Talk about saving the best for last. Saturday’s final Grade 1 preps for the May 5 Kentucky Derby, now just 19 days away, produced two of the season’s most impressive efforts by Triple Crown-bound 3-year-olds when Dullahan came home like a locomotive under Kent Desormeaux to win the $750,000 Blue Grass at Keeneland by 1 1/4 lengths, and a half-hour later at Oaklawn Park, Bodemeister led all the way under new rider Mike Smith to take the $1 million Arkansas Derby by an astounding 9 1/2 lengths.
Their final times for the 1 1/8 miles — 1:47.94 over the Polytrack at Keeneland, 1:48.71 on dirt at Oaklawn — were solid.
Dullahan and Bodemeister, trained by Triple Crown veterans Dale Romans and Bob Baffert, respectively, now figure prominently in the jumble of seven or eight top contenders for the 138th Run for the Roses that figure to attract the bulk of the bettors’ attention. Churchill Downs line-maker Mike Battaglia said Saturday he might peg the morning-line favorite — and there are three or four candidates for that role — at 5-1 or 6-1.
Dullahan, whose training was briefly interrupted twice by minor setbacks this winter and spring, was making his second start of the year in the Blue Grass after rallying for second in the Palm Beach on turf. After that race, Desormeaux said: “We loomed large around the far turn, but the winner possessed another gear. I’ll possess that gear next time.”
Did he ever. As 2-year-old champion Hansen, favored at 6-5, shook loose on the lead under Ramon Dominguez through a quick fractions (:23.10, :46.64, 1:11.32), Dullahan, second choice at 3-1, settled near the back of the 13-horse field. He rallied inside around the far turn, swung off the rail to split horses at the top of the stretch, took a while to find his best stride under Desormeaux’s vigorous whip, then got a grip on the track and stormed past Hansen in the final furlong.
“He switched leads and just exploded,” Desormeaux said. “As soon as he straightened (into the stretch), there was a hole. He ran through that and then he said, ‘Now what do I do?’ I asked him to keep going. He was very strong all the way to the wire.”
Hansen, who settled off the pace to win the Gotham, reverted to his former style, blazing away on the front end.
“The pace was too fast,” trainer Mike Maker said. “It was quicker than we wanted. But he was fresh today. The next one (the Derby) is the big one.”
Maker and the colt’s namesake owner, Dr. Kendall Hansen, had a bit of a contretemps earlier in the day after the daffy doctor dyed Hansen’s tail blue (something he threatened to do before the Gotham). The Keeneland stewards took a dim view, and the tail had to be washed out to its natural white in the hours before the race.
Some observers felt Hansen was on-edge before the race, that being the reason why he went too fast, too soon. Was “Tailgate” the cause?
Bodemeister, a son of Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker, was making just his fourth start in the Arkansas Derby, coming off a close second in the San Felipe to Creative Cause (who subsequently was beaten a nose by I’ll Have Another in the Santa Anita Derby).
Favored at 2-1, with stablemate Secret Circle the 5-2 second choice, Bodemeister gunned to the front from his far outside post 11 and shook loose through a fast pace (:23.02, :46.55, 1:11.36). Off those splits, it seemed likely that Bodemeister would come back to the field. He did just the opposite, sprinting away when Smith set him down at the top of the stretch.
Secret Circle, coming off wins in the Southwest and Rebel at Oaklawn, held second over Delta Downs Jackpot winner Sabercat, both of which will also head to the Derby.
The big question mark about Bodemeister is his inexperience. He did not make his first start until Jan. 16, and no horse that did not race as a 2-year-old has won the Derby since Apollo in 1882.
As for Dullahan, both of his career wins — the Blue Grass and last year’s Breeders’ Futurity — came over the Polytrack surface at Keeneland. A son of Even the Score (by Unbridled’s Song), he is a half-brother to Mine That Bird, who won the 2009 Derby in the slop, but whose only other wins came on Polytrack at Woodbine.
edfountaine@nypost.com
Kent Desormeaux, Kentucky Derby, Arkansas Derby, Arkansas Derby, Dullahan, Dullahan, Bodemeister, Kendall Hansen, Oaklawn Park, Blue Grass, Mike Smith, Keeneland, Keeneland, Mike Battaglia, Triple Crown veterans Dale Romans
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