Steve Asmussen is sending out two starters in the Kentucky Derby, Z Fortune and Pyro.  Z Fortune broke his maiden at Belmont Park and he won easily.  That day Z Fortune raced with the pace while three wide, drew away when asked and was ridden out to the finish.  After that start he went to Aqueduct for an allowance, which he won.  He set the pace along the inside, drew clear when asked in the upper stretch and widened.  Then he made two starts at the Fair Grounds where he finished 1st in the Lecomte Stakes and 2nd in the Risen Star stakes.  Check out the 2008 Kentucky Derby betting odds at bodoglife.com.

 

Asmussen then sent Z Fortune to Oaklawn Park to make two starts.  In his first start there he finished 5th in the Rebel Stakes.  People were so upset that day because he was the favorite and ran terrible.  You have to understand two things, that day he had post #9 and he left the gate to the first turn and didn't break well, that track was favoring speed that day.  The second thing, Asmussen used this horse that day just to get a trip around the track because he knew he was going to run him around the same track again, so it was like a workout for him.  He was looking for bigger things down the road. He got that shot a few weeks later at the same track, Oaklawn, and finished second in the Arkansas Derby, which is a prep race for the Kentucky Derby.

 

I think his best race out of all of them is when he finished second in the Arkansas Derby.   He bobbled slightly after the start, four wide in the first turn, behind the pace, advanced four wide in the second turn, and came home strong to get second.  He was full of pace, but Oaklawn Park has the shortest stretch and he needed more distance.  He will get the distance in the Kentucky Derby.

 

Z Fortune is a dark horse who will pay a very good price on Derby Day.  Stretching out to 10 furlongs will help him a lot as he needed more distance in his last race, and was full of run after the race.  He was second to Pyro in the Risen Star and second to Gayego in the Arkansas Derby.  He's a good closer and looked like he was going to catch Gayego if the race was just a little longer.  The Kentucky Derby pace is going to set up for a closer.  The big thing you have to take into consideration is that Steve Asmussen has had a ton of success as a trainer at Churchill Downs. You are going to get a good price on this horse and he can certainly be right there at the end.

 

 

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