International Star tops on the ‘Road to the Kentucky Derby’

Louisville, KY (SportsNetwork.com) – The next phase in the “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points system began Saturday with a pair of stakes offering 50 points to the winning horse.

International Star won the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds and Itsaknockout was awarded the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park to move into first and second, respectively, on the leaderboard.

“I’m looking forward to going back to Kentucky with a real-live Derby prospect,” said Ken Ramsey who owns International Star with his wife Sarah. “I’ll be 80 years old on Nov. 3 and this is my shot at the Derby. This has been a dream of mine since I was five years old – trying to figure out some way to win that Kentucky Derby.”

Itsaknockout, trained by Todd Pletcher, won the Fountain of Youth when Upstart was disqualified from first to second after bumping Itsaknockout at the top of the stretch.

“I hate winning in that situation. You always want to be the first one to cross the finish line. But we’ve been on both sides of that. It stings when you’re the winner and sometimes when you feel like you’ve been impeded and you don’t get put up,” Pletcher said. “But I’m proud of the horse for what he was able to do, to run so well against a more seasoned horse says a lot about him and his quality. Hopefully, he can come back and keep moving forward.”

Upstart, trained by Rick Violette, crossed the finish line 2 3/4 lengths ahead of Itsaknockout, was taken down but still picked up 20 Kentucky Derby points to be in third-place with 36 points.

“Bad call. They (the stewards) have to understand that when the horse gets hit behind the girth, the only place the horse can go is to the right,” Violette said. “It’s disappointing. The horse ran great, we just don’t get credit for it. Don’t know what’s next, but we might have to go to New York.”

Jerome winner El Kabeir, second in the Withers, is fourth with 25 points and Risen Star runner-up War Story has 24 points.

Far Right won Sunday’s Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park earning 10 points good for sixth-place followed by Dortmund (20), Carpe Diem (14), Mr. Z (14) and Frosted (13) to round out the top 10.

This week there are no points producing stakes. Saturday at Gulfstream Park will be the seven-furlong Swale and at Turfway Park is the 1 1/16-mile John Battaglia Memorial.

Categorized in: Horses