Finally, we have Doc Ballard. He is a Kentucky-bred that was purchased as a yearling for $16K. He is a son of Gormley who caused quite a stir last year when his first crop of babies started racing as 2-year-olds, and they quickly became well known for their ability to win early. Gormley won 4 times in 9 starts with all of his maiden win coming in his first start at Del Mar and his other three wins coming in three of his next four races at Santa Anita, including two Grade 1 stakes wins and a Grade 3 stakes win. However, he was a disappointing 9th at the 2017 Kentucky Derby.
Doc Ballard's dam, Welcome Aboard, won 8 starts in 30 races--all of her early wins came on turf at distances of 7.5 furlongs, 1 mile, and 1/16 miles, but then she later proved to be equally adept at longer distances on dirt as well.
FUN FACT: Doc Ballard has Buckpasser in the X position in his pedigree (see
https://www.pedigreequery.com/doc+ballard). I mentioned this once before. Among old school handicappers, Buckpasser in the X position in the pedigree is supposed to increase the likelihood of having a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender. The theory is based on the power of mitochondrial DNA. Of course, that's hasn't meant a damn thing for many, many years. But hey, who knows? We can dream, right? Everything about Doc Ballard's pedigree suggests he wants distance. But how much distance? That also means he may take a bit longer to get going because it will be some time before tracks start carding longer races for 2-year-olds.
We'll probably point him toward a mid-distance sprint race at Churchill for the debut and then figure it out from there. They won't start listing those types of races until late spring or early summer.
Doc Ballard 2.jpg
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