Florida Derby Reflections

A day or two after the disappointing third place finish by Union Rags in the Florida Derby, Michael Matz told the Thoroughbred Times what he thought about the race, the ride and the impact on his horse:

Matz said he hopes both Union Rags and his jockey, Julien Leparoux, come out of the third-place finish with additional knowledge that will be useful in the Kentucky Derby on May 5. He was pleased that the race did not appear to take a whole lot out of the Dixie Union colt.

Matz said the slow pace and perhaps some aggressive race riding from El Padrino's jockey Javier Castellano, who rode Union Rags at two before giving up the mount in favor of Algorithms, proved costly in the Florida Derby.

“I think he ran his race, I just think they went slow the first part and there wasn’t much we could do about it,” Matz said. “The good part is I hope that Julien learned about the horse a little bit more. When they did go that slow, I think he would have tried to press the pace, but he was stuck in that trap and couldn’t get out of there. He knows he’s on a horse that people are going to try to get him beat, and that’s what happened. The good thing about it is Julien will put himself in a better position where he won’t let that happen again.

“I’m sure Julien is harder on himself than everyone else is and that he should have got him running a little bit more at the beginning, knowing that speed was holding up,” Matz added. “Once Javier got that position, Javier was more interested in beating Union Rags than the other horses.”

Phyllis Wyeth’s homebred Union Rags made a willing late move in the stretch as the 2-to-5 favorite to take third behind Take Charge Indy and game runner-up Reveron, but the Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) winner never seriously threatened the victor.

“Obviously, I think he only ran the last quarter of a mile, so hopefully it wasn’t a tough race on him. Maybe the good part of it is that he didn’t run a hard race going into the Derby,” said Matz, who saddled Barbaro for victories in the Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby in 2006. “But it was just disappointing because I thought he was the best horse going in.”



At the other end of the spectrum, trainer Pat Byrne reflected on Take Charge Indy's win:

“It was pretty straightforward. He broke sharp and Calvin did a super job,” said Byrne, who trained 1997 Horse of the Year Favorite Trick and 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner Awesome Again.

Byrne said Take Charge Indy, who is out of Grade 1 winner Take Charge Lady, used his tactical speed to his advantage in the Florida Derby to punch his ticket to Louisville for the first jewel of the Triple Crown.

“He’s an awful fast horse. … You know, the racetrack was in great shape and there was no secret how the racetrack was playing,” said Byrne, who picked up his first stakes win since September 2005. “My horse has tactical speed and he’s fast. I wouldn’t call it a souped-up track. Horses were running on or close to the lead. My horse can be close or taken back.”

Byrne said Chuck and Maribeth Sandford’s Take Charge Indy will be shipped to Churchill in ten days. The Florida Derby was his first stakes win, but the dark bay or brown colt finished second in the Arlington-Washington Futurity (G3) at two and also was fourth in the Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity (G1) and fifth in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1).

“We ran in three Grade 1s, so I wouldn’t have run him in graded stakes if I didn’t think he was special,” Byrne said. “He’s always shown a lot of talent. He has a tremendous amount of raw talent. He’s been on the immature side, and I’ve always said that the more time he gets, the bigger and stronger he’ll be.”


Two horses, two different trips in the same race and the question going forward will be what is the impact of each journey on each horse?