It took about one minute and 43 seconds — the time it took Hansen to trounce 12 outclassed opponents by three lengths in Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile Gotham Stakes at the Big A — for the 2-year-old champ to reverse the widespread opinion he was not a leading contender for the May 5 Kentucky Derby.
In fact, Hansen’s performance in the Gotham was one of the most impressive efforts by a 2-year-old champion and/or Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner in a Derby prep race since the Breeders’ Cup was inaugurated in 1984.
True, he was not facing an accomplished field. But unlike Uncle Mo, who beat a mere four foes in last year’s Timely Writer, Hansen was up against a dozen of them. With blinkers off, he also showed a new, important dimension. After being floated five wide around the clubhouse turn, Hansen relaxed off the pace for the first time, then responded when asked by Ramon Dominguez to complete a dominant performance.
Hansen’s early speed now becomes an asset rather than a liability; and as a son of Tapit, from the line of A.P. Indy and Seattle Slew, there’s reason to believe he might stay 1 ¼ miles.
But can he overcome the dreaded Breeders’ Cup Jinx?
The first BC Juvenile winner, Chief’s Crown, ran three strong races in the run-up to the Derby, winning the Swale by 3 ¼ lengths, the Flamingo by a length and the Blue Grass by 5 ½. Favored at 6-5, he ran third in the Run for the Roses, one of only three BC Juvenile winners ever to hit the board in the Derby along with Timber Country, third in 1995, and Street Sense, the winner in 2007.
Since Chief’s Crown, there have been two sensational Derby preps turned in by a 2-year-old champ and/or BC Juvenile winner: Easy Goer’s Gotham in 1989 and Unbridled’s Song’s Florida Derby in 1996.
In the Gotham, then run at a flat mile over Aqueduct’s main track, Easy Goer (who lost the BC Juvenile but was still named 2-year-old champ) exploded to win by 13 lengths in 1:32 2/5, just a tick off Dr. Fager’s world record.
In the Florida Derby, Unbridled’s Song (who won the BC Juvenile but lost the championship to Maria’s Mon) won by 5 ¾ lengths in 1:47 4/5, crushing a field that included eventual Belmont Stakes winner Editor’s Note, eventual Preakness winner Louis Quatorze, and eventual three-time champion and Horse of the Year Skip Away.
Both Easy Goer and Unbridled’s Song then scored easy victories in the Wood Memorial, and headed for Kentucky touted as potential Triple Crown winners.
But Easy Goer caught a sloppy track and Sunday Silence in the Derby, while Unbridled’s Song, after suffering an infected quarter-crack, raced with two egg-bar shoes on his front feet. They finished second and fifth, respectively, joining a long list of great horses — Native Dancer, Nashua, Bold Ruler, Damascus, Holy Bull, to name just a few — who failed to bring home the roses.
ed.fountaine@nypost.com
Florida Derby, Easy Goer, Hansen, Juvenile, Derby
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