Dogwood Stable’s Lime Rickey, graded stakes-placed on the turf, will attempt to get on the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) trail when he tries the dirt for the first time in the grade I, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 4.
“We don’t know how he will take to dirt in a race, but now is the time to find out, and the mile and an eighth Wood Memorial is a spot that will test him pretty keenly,” said Dogwood President W. Cothran “Cot” Campbell.
Along with some of the other Florida Derby possibles, Lime Rickey ships to Belmont Park by air on April 1. Campbell said he is attempting to secure the riding services of jockeys Javier Castellano or Cornelio Velasquez.
“If Jupiter aligns with Mars in a precise manner we could get to the Derby this year,” Campbell said. “Lime Rickey is a solid grass specialist, but he has a dirt pedigree and is a game colt – and if he moves up big time he might get to Churchill Downs.”
Lime Rickey has $131,107 in purse earnings, with a win, four seconds, and three thirds from nine career starts. The colt’s last three races were all second-place finishes in turf stakes at Gulfstream Park – the $100,000 Dania Beach, the $125,000 Hallandale Beach, and most recently the grade III, $150,000 Palm Beach Stakes.
Lime Rickey is trained by Frank Alexander.