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Comma to the Top has been removed from the roster of wagering interests for this week’s third and final pool of Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Derby Future Wager (“KDFW”) after trainer Peter Miller confirmed to a track official that the horse will not be entered in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade I).
Wagering on Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 3 opens at noon (EDT) April 1 at racetracks and off-track betting centers, and through TwinSpires.com and other advance deposit wagering platforms. Betting on the pool is scheduled to close at 6 p.m. April 3. The 137th running of the Derby is scheduled for May 7.
Comma to the Top, winner of the CashCall Futurity (gr. I) at Hollywood Park was one of the most accomplished 2-year-olds of 2010 and finished fourth in the recent San Felipe (gr. II). Miller said concerns about the gelding’s ability to handle the Kentucky Derby’s 1 ¼-mile distance have prompted his connections to focus on goals for Comma to the Top other than the Run for the Roses.
“Peter Miller has confirmed that he and the ownership group have no plans to run Comma to the Top in the Kentucky Derby, although the horse is doing well and is still being pointed toward a run in next week’s grade I Santa Anita Derby,” said John Asher, vice president, racing communications, at Churchill. “Although Mr. Miller could not absolutely rule out a change of heart should Comma to the Top run a spectacular race at Santa Anita, a bid for the Kentucky Derby is clearly not in his current plans for the horse. Since we did receive this word before the wagering on Kentucky Derby Future Pool 3 opens on Friday (April 1), no win or exacta wagering will be accepted on Comma to the Top in Pool 3. But, in this unusual situation, Comma to the Top will go back into the mutuel field, or ‘all others’, on the remote chance that he could still compete in the Kentucky Derby. The Derby Future bet carries a higher risk than most pari-mutuel wagers, so this decision to freeze wagering on Comma to the Top is an effort to look out for the best interests of all patrons who support this special wager.”
The suspension of wagering on Comma to the Top in the April 1-3 Kentucky Derby Future Wager leaves Pool 3 with 22 individual horses and the mutuel field, which includes all 3-year-olds other than the individual wagering interests in the pool.
