Welcome to 2024 Kentucky Derby Prospect Profiles, where we’ll take a look each week at a recent winner on the Triple Crown trail, usually from a race that’s part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby series offering qualifying points for the Derby. The 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve will be held May 4, 2024, at Churchill Downs.

This week, we’ll take a closer look at Otto the Conqueror, winner of the $300,000 Remington Springboard Mile Stakes on Dec. 15 at Remington Park. Otto the Conqueror earned 10 points toward qualifying for the 2024 Kentucky Derby with that win and moved into seventh place on the latest Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

Racing Résumé: Otto the Conqueror came up just short in his career debut Aug. 13, 2023, at Ellis Park when a length shy of winner Liberal Arts, who subsequently finished third in the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes before winning the Grade 3 Street Sense Stakes.

Since then, Otto the Conqueror is 3-for-3 with a pair of wins at seven-eighths of a mile at Churchill Downs, including an allowance-optional claiming race on a sloppy track in which he defeated next-out Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes winner Honor Marie. He then won his stakes debut with a determined three-quarter-length victory in the Springboard Mile.

Otto the Conqueror tracked pacesetter Glengarry through a half-mile in :46.35 in the Remington Springboard Mile, a race that lost a third of its nine entrants due to scratches. The duo was well clear of the rest of the field approaching the quarter-pole, where jockey Tyler Gaffalione gave Otto the Conqueror his cue to accelerate. The Street Sense colt moved to the lead but found a willing challenger in the front-running Glengarry, who battled gamely into the final sixteenth before Otto the Conqueror inched away.

“It’s off to Hot Springs [Oaklawn Park] and Derby trail, here we come,” Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen said of the plans for Otto the Conqueror. “You just saw two nice horses hooked up from start to finish.”

Speed Figures: While the Springboard Mile represented a class test that Otto the Conqueror passed at Remington Park, the speed figures declined from his allowance win at Churchill Downs. He earned a career-top 98 Equibase Speed Figure for that allowance win over Honor Marie and an 88 Beyer Speed Figure, also a career top. The Remington Springboard Mile win earned an 83 Equibase Speed Figure and a 71 Beyer Speed Figure, sharp declines from the previous race. Indeed, the final eighth of a mile in 14.65 seconds and a final quarter-mile in :28.51 were eye-catching for the wrong reasons: it was an exceptionally slow finish for a one-mile race.

Running Style: Otto the Conqueror has terrific early speed and has set or pressed the pace in each of his four races. He’s only been passed once, and that came in his career debut. Horses with tactical speed have been especially effective in the Kentucky Derby in recent years – the 3-year-old that crossed the finish line first in the Derby was on the lead or within two lengths of the lead every year from 2014 through 2021 (although two were disqualified) before closers Rich Strike (2022) and Mage (2023) halted that streak. Pace makes the race, especially in the Kentucky Derby, but a high cruising speed is a valuable tool.

Connections: Three Chimneys Farm is the racing and breeding operation of the Borges-Torrealba family, which acquired Three Chimneys Farm in November 2013 from previous owners Robert and Blythe Clay. Leading sire and 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner stands at Three Chimneys, which has been a pillar of the Thoroughbred industry for more than four decades.

Winning connections. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Hall of Fame member Steve Asmussen is the all-time winningest trainer in the history of Thoroughbred racing with more than 10,330 victories through Dec. 19, 2023. The two-time Eclipse Award winner as outstanding North American trainer has conditioned Horses of the Year Curlin (2008, 2009), Rachel Alexandra (2009), and Gun Runner (2017). He’s won the Preakness twice with Curlin (2007) and Rachel Alexandra (2009) and the Belmont Stakes once with Creator in 2016. Asmussen-trained horses have finished second three times in the Kentucky Derby, most recently Epicenter in 2022.

Tyler Gaffalione has ridden Otto the Conqueror for his two most recent starts. The Eclipse Award winner as outstanding apprentice jockey in 2015 won the Preakness Stakes in 2019 on War of Will. Gaffalione has ranked in the top five among North American riders by wins from 2020 through 2022 and ranks third in 2023 as of Dec. 19.

Pedigree Notes: Otto the Conqueror is by 2006 champion 2-year-old male Street Sense, winner of the 2007 Kentucky Derby and Travers Stakes. From 13 crops of racing age, Street Sense has sired 105 stakes winners, including U.S. Grade 1 winners such as McKinzie, Maxfield, Wedding Toast, Speaker’s Corner, and Sweet Reason. Street Sense is a solid source of stamina.

Grade 3-winning sprinter Dream It Is, by Shackleford, is the dam (mother) of Otto the Conqueror. She was purely a sprinter and finished fifth in the 2018 Beaumont Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select in her lone start in a race longer than three-quarters of a mile. Digging deeper into this pedigree, there are several elite European classic-winning milers but not much in terms of stamina.

Derby Potential: Otto the Conqueror boasts terrific tactical speed and is a winner of three straight races for an accomplished trainer, so there is significant reason for optimism. However, I’m more bullish on several of the other prospects I’ve profiled thus far simply because I did not like the slow final quarter-mile of the Remington Springboard Mile and the significant dip in speed figures. Combine that with what looks like some potential stamina concerns on the bottom half of Otto the Conqueror’s pedigree, and I simply prefer others as we look ahead to the 2024 Kentucky Derby.

Otto the Conqueror is a very nice 2-year-old with a bright future and he’s definitely one to add to your Equibase Virtual Stable to track next year.