Overanalyze captures Arkansas Derby

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Hot Springs, AR (Sports Network) - Overanalyze, trained by Todd Pletcher, drove past the competition to win Saturday's $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park. The colt is another of Pletcher's 3-year-olds to qualify for the Kentucky Derby on May 4.

The Arkansas Derby win was worth 100 points for Overanalyze in the Kentucky Derby points system to determine the field for the Run for the Roses.

Owned by Mike Repole, Overanalyze broke well from post 9 with jockey Rafael Bejarano in the 10-horse field. The colt was 7-2 in the betting with War Academy the 2-1 favorite and Rebel Stakes runner-up Oxbow the 3-1 second pick.

Taking the field into the first turn of the 1 1/8-mile stakes was Falling Sky and Divine Ambition. Overanalyze was racing wide into and around the turn while losing ground.

Up the backstretch, Overanalyze continued running on the outside just a few lengths off the leaders. War Academy, trained by Bob Baffert, was racing along the rail when jockey Mike Smith felt something and decided to pull up the colt.

Around the far turn, Falling Sky had the lead as Den's Legacy moved into second and Oxbow into third. Overanalyze was fourth on the outside.

At the top of the stretch, Overanalyze took over the lead and began to run away from the field . The colt powered through the stretch to register a 4 1/4-length victory over 23-1 longshot Frac Daddy.

Getting up for third was 22-1 longshot Carve followed by Falling Sky, Oxbow, Den's Legacy, Divine Ambition, Texas Bling and Heaven's Runway. After being pulled up, War Academy was able to walk off the track on his own.

The time for the 77th Arkansas Derby was 1:51.94 on a fast track.

"I was a little concerned going into the first turn, he looked like he was going to get hung out a little bit, but Rafael did a nice job of tucking him back in," said the winning trainer.

Overanalyze picks up $600,000 with the victory, his fourth in seven starts. He's earned $956,381 since breaking his maiden in his career debut at Saratoga last August.

He was coming off a fifth in his first start of the year behind Vyjack in the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.

"He's trained a lot better, you know," Pletcher said from Keeneland where his horses finished second and third in the Blue Grass Stakes. 'Maybe it's my fault the first time, I didn't do enough with him."

As a 2-year-old, Overanalyze won the Belmont Futurity and Remsen Stakes with a third in the Iroquois Stakes thrown in the middle.

The colt joins stablemates Verrazano and Revolutionary on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

Overanalyze paid $9.40, $5.60 and $4.60. Frac Daddy returned $16.80 and $11.00, and Carve paid $8.60 to show.