Lane's End Stakes
by Patricia Woo | Mar 16 2009
Our race of the week is the only
Kentucky Derby prep race that will be run the weekend of March 21, the $500,000 Gr. 2 Lane’s End Stakes at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky. The 38th running of this 1 1/8-mile race will feature some of the lesser-known Kentucky Derby prospects like Bittel Road, West Side Bernie and Hold Me Back, and will afford horse bettors the opportunity to get a glimpse at some of the potential upsetters on Kentucky Derby day.
Kentucky-bred Bittel Road first made waves as a 2-year-old when he won three straight races, including the $80,000 With Anticipation Stakes in August and the $200,000 Gr. 3 Bourbon Stakes in October. He was considered a frontrunner in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf but weakened in the stretch run and finished eighth. A son of Stormy Atlantic, Bittel Road followed up his
Breeders’ Cup disappointment with a trio of near misses, including his latest outing, a fourth-place finish in the $200,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Feb. 7. Trainer Todd Pletcher will be looking for a return to that 2-year-old form when his charge takes on fellow 3-year-olds this Saturday.
West Side Bernie is another colt whose winning ways were seemingly derailed by his Breeders’ Cup event. Winner of the $100,000 Kentucky Cup Juvenile Stakes in September, this Kelly Breen trainee seemed well on his way to translating that success into a win at the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile event in October. But a sixth-place finish kicked off a string of bridesmaid performances in which he finished second in the $750,000 Gr. 3 Delta Jackpot in December and third in the $150,000 Gr. 3 Holy Bull Stakes in January. However, this Bernstein colt will be returning to the site of his Kentucky Cup Juvenile Stakes win,
Turfway Park, and perhaps a return to the synthetic Polytrack surface will be just what West Side Bernie needs for a breakthrough performance.
Another colt returning to Polytrack in search of success is the Kentucky-bred Hold Me Back, a son of Giant’s Causeway. Trained by Bill Mott and owned by WinStar Farm, Hold Me Back broke his maiden on the Polytrack surface at Arlington Park and then went on to win an allowance race at Keeneland, which also features Polytrack. But Hold Me Back’s first foray onto conventional dirt netted him a disappointing fifth place in the Gr. 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct in November. While a penchant for Polytrack will not be an advantage come Kentucky Derby day – Churchill Downs still features a conventional dirt track – it might be just the edge that Hold Me Back needs for the Lane’s End Stakes on Saturday.
Others slated to start include A.P. Cardinal, Orthodox and Parade Clown.
In the history of the Kentucky Derby, only one winner has come from the Lane’s End Stakes: Lil E. Tee in 1992. Will there be a Kentucky Derby – Lane’s End Stakes connection this year?
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