John Clay: This could be the year the Blue Grass Stakes ends its Kentucky Derby drought

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Ever since prominent thoroughbred owners opted to stick with Bob Baffert instead of transferring their contenders to trainers eligible for the Kentucky Derby, the assumption was the first Saturday in May would not include this year’s top 3-year-old.

Turns out, that’s a maybe, maybe not.

That’s not because Amr Zedan, owner of Arkansas Derby winner Muth, has thrown a Hail Mary with a last-minute lawsuit against Churchill Downs in hopes of an injunction against the track regarding its Baffert ban, with a hearing scheduled for Monday in Jefferson County.

It’s because Sierra Leone, the $2.3 million yearling purchase trained by Chad Brown, made a serious statement while winning the Grade 1, $ 1 million Toyota Blue Grass Stakes in impressive fashion.

For starters, the son of Gun Runner balked at entering the starting gate before finally loading. Next, Sierra Leone was placed next to last in the 10-horse field for much of the 100th running of the 1 1/8-race. When Sierra finally got going, he really got going, blowing by the field for the 1 1/2-length win, his third victory in four career starts.

It was the most memorable performance on a day that saw 9-2 shot Resilience win the Grade 2 Wood Memorial for trainer Bill Mott as even-money favorite Deterministic ran a disappointing eighth.

Meanwhile, Stronghold won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby by beating the Baffert-trained Imagination in a thrilling photo finish in California.

Baffert is banned from his third consecutive Derby, a suspension enforced and then lengthened by Churchill Downs Inc. after Medina Spirit tested positive for a substance banned on race day after finishing first in the 2021 Derby.

Unlike the past two years, Baffert’s owners opted not to transfer their horses to eligible trainers by the Jan. 29 deadline. That means that without a judicial upset, Muth will not be in the starting gate for Kentucky Derby 150 despite his two Grade 1 victories.

Thus the expected favorite on May 4 is Fierceness, the Mike Repole-owned colt trained by Todd Pletcher. After a third-place finish in the Holy Bull Stakes on Feb. 3, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner returned to form to smash the Florida Derby field by 13 1/2 lengths on March 30 at Gulfstream Park.

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