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 races on the Road to the Kentucky Derby schedule that offer qualifying points for the first leg of the series. 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 Domestic Product, winner of the $350,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby on March 9 at Tampa Bay Downs. The Practical Joke colt earned 50 points toward qualifying for the 2024 Kentucky Derby with that win and moved into third place on the latest Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 60 total points.

Racing Résumé: Domestic Product won one of three starts as a 2-year-old, taking a big step forward when stretching out in distance from a three-quarter-mile sprint in his debut (an unplaced finish) to 1 1/8 miles Oct. 27 for a 4 ½-length romp at Aqueduct. Some of the luster from that win was dampened by a seventh-place finish, beaten by 16 ¼ lengths, in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at the same track and distance (but on a muddy track) in his final race in 2023.

The Practical Joke colt has been all business in two starts in 2024, running second to Hades at 14.40-1 odds in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes Feb. 3 at Gulfstream Park, and then outfinishing No More Time and Grand Mo the First to take the Tampa Bay Derby by a hard-fought neck for his first stakes win.

The speed figures (more on that below) came back very slow for the Tampa Bay Derby, in large part because the pace was incredibly slow: opening quarter-mile in :25.25 and a half-mile in :51.14. The big positive is that Domestic Product rallied from off the pace despite the leisurely tempo and finished with a fast final sixteenth of a mile in under six seconds and a final five-sixteenths of a mile in approximately :28.93, so he was really moving late.

“He got good seasoning [in the Tampa Bay Derby]. He had to rate and he was pulling a little bit off a slow pace, and I was really impressed with his heart and the fact he got his nose down on the wire,” winning trainer Chad Brown said. “I think this race will serve him well moving forward. That’s why I wanted to run him here because he needed a race like this for a little more experience and a little more seasoning.”

Brown said he didn’t think training up to the May 4 Kentucky Derby would give Domestic Product the best chance for a peak effort on Derby day. The tentative plan is for him to make one more start in either the $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct or the $1 million Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, both on April 6.

Speed Figures: Slow early fractions can have a significant impact on final speed figures. Such was the case with the Tampa Bay Derby as the winning Equibase Speed Figure (82) and Beyer Speed Figure (82) were exceptionally slow for a Kentucky Derby prep race in March. When a speed-figure maker looks at final time compared with similar races and then factors in track variant to get a final number, it offers a figure that tells a story … but maybe not the whole story. A Thoroughbred racehorse can’t physically run a final quarter-mile in 20 seconds or a final furlong in nine seconds to make up for a slow pace – it just is not physically possible in a two-turn race. Domestic Product earned a 92 Equibase Speed Figure and an 87 Beyer Speed Figure, both career bests, for running second in the Holy Bull. In my view the Tampa Bay Derby was a better race for this 3-year-old colt than his Holy Bull; however, the speed figures paint a different picture.

On the whole, there is no denying that he has yet to run a fast race. That is a concern.

Running Style: Domestic Product has raced within three lengths of the pace in his last four starts, showing enough early speed to remain within striking distance of the leaders while clearly demonstrating the ability to settle into a comfortable rhythm and leave enough fuel in reserve to finish. He’s a classic stalker type who has the ability to wait until asked for his best, and then identify a target and launch his bid.

Connections: Owner-breeder Klaravich Stables is the racing and breeding operation of Baltimorean Seth Klarman. Klaravich owned, in partnership with William H. Lawrence, Domestic Product’s multiple Grade 1-winning sire, Practical Joke. Klaravich and Lawrence also won the Preakness in 2017 with Cloud Computing and then Klarman added a second Preakness win on his own in 2022 with Early Voting. Klarman, who grew up three blocks from Pimlico and made his fortune as a hedge fund investor, has raced multiple stars either alone or in partnership, including 2019 Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar.

Trainer Chad Brown is a four-time Eclipse Award winner as outstanding trainer. He trained the aforementioned Preakness winners Cloud Computing and Early Voting for Klarman. Brown, a former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, finished second in the 2018 Kentucky Derby with Good Magic. He also trains 2024 Risen Star Stakes victor Sierra Leone.

Brown (left) and Gaffalione. (SV Photography)

Tyler Gaffalione has been aboard Domestic Product for his two starts in 2024. Gaffalione was the 2015 Eclipse Award winner as outstanding apprentice jockey and has ranked in the top seven in both purse earnings and wins every year since 2020. Gaffalione won the 2019 Preakness Stakes aboard War of Will and rode Sierra Leone to victory earlier this year for Brown in the Risen Star.

Pedigree Notes: Domestic Product is from the third crop of Practical Joke, a two-time Grade 1 winner as a 2-year-old and a Grade 1 winner as a 3-year-old as well. Practical Joke, by leading sire Into Mischief, is off to a strong start to his second career as a stallion with 2023 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby winner Practical Move among 25 group or graded stakes winners to date.

The unraced Paynter mare Goods and Services is the dam (mother) of Domestic Product. Goods and Services is a half-sister (same dam, different sire) to stakes-winning sprinter Kenda. Likewise, Domestic Product’s grandam (maternal grandmother), Indian Legend, by Cherokee Run, was a stakes-winning sprinter.

This pedigree would give me some concern with regard to excelling at 1 ¼ miles, but Domestic Product won at 1 1/8 miles as a 2-year-old and has finished well in two start this year at 1 1/16 miles.  

Derby Potential: Domestic Product as a Kentucky Derby hopeful presents the type of case we’ve seen often in recent years of a 3-year-old who passes the eye test but does not appear to be quite fast enough on paper. Sometimes, 3-year-olds like Country House (2019) and Mage (2023) show something late in races that leaves reason for optimism on Derby day and they then exceed expectations. Rich Strike at 80.80-1 in 2022 takes it to an even more extreme level.

Typically, however, racehorses that win marquee races like the Kentucky Derby have shown the ability to run a massive race before the big day. The good news for Domestic Product is he’s in great hands with top trainer Chad Brown and he has another chance in his final Derby prep to take a step forward and prove he belongs with the elite of this division. For now, I’m viewing Domestic Product with cautious optimism.