Derby-Favorite Birdstone to Finally Be Tested Today

The 130th Kentucky Derby will be run six weeks from today. There’s such a free-for-all going on among the country’s 3-year-olds that Birdstone, a flimsy Derby favorite in some quarters, has run only once this year and has yet to start in a stakes race.

Birdstone can hide no longer. In his fifth start, he’s the even-money morning-line favorite against 10 rivals today in the $500,000 Lane’s End Stakes at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.

“His maiden win was eye-popping,� said Jerry Bailey, who rides Birdstone. “Now he needs to step up, and still have enough left for the Derby. He’ll go to the top of the class if he doesn’t get beat.�

Birdstone, a son of Grindstone, the 1996 Kentucky Derby winner, is already No. 1 according to the ratings of Tribune Co., the New York Times, the Louisville Courier-Journal, the New York Post, the National Thoroughbred Racing Assn. and Blood-Horse magazine. He’s tied for second, behind his stablemate, Eurosilver, in the Daily Racing Form’s listings.

That’s a lot of attention for a colt whose only 2004 start produced a three-length allowance win at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 14. As a 2-year-old, Birdstone finished third in the Eclipse awards voting, behind Action This Day and Cuvee. Trainer Nick Zito shut down Birdstone before the Breeders’ Cup, after the colt beat maidens by 12 1/2 lengths, ran fourth in the Hopeful at Saratoga and trounced the opposition in the Champagne at Belmont Park.

Zito, who has won the Derby twice, trains Eurosilver and The Cliff’s Edge, who also could wind up in the starting gate at Churchill Downs on May 1. After both were beaten last Saturday at Gulfstream Park, Eurosilver missing by a head in the Swale and The Cliff’s Edge finishing third in the Florida Derby, Zito said he would run Eurosilver in the Blue Grass at Keeneland and The Cliff’s Edge in the Arkansas Derby. Both of those races are on April 10, the same day as the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, where Birdstone might run after he gets past today’s race.

Zito also trained Bird Town to an Eclipse award-winning season as a 3-year-old filly last year. Bird Town and Birdstone, owned by racing dowager Marylou Whitney, are both out of the mare Dear Birdie, which makes them half-sisters. Bird Town’s sire was Cape Town.

Birdstone, who was foaled in May, later than most Derby winners, is not a big horse. “He’s a lot like his sister in that respect,� Zito said. “They remind you of little racing cars. They don’t have a lot of size, but they can move, and they’re tough competitors.�

Birdstone drew the inside post for the Lane’s End. Outside him, in order, are That’s An Outrage, Hippocrates, Stolen Time, Tap Dancing Mauk, Hasslefree, Silver Minister, New Element, Tricky Taboo, Little Matth, Man and Sinister G.

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In other Kentucky Derby preps today, Eddington and Redskin Warrior will try to extend their winning streaks in the $200,000 Gotham at Aqueduct, and undefeated Smarty Jones aims for his fifth straight win in the $200,000 Rebel at Oaklawn Park.

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State racing investigators reportedly conducted a search of trainer Vladimir Cerin’s barn on Friday morning at Santa Anita. A spokesman for the California Horse Racing Board declined to confirm whether one of Cerin’s horses tested positive for a prohibited medication. No stewards’ ruling has been issued. “I’ve been in Florida, buying horses,� Cerin said late Friday. “I wasn’t at the barn [Friday]. I might have something to say in a day or two.�