Five Top Springboard Mile Graduates

One of the final 2-year-old stakes races of the year – and as of last year, the final United States Kentucky Derby points race for 2-year-old - the Springboard Mile has a fitting name as a race that helps horses transition to their 3-year-old year.

Today we look at five horses who ran in the race over the last eight years (excluding winners) and went on to make a splash post-Springboard Mile.

CALEB’S POSSE

Finishing seventh in the Springboard Mile after winning the Listed Clever Trevor Stakes, Caleb’s Posse (Posse) stepped his talent up to another level as a 3-year-old. Trainer Donnie Von Hemel  put the colt on the Kentucky Derby trail through the Oaklawn Park series, where he won the Listed Smarty Jones Stakes and finished second in the Grade 2 Rebel but it wasn’t until that summer that he made a bid for a championship.

The colt won the Grade 3 Ohio Derby by 1 ¾ lengths that June for his first graded victory then two starts later won the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga. Proving to be a versatile horse that summer and fall, he beat Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) by a nose in the Grade 1 Foxwoods King’s Bishop next out to register his first Grade 1 win before stretching out to 1 1/16 miles where he finished third behind Wilburn (Bernardini) in the Grade 2 Indiana Derby. Caleb’s Posse ended his 3-year-old campaign by beating Preakness winner Shackleford (Forestry) in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile by four lengths. The colt narrowly lost the 2011 Eclipse 3-Year-Old Male championship to Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux).

The following year, Caleb’s Posse finished a close second three times in the spring with two defeats by a nose before an injury forced his retirement. Caleb’s Posse retired to Three Chimneys for the 2013 season and was recently relocated to River Oaks Farm in Oklahoma to stand in 2019.

COMBATANT

Finishing second in last year’s Springboard Mile, Combatant (Scat Daddy) was another horse who jumped on the Kentucky Derby trail after this race. While the colt wasn’t able to get a win on the Derby  trail, he did run second or third in three of the  prep races he ran at Oaklawn before finishing  fourth in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby just a quarter length behind the second place horse.

Combatant finished 18th in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and fifth in the Grade 3 Matt Winn before switching to turf. In that first attempt he was fifth in the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes before finishing 1 ½ lengths behind the winner in the Better Talk Now Stakes. He returned to Remington in September to run on dirt, finishing fourth in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby and last up was third in the Listed Zia Park Derby.

SHOTGUN KOWBOY

Shotgun Kowboy (Kodiak Kowboy) may not be well-known on the national scene but regionally, he’s turned into a fan favorite. Second in the Springboard Mile in 2014, Shotgun Kowboy never tried the Kentucky Derby path. He made his first start after the Springboard the following August when he won an allowance by 11 ¼ lengths before a Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby victory.

Shotgun Kowboy has run in 25 stakes races in his career with 15 top three finishes, his best coming when he beat Grade 1 winner Mubtaahij in this year’s Grade 3 Lone Star Park Handicap. A winner of $1,375,501 in his career, Shotgun Kowboy calls Remington Park home during the season and has run at the track 13 times with eight victories. He’ll try to make it nine in the Jeffery A. Hawk Memorial Stakes on Sunday.

SUDDENBREAKINGNEWS

Running the first five races of his life at Remington Park, Suddenbreakingnews (Mineshaft) was another one of those horses who would go on to do good things on the Kentucky Derby trail. He won the 2016 Grade 3 Southwest Stakes over a field that included future Grade 1 winner Collected (City Zip) and top sprinter Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) and was second in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby behind Creator (Tapit).

Suddenbreakingnews was a respectable fifth in that year’s Grade 1 Kentucky Derby before giving another leg of the Triple Crown a try and finishing ninth in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes. A fifth in the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby was the last time we’d see the gelding as a 3-year-old and after not finding any luck the first part of his 4-year-old season, he was gone for a year. In September, Suddenbreakingnews finished second in the Billy The Kid Handicap and is entered to run on Wednesday in an allowance at Zia Park.

WILL TAKE CHARGE

A flashy colt trained by D. Wayne Lukas, Will Take Charge (Unbridled’s Song) was destined to be a fan favorite but it wasn’t until he was three that he also turned into a champion racehorse.

After finishing second in the Springboard Mile, Will Take Charge won the Listed Smarty Jones then the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes (over future Preakness winner Oxbow) at Oaklawn Park the next spring. While he ran in all three legs of the Triple Crown, the best he could do was seventh in the Preakness Stakes but that summer a switch flipped in the colt’s head. After a second behind Palace Malice in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy, Will Take Charge won the Grade 1 Travers and Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby before finishing second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic by a nose. A victory in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap to end the year sealed his fate – he became the colt since Tiznow in 2000 to become the Eclipse Champion 3-Year-Old Male without winning a Triple Crown race.

The following year, Will Take Charge finished second or third in four Grade 1 races and won the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap. He was forced to retire due to injury in September of that year before scheduled starts in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic. He joined fellow Springboard Mile runner Caleb’s Posse at Three Chimneys for the next breeding season. His first foals hit the track this year with 13 winners including stakes winner Kim K and graded stakes placed High Regard and Lightscameraaction. He’ll stand for $30,000 in 2019.