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April 7, 2007


KING OF THE ROXY TO SKIP KENTUCKY DERBY IN FAVOR OF PREAKNESS,
OHIO-BRED COLT MISSES BY HALF-LENGTH IN G1 SANTA ANITA DERBY



Barry Irwin says Team Valor
is immune from Derby Fever.
King of the Roxy will point for the Preakness Stakes and pass up the Kentucky Derby, after his game second-place finish today in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.

“He ran well enough to compete in the Kentucky Derby and he has more than enough Graded earnings to make it into the starting gate,” said Barry Irwin. “However, due to an insufficient preparation, we feel it would compromise the colt’s future to run him back on the first Saturday in May.

“I have said all along that I did not consider him to be a Kentucky Derby candidate because, after getting sick following last fall’s Breeders’ Cup, he became ill and was not able to make his initial start at 3 until the first week of March.

“The extra two weeks will give Todd Pletcher a better chance to get him ready for the Preakness. We think he belongs with the horses that will be in the Kentucky Derby field, but that is not the point.

“Team Valor is not in the habit of trying to fit square pegs into round holes. And, contrary to one writer that accused Team Valor of having ‘Derby fever,’ we are immune to that particular malady.

“The point is that we want to run him when the timing and the race conditions better fit him so that he will be able to compete throughout the year, not in just one race.”

At the draw for the Santa Anita Derby, Team Valor co-owner Jeff Siegel was roundly quoted out of context to the extent that one reason King of the Roxy was raced in the $750,000 race on Saturday was because Team Valor was in the “entertainment” business, which mistakenly indicated the stable ran the colt to put on a show for its racing partners.

Barry Irwin said “We are perhaps one of the few, if not the only, owners of a Kentucky Derby candidate that will be passing up the Kentucky Derby because we always try to run our horses where they belong, not where the partners would like to see them run.

“Our partners, most of whom have raced with us more than a dozen years, know that we raced King of the Roxy in the Santa Anita Derby because we thought he would win. And they know we will race him next where it is best for the colt, not for the entertainment of the partners.”