Parimutuels

Coin Silver gives Pletcher three in the Derby

By wire services
Published April 24, 2005

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Trainer Todd Pletcher's stable for the Kentucky Derby grew to three Saturday, but there won't be a return trip to Churchill Downs for John Servis and Stewart Elliott.

Coin Silver, a 13-1 shot in a seven-horse field, pulled away in the stretch and won the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland, giving Pletcher another horse to run in the May 7 Derby.

Rockport Harbor, trained by Servis - who won last year's Derby with Smarty Jones - faded in the stretch and finished sixth as the 3-5 favorite. The loss will keep Rockport Harbor out of the Derby in two weeks, Servis said.

"He never got a hold of the track," Servis said. "That's par for the course with the way things have been going this year."

The gray son of Unbridled's Song, unbeaten as a 2-year-old, never held the lead in the 1 1/16th-mile Lexington, which was run over a sloppy track, with the temperature at 42 degrees, stiff northwest winds and light rain.

Pletcher's run of success in this year's Derby preps continued with Coin Silver, who has two wins in five career starts and had never run in a stakes race before Saturday.

Last week, Pletcher's Bandini won the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and Flower Alley finished second in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, both earning trips to the Kentucky Derby. Flower Alley earlier won the Lane's End Stakes at Turfway Park, while Monarch Lane finished second in the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne.

The 37-year-old Pletcher never has won the Derby. He took four horses to the race in 2000 and has missed only one year since.

Sort It Out, trained by Bob Baffert, finished second and earned $65,000. It's not enough, however, to crack the top 20 list of graded-stakes earners, meaning Baffert, who has won the Derby three times, likely will miss the race for the second straight year after having at least one starter in the race for eight straight years.

Coin Silver, the Kentucky-bred son of Anees, grabbed the lead near the top of stretch and won by 31/2 lengths in 1:45.76. Sort It Out was another 31/2 lengths ahead of Storm Surge. Forever Wild, Going Wild, Rockport Harbor and Actxecutive rounded out the field.

Going Wild, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, finished fifth two weeks after a last-place effort in the Wood Memorial. Lukas, a four-time Derby winner, will send out Consolidator in the Derby.

Coin Silver paid $28.80, $10 and $5.60. Sort It Out paid $6.20 and $4.20, and Storm Surge $4.20.

FEDERICO TESIO STAKES: Woodrow Marriott's Malibu Moonshine won the 11/8-mile, $150,000 race by three-quarters of a length over Hello Jerry in 1:53.31 at Pimlico in Baltimore. The winner paid $8.40.

HOLLYWOOD PARK: Stewards dismissed three complaints against the owner of Sweet Catomine, the 3-year-old filly whose condition during the Santa Anita Derby April 9 sparked controversy. After a three-hour hearing, the three stewards said a California Horse Racing Board attorney failed to prove that Marty Wygod committed acts detrimental to racing.

TAMPA BAY DOWNS: Jesus Castanon won three races at the Oldsmar track to lead T.D. Houghton in the jockey standings 90-85.

[Last modified April 24, 2005, 01:03:20]