After finishing second behind Blazing Sevens , Tapit Trice , and Disarm in graded stakes either this year or last, Verifying will be favored to pick up an elusive stakes victory in the $300,000 Indiana Derby (G3) July 8 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
The 1 1/16-mile Indiana Derby is the richest Thoroughbred race in Indiana.
Verifying—runner-up in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1), Matt Winn Stakes (G3), and 2022 Champagne Stakes (G1)—leads the nine-horse field in earnings, having made $568,900 in eight starts. A debut winner at Saratoga Race Course last summer, the 3-year-old Justify colt also won an allowance optional claiming race at Oaklawn Park early in the year but is 0-for-6 in stakes, four of them grade 1s.
A half brother to 2019 champion older dirt female Midnight Bisou, he races for Coolmore Stud-affiliated owners Westerberg, Susan Magnier, Jonathan Poulin, Derrick Smith, and Michael Tabor. The colt is trained by Brad Cox, who won the 2020 Indiana Derby with Godolphin's Shared Sense.
Verifying faces opposition led by stakes winners Raise Cain and Hayes Strike following a last-out, half-length defeat to Disarm in the June 11 Matt Winn Stakes at Ellis Park.
#2 Disarm takes the $400k Matt Winn S. at Ellis Park under @JRosarioJockey for trainer Steve Asmussen and owner Winchell Thoroughbreds! 🏆
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) June 11, 2023
Disarm finished 4th in this year's #KentuckyDerby!
🎥 #TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/4WFyVfARTJ
Raise Cain and fellow Indiana Derby entrant Georgie W are cross-entered in the $250,000 Iowa Derby Saturday night at Prairie Meadows. Raise Cain's trainer, Ben Colebrook, said July 6 he planned to run his horse in Indiana.
Andrew and Rania Warren's Raise Cain, winner of the Gotham Stakes (G3) in March at Aqueduct Racetrack, raced against Verifying in his last three races. He finished behind him when Raise Cain was fifth in the Blue Grass and fourth in the Matt Winn, but was ahead of Verifying when eighth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs, passing Verifying when that one retreated to 16th after setting a hot early pace.
Luan Machado is aboard Raise Cain while Marcelino Pedroza Jr. has the mount on Verifying.
Dixiana Farms' dual stakes-winning Hayes Strike also raced in the Blue Grass, checking in seventh. He subsequently won the May 29 Texas Derby at Lone Star Park before finishing a well-beaten third behind Two Phil's and Bishops Bay in a swiftly-run Ohio Derby (G3) June 24. Brian Hernandez Jr. is aboard for trainer Kenny McPeek.
Cox and McPeek also have stakes winners entered in the $200,000 Indiana Oaks (G3), with Cox starting Don Alberto Stable's homebred Merlazza and McPeek running Northern Farm's Defining Purpose.
The latter, a 20-1 upsetter of the April 7 Ashland Stakes (G1) at Keeneland, makes her first start since weakening to seventh in the May 5 Kentucky Oaks (G1).
Richard Bahde's Taxed, who rolled to victory in the May 19 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) at Pimlico Race Course after she was excluded from an overdrawn Kentucky Oaks, is the likely public choice in the Indiana Oaks. Rafael Bejarano is aboard for trainer Randy Morse.
The Indiana Oaks and Indiana Derby are the final two races on a 12-race program that includes six other stakes races and overall purses in excess of $1.1 million—the state's biggest day of Thoroughbred horse racing. Post time for the Indiana Oaks, the 11th race, is 6:03 p.m. ET, followed by the Indiana Derby at 6:40 p.m.
Horseshoe Indianapolis, Saturday, July 8, 2023, Race 12Entries: Indiana Derby (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Transect (KY) Gerardo Corrales 118 Paulo H. Lobo 15/1 2 2Raise Cain (KY) Luan Machado 124 Ben Colebrook 10/1 3 3Act a Fool (KY) Orlando Mojica 124 Larry Rivelli 6/1 4 4Onthestage (KY) Luis A. Fuentes 118 Steven M. Asmussen 10/1 5 5Verifying (KY) Marcelino Pedroza, Jr. 124 Brad H. Cox 8/5 6 6Stayinyourlane (KY) Eduardo E. Perez 118 Tomas Medina 30/1 7 7Hayes Strike (KY) Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. 124 Kenneth G. McPeek 3/1 8 8Cagliostro (FL) Edgar Morales 118 Cherie DeVaux 8/1 9 9Georgie W (KY) Alex Achard 118 William Walden 12/1
Horseshoe Indianapolis, Saturday, July 8, 2023, Race 11Entries: Indiana Oaks (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Cotton Candy Annie (KY) Orlando Mojica 121 Armando Hernandez 30/1 2 2Taxed (KY) Rafael Bejarano 121 Randy L. Morse 2/1 3 3Merlazza (KY) Marcelino Pedroza, Jr. 121 Brad H. Cox 6/1 4 4Flamand (KY) Edgar Morales 115 Elias Lopez 20/1 5 5Defining Purpose (KY) Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. 121 Kenneth G. McPeek 8/5 6 6Lily Poo (KY) James Graham 119 Michael W. McCarthy 5/1 7 7Cloak of Mercy (KY) Fernando De La Cruz 115 John Alexander Ortiz 10/1 8 8Sandra D (KY) David Cohen 115 Steve Margolis 20/1
