Iroquois Stakes (gr. III) winner Uncaptured, winner of five of his six starts, is expected to be favored against a dozen rivals in Saturday's $150,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. II) at Churchill Downs, an earlier prep for the Kentucky Derby.
The Mark Casse-trainee was spectacular in winning the Iroquois, overcoming traffic issues to win going away by 5 1/2 lengths. A repeat of that effort would make him very tough to beat in the Kentucky Jockey Club, although it is worth noting that the Iroquois was run around only one turn, whereas Saturday's race will be contested around two. Uncaptured's lone defeat came when traversing two turns in the Grey Stakes (gr. III) at Woodbine, his only start under such conditions.
Should Uncaptured fail to fire his best shot, there are plenty of other horses that could step up and beat him. Positively, runner-up in the Iroquois, is one such colt. Trained by Patrick Byrne, the son of Distorted Humor is bred to excel around two turns, and has hit the board in all four of his starts here at Churchill. Expect to see him charging late from off-the-pace under jockey Calvin Borel.
Other contenders include Joha, winner of the Breeders' Futurity (gr. I) two starts back; Dewey Square, unbeaten and untested in two starts for trainer Dale Romans; Tesseron, runner-up in the Grey Stakes while defeating Uncaptured; Frac Daddy, who broke his maiden at Churchill by 9 3/4 lengths; and Java's War, the troubled third-place finisher in the Breeders' Futurity.
Post Positions:
1 Java's War
2 Lew and Mike
3 Fear the Kitten
4 Uncaptured
5 Track Rocker
6 Frac Daddy
7 Will Take Charge
8 Tesseron
9 Dewey Square
10 Joha
11 Indiano Jones
12 Positively
13 Silver Tongued
-Keelerman
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