After watching the big 3-year-old races on Saturday, you have to feel let down by what transpired.
The day kicked off with the $2,000,000 UAE Derby in Dubai and the best performance in that race by a sophomore was a third place finish by Mendip. That colt, who was 3-for-3 coming into that heat, is owned by racing powerhouse Godolphin who has yet to win a Kentucky Derby but wants to win one in the worst way. Not sure if he will make the trip to Louisville but it's a good guess that he will.
The next race on the slate was the Lane's End at Turfway Park. This race has not produced a major Derby contender in some years so there was no great hope that one would emerge and the race lived down to those expectations.
Dean's 
Kitten, (left) owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey and trained by Mike Maker, took the $500,000 event but his time was very slow over the "artificial dirt" and the field was not very good. The beaten favorite, Connemara, finished an unimpressive third but you should expect to see him in the Derby.
Kitten, (left) owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey and trained by Mike Maker, took the $500,000 event but his time was very slow over the "artificial dirt" and the field was not very good. The beaten favorite, Connemara, finished an unimpressive third but you should expect to see him in the Derby.
But there was hope in the final race of the day with the $750,000 Louisiana Derby. There appeared to be some horses with a bright future but once again, we were let down. The only bright spot was for trainer Todd Pletcher who added yet another horse to his growing stable for the "Run for the Roses" as Mission Impazible (right) wore down pacesetter A Little Warm in the stretch for an impressive three-quarters of a length win. Pletcher's other entrant in the race, Discreetly Mine, ran fourth.
Pletcher has eight horses that could run in the Derby and five are safely inside the Top 20 list of Graded Stakes earnings (Rule, Mission Impazible, Discreetly Mine, Interactif and Aikenite).
The horse with perhaps the biggest upside and talent in the Louisiana Derby, Drosselmeyer, ran a closing third but now may not be able to get into the Derby as he only has $94,500 in Graded Stakes earnings. It's likely he'll need another $100,000 or so to get in and he is doubtful to run again.
One can only hope that Sunday's $800,000 Sunland Park Derby, which produced 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, will have a winner with a little more flash that we saw on Saturday.
Photos courtesy of Eclipse Sportswire
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