Creator’s furious rally in the final three furlongs of the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) on Saturday earned the colt his first graded stakes victory and a likely start in the Kentucky Derby (G1) in three weeks.
In naearly all seven of his previous starts, Creator was near the back of the field in the early stages, and Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile Arkansas Derby was no exception. Rafael Santana let the field duke it out on the front end, while Creator was content to tarry at the rear of the 12-horse field.
Gettysburg, who is also owned by WinStar Farm, sped through a half-mile on :46.33 and six furlongs in 1:10.61. It was at that point that Creator began to rally up along the rail, then swung three-wide by Santana coming into the stretch and even wider in the straight, running by the entire field in less than a quarter mile to win by 1 1/4-lengths over Suddenbreakingnews in 1:50.14 on a fast track.
Gettysburg held well to be fifth after the torrid early fractions.
“Ricardo has a ton of confidence in the horse and I’m glad to see him rewarded for how much he believed in the horse,” said winning trainer Steve Asmussen. “I can’t say enough about the job that (assistant) Darren Fleming and (exercise rider) Abel Flores have done with this horse here at Oaklawn.”
As far as the Kentucky Derby, Asmussen said, “Obviously, we want him to come out of it very good. With him doing better at longer distances, it’s easy to dream about the Derby.”
Creator earned 100 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby and now has a total of 110, ranking sixth and ensuring him a starting spot in the Run for the Roses.
Creator, a son of Tapit out of the Privately Held mare Morena, was bred by Mt. Brilliant Broodmares LLC in Kentucky and was a $440,000 purchase at the 2012 Keeneland September Yearling sale. With his Arkansas Derby win, he improved to 2-4-1 in eight starts and has earned $768,320. He was third in the Rebel S. (G2) one month ago.
