With its purse ratcheted up to $500,000, its distance stretched out to 1 1/8 miles, and its date moved to a more convenient spot on the calendar, Lone Star Park's derby became a genuine prep for the famed roseate run in Kentucky. The Grand Prairie, Texas, racetrack even created a $1-million bonus, to be paid to any horse that parlays a Lone Star Derby win into a victory in any of the Triple Crown races. It was a meaningful prep indeed--an ironic one, too. Percy Hope served up generous portions of both meaning and irony. The field, which included four stakes winners, had earned $1.2 million, or an average of $154,429 per starter, more than twice as much as the field for the grade II Illinois Derby. And Percy Hope, who previously had won the Rushaway Stakes at Turfway Park, once again made winning look easy.
Saturday, April 07, 2001You could call Burning Roma's victory in the Tampa Bay Derby a TKO, since the horse considered his toughest challenger, the Bill Mott-trained Mongoose, was prevented from running on a technicality. On the other hand, odds-on Burning Roma took the $200,000 stakes with such style and ease that Mongoose's presence in the field might not have mattered.
Sunday, March 18, 2001