KENTUCKY DERBY 2017 UPDATE: Guest Suite Wins Lecomte

Guest Suite picked up ten Kentucky Derby 2017 points in an off the pace tally on a muddy (sealed) main track in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds on Jan 21.

The speed figure for the Lecomte was below par and it looks as though it was a weak race. Winner Guest Suite is slowly improving for Neil Howard and should continue to progress.

If you are keeping score at home, all four Derby points races this year (Jerome, Sham, Smarty Jones, Lecomte) were contested on a wet track. The top performers in the first three listed races were on or near the lead throughout and each race produced a lopsided win and/or strung-out fields. Guest Suite rallied from 6th and earned a subpar 82 BSF in the Lecomte. The jury is still out on Uncontested (Smarty Jones), El Areeb (Jerome),  and 1-2 Sham finishers Gormley and American Anthem.

There was not a Derby points race this week. Next week (Feb 4), the Withers from Aqueduct, the Holy Bull from Gulfstream, and the Robert Lewis from Santa Anita are each worth a total of 17 Derby points to the Top 4 finishers (10-4-2-1).  

Jarrod Horak’s “Exceptional Eleven" Kentucky Derby 2017 Contenders (Updated 1-29-17)

#1 - MASTERY

#2 - Classic Empire

#3 - Three Rules

#4 - Gormley

#5 - McCraken

#6 - El Areeb

#7 - Practical Joke

#8 - Theory

#9 - Royal Mo 

#10 - Battalion Runner

#11 - Faja


You can read my entire Kentucky Derby 2017 contenders update blog at The Runaway Horse.

* Churchill Downs photo by Stacy Edwards