Remington Springboard Mile — Race 12 (11:28 p.m. ET)
The $400,000 Remington Springboard Mile, which will be run late Friday night at Remington Park, is the penultimate point-scoring opportunity of the year for the 2022 Kentucky Derby (G1). But not for everyone in the nine-horse field.
Horses running with the diuretic Lasix are ineligible to earn qualifying points in any Road to the Kentucky Derby series prep, and only four entrants in the Springboard Mile will run Lasix-free. However, the winner could come from either group.
Among those eligible for the points — 10-4-2-1 to the top four finishers — is Osbourne, a gelded son of Tapiture trained by Ron Moquett. Osbourne finished second in his debut at Churchill Downs to eventual stakes winner Howling Time, and then found an easier group to handle next out winning a restricted, seven-furlong maiden auction race at the Louisville track on Nov. 17.
Also points eligible are Make It Big, who invades from Gulfstream following back-to-back wins against Florida-breds for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.; Revenir, the longshot runner-up in the Clever Trevor S. at Remington in late October; and Rich Strike, third in a one-mile allowance at Keeneland last time.
Those running with Lasix include the Steve Asmussen-trained pair of Classic Moment and Concept. A narrowly beaten third on debut at Keeneland, Classic Moment rebounded to graduate at Churchill over the same 6 1/2-furlong distance as his first outing. Classic Moment is a son of first-crop sire and champion Classic Empire.
Hailing from the incredible first crop of Horse of the Year Gun Runner, the speedy Concept broke his maiden third out in the six-furlong Kip Deville S., but hasn’t been effective employing rate-and-pounce tactics. That was the case in the aforementioned Clever Trevor, where he faded to fourth after making a narrow lead at the half-mile mark.
Bye Bye Bobby, who at first asking captured the Zia Park Juvenile by 1 1/2 lengths with an off-the-pace rally, looms a significant danger. The $870,000 yearling buy is a son of Quality Road and is trained by Todd Fincher, who saddled Senor Buscador to win the 2020 Springboard Mile.
Earlier in the card, the $100,000 Trapeze S. for two-year-old fillies at one mile features Park On the Nile, a dominant 7 1/4-lenth debut winner for Kenny McPeek at Churchill three weeks ago.
Her main rivals figure to be Optionality, winner of the Zia Park Princess S. for Asmussen, and last-out maiden winner Golden Sights. The latter debuts here for Brad Cox, who has won with three of his first five starters at the Remington meet.
