8/5/06

FOR RELEASE: IMMEDIATE
CONTACT: TAMARA CRONIN
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
304-387-8335 (OFFICE) 304-479-8097 (CELL)

CHESTER, WV — FIELD FOR 37TH WEST VIRGINIA DERBY SET by Bill Mooney

A full field of 12 has drawn in for the 37th running of the Grade 3, $750,000 West Virginia Derby. West Virginia's oldest, most prominent and richest horse race will be run at 1 1/8 miles this coming Sunday afternoon, August 6, at The Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort.

Established as the 3-1 favorite in the West Virginia Derby morning line is Wanna Runner, who earlier this season won the $600,000 WinStar Derby at New Mexico's Sunland Park and the Grade 3 Lone Star Derby at Lone Star Park in Texas.

Wanna Runner is coming to Mountaineer with career earnings of $567,306, the highest for any horse in this year's West Virginia Derby field. Wanna Runner is trained by three-time Eclipse Award winner Bob Baffert and will be ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith.

The presence of Smith is part of an intriguing element in this year's West Virginia Derby. Three of the participating jockeys have won recent renewals of Triple Crown races, and two others have been victorious in recent runnings of Mountaineer's premier event.

Jose Santos, who will ride Flashy Bull in the West Virginia Derby, won the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes aboard Funny Cide. Jeremy Rose, who will ride Regent Spirit on Sunday, won the 2005 Preakness and Belmont Stakes aboard Afleet Alex

And, in '05, Smith booted the 50-1 longshot Giacomo to one of the most stunning victories in Kentucky Derby history. But the Run for the Roses isn't the only race where major upsets can occur.

Back in 2001, Mountaineer-based jockey Dana Whitney scored a front-running victory in the West Virginia Derby with the 21-1 shot, Western Pride. And in '05, Mark Guidry rode the 7-1 shot, Real Dandy, to a West Virginia Derby triumph.

This coming Sunday, Whitney will try for his second West Virginia Derby win aboard High Finance. And Guidry will try for a West Virginia Derby encore, when he rides Bright One, who is the 4-1 second choice in the morning line.

While the best known races among the sporting public are the Triple Crown events - the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes - they take a toll on 3-year-old horses, who often emerge injured or worn out from the strenuous competition.

For the newly emerging group of 3-year-olds who complement the mid-summer racing schedule, however, the West Virginia Derby often serves as a testing ground to see who might arise to the upper ranks of the division.

Bright One didn't make his initial career start until May 27 of this year (by which time the Kentucky Derby and Preakness had already been run). But in three starts he has accumulated two impressive victories, winning by 9 ½ and 7 ¼ lengths at Churchill, and is conditioned by Dale Romans, who has leading trainer during six of the last seven Churchill spring/summer meets.

Circle the World, who will have the riding services of Christopher P. DeCarlo in the West Virginia Derby, is from the stable of Todd A. Pletcher, who has been the Eclipse recipient as North America's leading trainer each of the last two years.

While Circle the World also has only three career starts on his resume, two of them have resulted in victory. His pedigree contains undeniable quality - the sire of Circle the World is Fusaichi Pegasus, who was the 2000 Kentucky Derby winner.

Among the more seasoned horses in this year's West Virginia Derby is Flashy Bull, who was unplaced in the Kentucky Derby, but finished third in both the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park and the Grade 2 Ohio Derby at Thistledown, both of which are run at the nine-furlong West Virginia Derby distance.

Flashy Bull is owned by a West Point stable partnership, as is High Finance - because of this, the two will be coupled as a betting entry, which means a single two-dollar wager (or of any denomination) will cover both horses.

High Finance is another late-developing 3-year-old. He registered his maiden win, by 9 ¼ lengths at Keeneland, on April 15 of this year. In mid-May, he was a wire-to-wire winner of an allowance race at Belmont Park. High Finance's running style is similar to that of the aforementioned Western Pride. And it cannot be ignored that, like Western Pride, he will have Whitney aboard.

More Than Regal, who on June 30 was a half-length winner of the $250,000 Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows near Des Moines, will be ridden in the West Virginia Derby by Shaun Bridgmohan. More Than Regal is from the stable of trainer Steve Asmussen, who sent out Real Dandy to last year's West Virginia Derby win. Asmussen's horses are currently being handled by his assistant, Steve Blasi. Ah Day, trained by King Leatherbury (who is second in career victories only to Mountaineer's Dale Baird), will be ridden in the West Virginia Derby by Jonathan Joyce.

Ah Day's record this year includes a victory in the $100,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at the 1 1/8-mile distance at Pimlico Race Course in Maryland, and a second-place finish in his most recent outing, the Grade 3 Leonard Richard Stakes at Delaware Park.

Luxembourg, who is owned by the former United States Ambassador to Great Britain, William S. Farish, will be ridden in the West Virginia Derby by Robbie Albarado, who piloted Farish's Mineshaft to North American Horse of the Year honors in 2003. This past April, Luxembourg finished a competitive third to Bernardini in the Grade 3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct. Bernardini went on to win the Preakness, and is now considered to be the top 3-year-old in training.

Cielo Gold, from the barn of Hal R. Wiggins, has twice won allowance races at Churchill this year, and is 12-1 in the West Virginia Derby morning line. High Blues, who finished third in the $150,000 Round Table Stakes at Chicago's Arlington Park in his most recent outing, is 15-1 Regent Spirit, an allowance winner at Belmont Park two starts ago, is from the stable of Hall of Famer Nick Zito, who won the 2004 West Virginia Derby with Sir Shackleton.

Regent Spirit is bred and owned by the Kinsman Stable of George M. Steinbrenner III, the managing partner of the New York Yankees.

But, despite his connections, and despite the fact he's being ridden by Rose, Regent Spirit is 20-1 in the morning line (which, in horse racing parlance, could be an overlay). Completing the West Virginia Derby field will be Crocodile Tears, a Mountaineer-based runner who has won his last two starts (both in $30,000 claiming company).

Crocodile Tears is trained by Darrel Delahoussaye, and will be ridden on Sunday by Rex A. Stokes III, who was the leading jockey at this year's Mountaineer winter meet. The morning line odds for Crocodile Tears are 50-1.

Post time for the nine-race West Virginia Derby card (made up entirely of stakes races) will be 2 p.m. EDT. The West Virginia Derby will go off live at approximately 5:15 p.m. EDT, and will be televised nationally on ESPN and worldwide, to over 130 countries, on ESPN International.

The complete West Virginia Derby field, horses, jockeys, post positions, and morning line odds are as follows: