Photo:
Casey Laughter / Eclipse Sportswire
Further Ado figures to start as the one to beat Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx, a familiar role for the son of Gun Runner.
The Brad Cox-trained colt went off as the betting favorite in six of his last seven races. David Osojnak, director of racing and racing secretary at Parx, installed him as the 2-1 morning-line favorite.
Further Ado won four of those seven races as the betting choice, some by lopsided margins. He romped by 11 lengths in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) April 4 at Keeneland and won the Matt Winn Stakes (G3) by 2 lengths June 7 at Churchill Downs. He also broke his maiden by 20 lengths last October at Keeneland.
He also has thrown in some clunkers as the people’s choice. Sent off as the tepid 5-1 favorite in the Kentucky Derby, he finished 11th. Most recently, he went off at even money in the Haskell Stakes (G1) at Monmouth Park and ran a nonthreatening fifth.
Cox pointed to the conditions at Monmouth as part of the problem.
“We were super confident he would run well at Monmouth, and we didn’t,” Cox said. “We don’t like to make excuses … it was a sloppy track, he lost a shoe … it just didn’t work out for him.”
At his best, Further Ado can dominate a field, and Cox said he has the colt right heading into the Pennsylvania Derby. According to the trainer, Further Ado has trained at Churchill since the Haskell and has done everything the right way.
Spendthrift Farm owns Further Ado, whose record stands at 9: 4-1-1. He earned all four wins in Kentucky, two apiece at Keeneland and Churchill. His best race outside the Bluegrass State came in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3), where he finished second, 2 lengths behind Pennsylvania Derby rival The Puma.
Cox acknowledged the uneven form but defended the colt’s body of work.
“People might say he is not consistent,” Cox said. “He ran a great race at Tampa off a layoff, and he won the Blue Grass. The Derby is the Derby. You just don’t put much stock in the Derby if you don’t run as well as you had hoped.”
Flavien Prat will ride Further Ado for the first time. He replaces the injured Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode the colt in seven of his nine starts.
Cox won the 2023 Pennsylvania Derby with Saudi Crown, who returns to Parx for Saturday’s $300,000 Parx Dirt Mile Stakes.
Further Ado’s schedule called for him to ship from Churchill to Parx on Wednesday.