MAKE ROOM FOR ‘DADDY’
Fresh off his convincing 11/4-length score over a solid field in Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, Scat Daddy fits the traditional profile of a Kentucky Derby winner in almost every category.
He’s as honest, game and classy as they come, with five wins, a second, third and fourth from eight starts, seven of those in graded stakes. He was a Grade 1 winner going a distance as a 2-year-old, taking the mile Champagne. This year, he has won two stakes going a mile-and-an-eighth and is the first colt to win both the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby since Thunder Gulch, who won the roses for Scat Daddy’s part-owner, Michael Tabor, in 1995. He is also a dosage system dual-qualifier, with a strong dosage profile of 10-3-11-2-0 and dosage index of 2.47, suggesting a horse that can stay a distance, according to dosage theory.
As one of several top-class 3-year-olds from the powerhouse barn of Todd Pletcher, Scat Daddy has a trainer who, while still seeking his first classic victory, has had several runners place in the Triple Crown races. It’s only a matter of time before Pletcher wins a classic, and that will open the floodgates for many more.
With John Velazquez, who rode Scat Daddy in all his previous starts, in Dubai for World Cup Day, Edgar Prado got the mount for the Florida Derby. California invader Stormello, beaten a nose by Scat Daddy after setting a lively pace in the March 3 Fountain of Youth and making his second cross-country trip in a month, again went to the lead, cutting quick splits of :23 and :46.3, pressed by Adore the Gold, with Scat Daddy stalking outside. Chelokee – trained by Michael Matz, who won last year’s Florida Derby with the star-crossed Barbaro – was tucked in behind the leaders, saving ground under Ramon Dominguez.
Turning for home, Scat Daddy cruised up wide to bid for the lead, while Dominguez – whose penchant for trying to rally up the rail tends to backfire – had to snatch up Chelokee when Victor Espinoza, on Stormello, wouldn’t let him through. In mid-stretch, Scat Daddy clawed past Stormello and gradually kicked clear, coming home the last furlong in a smart :13.1 for a final time of 1:49.
California-based Notional, daylight winner of the San Rafael and Risen Star in his prior two starts, finished well for second in his first race since Feb. 10. Chelokee recovered to be an unlucky third, while Stormello faded to fourth.
Off that victory, and with everything else he’s got going for him, why isn’t Scat Daddy numero uno atop the Derby Dozen?
Two reasons. One, despite his strong dosage numbers, Scat Daddy is suspect at a mile-and-a-quarter, simply because of his sire, Johannesburg. Bred to be precocious, Jo’burg was champion 2-year-old in Europe and the U.S. but did not train on as a 3-year-old, finishing eighth in an ill-advised trip to the Derby.
Second, Scat Daddy will try to win the Derby off a five-week layoff. True, last year Barbaro became the first horse since Needles in 1956 to accomplish that feat. But Barbaro was a freak, in the best sense of that word. And even with his victory, runners coming off five-week layoffs have won the Derby once in the past 50 years.
