HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Super Stock won the $1 million Arkansas Derby by 2 1/2 lengths in an upset Saturday to earn a berth in next month's Kentucky Derby.
Ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr., Super Stock covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.92 in front of 17,000 fans at Oaklawn Park. The 3-year-old colt is trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, who won his fifth Arkansas Derby, and co-owned by Asmussen's father, Keith.
"My confidence level was he was going to run really good," Steve Asmussen said. "I've been in races like that, that you have no control over how good or bad somebody else runs. But I felt like that he was going to represent extremely well."
Super Stock paid $26.40, $6.80 and $2.80. Caddo River returned $4.20 and $2.40. Favorite Concert Tour, trained by Bob Baffert, returned $2.10 to show. The two colts engaged in a speed duel for a mile before giving way to Super Stock.
"You get beat and try to figure out. They're still young," Baffert said. "Sometimes you learn more from a loss than a win."
Super Stock earned 100 points toward Kentucky Derby eligibility and is ranked third on the leaderboard with 109 total points. Caddo River earned 40 points and is ranked 13th with 50 points. Concert Tour picked up 20 points and is ninth with 70 points.
In Saturday's other Derby prep:
King Fury rallied from off the pace to win the Lexington Stakes by 2 3/4 lengths over Unbridled Honor at Keeneland. Trained by Ken McPeek, King Fury covered 1 1/16 miles over a sloppy track in 1:43.50 and paid $38.40 to win his season debut. He earned 20 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, but that won't be enough to get him in the 20-horse field. Starrinmydreams was third.
