Victories by Overanalyze and Uncaptured in group II stakes Nov. 24 propelled the 2-year-olds into the numbers four and five positions, respectively, in the standings on the "Road to the Kentucky Derby."
The series was announced earlier this year by Churchill Downs to replace the previous system of determining the 20-horse starting field for the May 4, 2013, Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) on the basis of purses earned in graded stakes.
A similar race series and points system has been devised to determine the starting field for the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I), scheduled for May 3.
Overanalyze's win in the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct Race Course and the game victory by Uncaptured over Frac Daddy in the Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs earned them 10 points each in the standings. Following leader Shanghai Bobby 's 20 points and the 14 for Goldencents, there are six horses with 10 points each; they are further ranked based on purses earned in unrestricted stakes races.
There is one more stake--the $750,000 CashCall Futurity (gr. I) at Betfair Hollywood Park--remaining in 2012 on the "Road to the Kentucky Derby." There have now been four qualifying stakes in the 14-race "Kentucky Derby Prep Season" portion of the Derby Trail for which points are awarded on a 10-4-2-1 basis for the first- through fourth-place finishers, respectively. The final race in the prep season will be the Feb. 18 Southwest Stakes (gr. II) at Oaklawn Park.
The first leg in the three-series "Kentucky Derby Championship Series," in which the points increase to 50-20-10-5, begins Feb. 23 with the Fountain of Youth (gr. II).
The Top 20 point earners will earn a spot in the Kentucky Derby starting gate if more than 20 horses enter the race (at least 20 horses have entered the Derby every year since 2004 and 12 of the last 14 years). Up to 24 horses may enter and four horses may be listed as "also eligible" with the potential of drawing into the field should any of the higher-ranked entrants be scratched in the days leading up to the race.
If two or more horses have the same number of points, the tiebreaker to get into the Derby or Oaks fields will be earnings in non-restricted stakes races, whether graded or not. In the event of a dead-heat in a Road to the Kentucky Derby race, those horses will divide equally the points they would have received jointly had one beaten the other.
See complete points for "Road to the Kentucky Derby"
