By Blood-Horse StaffMylute, who finished a neck behind Revolutionary in the Louisiana Derby (gr. II) after a thrilling stretch battle, passed through the Churchill Downs stable gate at 3:30 a.m. (EDT) Tuesday, April 2 after vanning from Fair Grounds and was bedded down in Barn 29 for trainer Tom Amoss.
Mylute earned 40 points for his runner-up effort in the Louisiana Derby and improved his total to 42, placing him No. 11 on the “Road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by TwinSpires.com” Leaderboard. His point total virtually assures him a spot in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) starting gate on the first Saturday in May.
“If he has the points and he’s healthy, then he’ll run in the Kentucky Derby,” said Amoss, who was in route to Louisville and is scheduled to arrive Tuesday evening. “He ran a nice race in the Louisiana Derby. We changed his style from being aggressive with blinkers on to taking the blinkers off and letting him relax and letting him make one run. It worked well.”
Amoss added that GoldMark Farm and Whisper Hill Farm’s Mylute will likely walk the shedrow Wednesday, April 3 and visit the Churchill Downs track for light training on Thursday, April 4.
“He’ll get a good amount of training on the Churchill Downs surface,” Amoss said. “He’s familiar with the track and trained and raced on it as a 2-year-old. We’re happy the (Kentucky Derby) is in our backyard.”
Amoss, who tied Steve Asmussen for the training title at the recently concluded Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots meet, has started two horses in the Kentucky Derby: Lone Star Sky (15th in 2003) and Backtalk (20th in 2010).
