1 SMILE HAPPY
I still feel he is the cream of the crop until he races again. We saw his return after the lay-off and showed he may have needed a race to get back into form. As trainer Kenny McPeek tweeted out that he maybe needed to be a tad closer, was valiant to get up for 2nd and had a good gallop out. I would have liked to have seen him urged a little quicker than he was, but the reality is that he wasn’t catching Epicenter who had the perfect trip to go wire to wire. I’m surprised he got up for 2nd as he had to weave through a couple of horses to get there.
#2 SIMPLIFICATION
I thought he ran well in the Holy Bull in what was a tough trip. I thought he was a one-dimensional early speed front-runner and that race showed he had some tactical speed. That was exactly how he ran in the Fountain of Youth running off the pace and looking good. To win the Kentucky Derby you need to be forwardly placed and in good position. I really like what I’ve seen with Simplification as he’s continuing to improve race to race.
Simplification is the #2:
#3 FORBIDDEN KINGDOM
Put the field away easily in the San Felipe at Santa Anita. Front speed running son of American Pharoah is on the board after that performance.
Forbidden Kingdom is the #6.
#4 CLASSIC CAUSEWAY
We get to see if he’s legit in this weekend’s Tampa Bay Derby. He looked impressive in the Sam F. Davis, but I would have liked to see what he would have done with more pace pressure. He did put away the field in a race that appeared contentious on paper.
#5 ZANDON
I could easily put Morello in the 5-spot but I’m going to favor Zandon until I can see his next race. He hopped out of the gate and went right to the back. Made a strong move on the turn and kept coming. Would’ve liked to have seen what he could have done with better placement out of the starting gate.
Official Kentucky Derby Point Standings as of 3/8/22
Typically (40) earned derby points pretty much guarantees a spot in the Kentucky Derby field. Using that criteria (5) horses below should have already punched their ticket to the 2022 Kentucky Derby.
| Rank | Horse | Points | Sire | Trainer |
| 1 | Epicenter | 64 | Not This Time | Steve Asmussen |
| 2 | Un Ojo | 54 | Laoban | Ricky Courville |
| 3 | Simplification | 54 | Not This Time | Antonio Sano |
| 4 | Morello | 50 | Classic Empire | Steve Asmussen |
| 5 | Forbidden Kingdom | 50 | American Pharoah | Richard Mandella |
| 6 | Smile Happy | 30 | Runhappy | Ken McPeek |
| 7 | In Due Time | 20 | Not This Time | Kelly Breen |
| 8 | Dean’s List | 20 | Speightstown | Todd Pletcher |
| 9 | Ethereal Road | 18 | Quality Road | D. Wayne Lukas |
| 10 | Barber Road | 18 | Race Day | John Ortiz |
| 11 | Classic Causeway | 16 | Giant’s Causeway | Brian Lynch |
| 12 | Pappacap | 14 | Gun Runner | Mark Casse |
| 13 | Zandon | 14 | Upstart | Chad Brown |
| 14 | White Abarrio | 12 | Race Day | Saffie Joseph, Jr. |
| 15 | Mo Donegal | 12 | Uncle Mo | Todd Pletcher |
| 16 | Dash Attack | 10 | Munnings | Ken McPeek |
| 17 | Courvoisier | 10 | Tapit | Kelly Breen |
| 18 | Make It Big | 10 | Neolithic | Saffie Joseph, Jr. |
| 19 | Call Me Midnight | 10 | Midnight Lute | Keith Desormeaux |
| 20 | Early Voting | 10 | Gun Runner | Chad Brown |
| 21 | Slow Down Andy | 10 | Nyquist | Doug O’Neill |
| 22 | Rattle N Roll | 10 | Connect | Ken McPeek |
| 23 | Jack Christopher | 10 | Munnings | Chad Brown |
| 24 | Major General | 10 | Constitution | Todd Pletcher |
| 25 | Tiz the Bomb | 10 | Hit It a Bomb | Ken McPeek |
| 26 | Happy Jack | 10 | Oxbow | Doug O’Neill |
| 27 | Golden Code | 10 | Honor Code | Todd Pletcher |
| 28 | Kavod | 7 | Lea | Chris Hartman |
| 29 | Commandperformance | 6 | Union Rags | Todd Pletcher |
| 30 | Mackinnon | 5 | American Pharoah | Doug O’Neill |
| 31 | Pioneer of Medina | 5 | Pioneerof the Nile | Todd Pletcher |
| 32 | Emmanuel | 5 | More Than Ready | Todd Pletcher |
| 33 | Giant Game | 5 | Giant”s Causeway | Dale Romans |
| 34 | Oviatt Class | 4 | Bernardini | Keith Desormeaux |
| 35 | Shipsational | 4 | Midshipman | Edward Barker |
| 36 | Life is Great | 4 | Tapiture | Robert Klesaris |
| 37 | Osbourne | 4 | Tapiture | Ron Moquett |
| 38 | Double Thunder | 4 | Super Saver | Todd Pletcher |
| 39 | Tough to Tame | 4 | Speightster | Christopher Davis |
| 40 | Wit | 4 | Practical Joke | Todd Pletcher |
| 41 | Smarten Up | 4 | American Freedom | Alfredo Velazquez |
| 42 | Cabo Spirit | 4 | Pioneerof the Nile | George Papaprodromou |
| 43 | Volcanic | 4 | Violence | Mark Casse |
| 44 | Del Mo | 4 | Uncle Mo | Doug O’Neill |
| 45 | Tejano Twist | 4 | Practical Joke | Bret Calhoun |
| 46 | Stolen Base | 4 | Bodemeister | Mike Maker |
| 47 | Ben Diesel | 3 | Will Take Charge | Dallas Stewart |
| 48 | Gilded Age | 2 | Medaglia d’Oro | Bill Mott |
| 49 | Ignitis | 2 | Nyquist | D. Wayne Lukas |
| 50 | Red Knobs | 2 | Union Rags | Dale Romans |
| 51 | Cooke Creek | 2 | Uncle Mo | Jeremiah O’Dwyer |
| 52 | Surfer Dude | 2 | Curlin | Dallas Stewart |
| 53 | Midnight Chrome | 2 | Caifornia Chrome | Tyler Servis |
| 54 | Bourbon Heist | 1 | Practical Joke | Ian Wilkes |
| 55 | Mr Jefferson | 1 | Constitution | Mike Trombetta |
| 56 | Durante | 1 | Distorted Humor | Doug O’Neill |
| 57 | Kevin’s Folly | 1 | Distorted Humor | Tom Amoss |
| 58 | Strike Hard | 1 | Flashback | Matthew Williams |
| 59 | Trafalger | 1 | Lord Nelson | Al Stall |
| 60 | Unbridled Bomber | 1 | Upstart | James Ryerson |
| 61 | Galt | 1 | Medaglia d’Oro | Bill Mott |
| 62 | Sir London | 1 | Malibu Moon | Simon Callaghan |
| 63 | lL Bellator | 1 | Shackleford | Jose Bautista |
| 64 | Grantham | 1 | Declaration of War | Mike Maker |
| 65 | American Sanctuary | 1 | American Freedom | Christopher Davis |
| 66 | Rich Strike | 1 | Keen Ice | Eric Reed |
| 67 | My Prankster | 1 | Into Mischief | Todd Pletcher |
