Champion 2-year-old colt Street Sense, 10-length winner of the Nov. 4 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs, yesterday was named 127-pound highweight on The Jockey Club’s Experimental Free Handicap ranking last year’s top 2-year-olds.
The first Experimental highweight to exceed the standard 126-pound assignment since unbeaten Favorite Trick got 128 in 1997, Street Sense will attempt to become the first of 23 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winners to win the Derby, and the first 2-year-old champ to do so since Spectacular Bid in 1979.
Street Sense heads the list of 14 colts and eight fillies who are Dosage System dual-qualifiers for this year’s Kentucky Derby on May 5, including unbeaten champion 2-year-old filly Dreaming of Anna, whose owner hopes to run her in the Derby.
To be a dual-qualifier, a horse must 1) be the highweight, or ranked within 10 pounds of the highweight, on the Experimental; and 2) have a Dosage Index (DI) of 4.00 or lower.
The Dosage Index is figured using a mathematical formula based on the chefs-de-race (influential sires) in a horse’s four-generation pedigree. Chefs-de-race are classified into five categories ranging from speed to stamina. The lower the DI, theoretically, the more stamina the horse should have.
Dating back to 1985, Spend a Buck, Ferdinand, Alysheba, Unbridled, Sea Hero, Go for Gin, Thunder Gulch and Silver Charm were all dual-qualifiers that won the Derby.
Last year only two dual-qualifiers ran in the Derby, Brother Derek (fourth) and Private Vow (15th). The first two finishers, Barbaro and Bluegrass Cat, qualified on dosage but just missed the 10-pound cutoff.