Derby Remix: Art Collector looking fine

"Some paintings smell of joy and sweat

Some paintings look so fine

Some paintings are sad and passionate

But Vermeer sends a chill up your spine"

In his song "No One Was Like Vermeer," Jonathan Richman praises the Dutch master as one of a kind. And, though everyone on the Derby trail smells of joy and sweat, few horses encapsulate what a unique Derby trail 2020 has brought us like Blue Grass Stakes (G2) winner Art Collector.

There were always expectations for Art Collector, though perhaps not on the main track. He made his first three starts on grass, including a seventh-place finish in the Bourbon (G3) at Keeneland during the fall. He showed some ability over the slop at Churchill Downs in November, but that was his last start of his 2-year-old season.

Over a layoff, Art Collector moved to the Thomas Drury barn. Art Collector's pedigree — by Bernardini, out of Distorted Legacy (a long-winded turf specialist who raced through age 6) — suggested he'd improve with time and distance. Drury's patience is bearing fruit.

Art Collector returned to win an allowance sprint at Churchill on May 17 in late-running fashion, which proved his mettle on dry dirt. He then stretched out to two turns the next month and cleared his next condition gate to wire.

By last Saturday, that race looked live. Shared Sense crossed the wire 6 1/2 lengths behind Art Collector and returned to win the Indiana Derby (G3) as the betting favorite.

Art Collector franked that race again.

Early in the Blue Grass, jockey Brian Hernandez tucked Art Collector in behind Shivaree and Swiss Skydiver. As Shivaree began to weaken, which left Swiss Skydiver on the lead, Art Collector remained glued to her outside flank. He caught her for good at the furlong pole and drew on his superior stamina to bound clear by 3 1/2 lengths.

This year provides a unique opportunity for later-developing horses, like Art Collector, to be Derby horses, and with 100 Road to the Kentucky Derby points, he has almost certainly clinched his chance to send a chill up our spines on Derby Day.

Derby Remix is a weekly series that crosses the lines of culture and Kentucky Derby contenders.

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