Notes - May 5

- No excuses for Monba as Pletcher's streak of Derby futility continues. Owner Don Lucarelli told his hometown Schenectady Gazette: “The only thing Todd said was that he didn’t have a very good trip and got jostled around and just sort of lost his composure, I guess." Ramon Dominguez said: “My horse just didn’t run any good." He also provided some trip notes on a couple of other also-rans:

“Actually, going into the first turn, it looked like [Adriano] was being pushed by someone on the outside and [Big Truck] was getting the worst of it. I was behind him, and I chose to circle the field at that point as I was forced to go wide. The second half, I was able to save ground, but it didn’t matter because my horse really wasn’t into it today.” [Schenectady Gazette]

Lucarelli also owns Keyed Entry, who finished last in 2006.

Lucarelli said Keyed Entry recently had tie-back surgery in Florida, and was being shipped Thursday to Pletcher’s barn at Belmont Park to prepare for his return to racing. [Schenectady Gazette]

This last quote is from a different article, which also discusses the owner's Octave, now in foal to AP Indy.

Graham Motion said of his 19th place finisher Adriano: "He is doing well this morning, but his days on dirt are probably over." [BRIS]
Javier Castellano said that 18th place finisher Big Truck “ran out of gas," and Barclay Tagg said that he might be pointed to a NY-bred grass race. His half-brother Logic Way placed in a state-bred turf stakes at Saratoga last summer.

- Northern Netti returned $22.80 in Sunday's state-bred Bouwerie Stakes at Belmont. That despite her two-for-two record at Woodbine. Trainer Reade Baker said: "She's undefeated and she can run....There was nothing for her at home and we wanted to win a stakes race." She won by nine lengths in a snappy 1:21.24. This three-year old is a daughter of City Zip, out of a mare by Star Gallant. [UPDATE: And she earned a Beyer of 99!.]