No Kentucky Derby for Derby Trial winner Forty Tales

Kentucky Derby Betting – Forty Tales and Capo Bastone capped a sensational run-up to the 139th Kentucky Derby for trainer Todd Pletcher by finishing one-two in the 89th Derby Trial on a chilly, rainy opener to the 38-day Churchill Downs spring meet Saturday night

Forty Tales, giving jockey Joel Rosario his fourth winner of the night, finished a neck clear of a belated run from his stablemate and technically became eligible for the Derby by earning 20 points toward eligibility into the field. However, those points will go unused, as Pletcher essentially reiterated afterward that he had no intention of running back in one week in the Derby.

“Not right now,” he said. “I mean, we’ll see how he bounces out of it and talk to the owner. Both colts would seem best in a one-turn situation.”

Forty Tales, by Tale of the Cat, returned $8.20 after finishing the one-turn-mile in 1:35.77 over a track that absorbed plenty of rain through the night but was still rated fast. The colt is owned by the Perretti Racing Stable of William Perretti.

The only horse whose connections had said they would go to the Derby in case of victory, Titletown Five, was forwardly placed throughout before finishing fourth, just behind longshot Ruler of Love in the field of nine 3-year-olds. Ruler of Love was three lengths behind Capo Bastone on the wire.

Pletcher will have five horses in the Derby next Saturday and could have as many as six. His stable dominated the 2013 Derby trail in accounting for the Tampa Bay Derby, Withers, Wood Memorial, Arkansas Derby, Louisiana Derby, Lexington Stakes, and now the Derby Trial.

The $2 exacta (4-6) paid $43.20; the $1 trifecta (4-6-2) returned $251.50; and the 10-cent superfecta (4-6-2-9) was worth $89.19.

Ontrack attendance was 21,038.

In an earlier race Saturday, Wine Princess ($3) made an impressive return to action in taking the meet opener, a $54,150, one-mile allowance, by seven lengths. Winner of the Monmouth Oaks last summer, the 4-year-old Wine Princess probably will race next in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis on the June 15 Stephen Foster undercard at Churchill, said trainer Steve Margolis.