19 when Zandon finished a non-threatening third.Īlso, when comparing them head-to-head, Epicenter has a more preferable running style where he’ll be forwardly placed and more likely to avoid traffic trouble. Since then, he responded with strong wins in the next two Louisiana prep races - including a dominant performance in the Risen Star on Feb. 22 when he got passed a couple jumps before the wire. In his last five races, Epicenter has won four times - losing only in the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. Much has been made of his inexperienced but if he breaks good and goes into that turn second or third, inexperience goes right down the toilet.”īut based on past performance, it's kind of hard to figure why Epicenter isn’t a big favorite in the Derby. I’m not surprised what he did, I’m just surprised with as little preparation as he had that he did what he did. “We thought the horse had ability all along. Zedan has a severe obsession with the Derby by his own admission,” said Gary Young, the racing manager for Zedan’s stable. One can imagine how eager Zedan would be to get back in the winner’s circle this time. Zedan, by the way, also owned Medina Spirit. But owner Amr Zedan, the head of a Saudi Arabian engineering conglomerate, isn’t easily deterred.

The mere idea of going from maiden race to Kentucky Derby in the span of two months is so audacious that most owners and trainers wouldn’t even try. You’d have to go back to 1883 and a horse named Leonatus to find a Derby winner with such little experience. Though two horses this century have won the Derby with three starts under their belt - Big Brown in 2008 and Justify in 2018 - very few have even tried with just two career starts. The son of 2017 horse of the year Gun Runner did not make his debut until March 5 in a six-furlong maiden race at Santa Anita, then came back a month later in the Santa Anita Derby and won that race to stamp his ticket to the Kentucky Derby. However, what Taiba is trying to do is basically unprecedented.

The churchill factor