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Classic Spotlight: Hard Spun



Racing Analysis by Steve Haskin

If meticulous strategizing is going to pay dividends in this year’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), then you have to believe that Hard Spun will be tough to beat.

Hard Spun’s connections, trainer Larry Jones and owner Rick Porter, have been scrutinizing every aspect of the track surfaces at Oaklawn Park, Keeneland, and Churchill Downs, and devised a plan on how to get their colt to the Derby the best way possible. That scrutiny also pertained to the colt’s racing schedule, which culminated with their decision to skip the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) and train Hard Spun up to the Derby off a six-week layoff.

It certainly hasn’t been a conventional road to Louisville, but the bottom line is that Hard Spun boasts one of the best records of any Derby horse, with five victories in six starts. The main question, however, is, how will he fare against the leading Derby contenders, none of which he has faced? By missing the Blue Grass, he will not provide the answer until May 5.

Because Hard Spun showed a dislike for the Oaklawn surface, as indicated by his fourth-place finish in the Southwest Stakes, Jones began experimenting with the colt’s work schedule after his victory in the Lane’s End Stakes (gr. II), vanning him from Keeneland to Churchill to work to make sure he took to the surface before committing to the Derby.

Some felt it was over-thinking, and that Hard Spun should have been in the Blue Grass. But Jones has become a rising star in the sport because of his natural skills as a horseman and a sharp mind for details. He plans everything with great care, and the Kentucky Derby certainly is not going to be any different.

We’ll know soon enough what the fruits of his labor will bring. But with his carefully mapped-out plan, and the ability to alter it at a moment’s notice, you can be sure Hard Spun will be given every opportunity to showcase his talents on the first Saturday in May.

Pedigree Profile by Avalyn Hunter

One of the fine female families developed by Darby Dan Farm is that of Banquet Bell, now represented by impressive Lane’s End Stakes (gr. II) winner Hard Spun. The daughter of Polynesian produced two champions by Swaps in Primonetta (1962 champion handicap mare) and Chateaugay (winner of the 1963 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes and champion 3-year-old male). Banquet Bell also produced the My Babu filly Luiana, whose son Little Current (by Sea-Bird) won the 1974 Preakness (gr. I) and Belmont (gr. I) Stakes and was champion 3-year-old male that year.

Darbyvail, by Roberto and a half-sister to Little Current, won two of 13 starts but earned no black type. Perhaps she would have accomplished more had she been tried on turf, for that proved to be the favorite surface of her daughter Turkish Tryst (by Turkoman). Unplaced in four tries on dirt, Turkish Tryst sported a record of 4-1-2 from 11 starts on grass, including a victory in the April Run Stakes. Hard Spun is the best of Turkish Tryst’s offspring so far, but she has also produced the stakes-winning Stravinsky filly Our Rite of Spring.

Hard Spun himself is by the late Danzig, who as the sire of 1992 Preakness winner Pine Bluff and 1986 Belmont winner Danzig Connection will join an elite club of stallions that have managed to sire at least one winner of each of America’s Triple Crown races if Hard Spun can pull off a Derby victory. In an ironic touch, the last stallion to accomplish the feat was Mr. Prospector, whose son Fusaichi Pegasus—out of a full sister to Pine Bluff—completed a posthumous triple for his sire by winning the 2000 Kentucky Derby.

Hard Spun may not win the Derby, but on paper, he will not be one of those who are ready to spit out the bit at the eighth pole. Like the heritage of Darby Dan, he is bred to last, and the speed he has already shown, coupled with that stamina, is enough to make him a serious contender if he makes it to the Derby starting gate.