Out of the Woods putting it all together in time for INDerby

“I think people really overlook confidence when horses get good and they understand how to win,” says co-owner Billy Koch

Today’s Indiana Derby card media notes, with Kentucky-based horses dominating. Story by Jennie Rees; Coady Media photo above of Out of the Woods winning a Churchill Downs allowance race on Kentucky Derby Day

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (Wednesday, July 8, 2026) — Training in the morning, Out of the Woods looked exactly like the type of horse that Billy Koch’s Little Red Feather Racing partnership paid $325,000 for at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s April auction of 2-year-olds in training last year.

Then came the afternoons, when the chestnut colt more resembled Lost in the Woods.

Whether it was being gelded, leaving California, developing a front-running style or maturity developed from letting trainer Phil D’Amato’s patience play out, Out of the Woods has gone from downer to upward trajectory heading into Saturday’s $300,000, Grade 3 Indiana Derby at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Luis Saez will ride Out of the Woods for the first time.

Out of the Woods’ record reflects two different horses: 0-0-0 in five starts, beaten a combined 68 lengths in California; 2-1-0 in three starts since.

“We were always really high on the horse from the second we purchased him out of OBS,” Koch said by phone. “He worked extremely well, and just for whatever reason, he couldn’t put it together in the races. We tried dirt short. We tried dirt long. We tried turf long. And he was always kind of getting bad trips and just having no luck.

“… There’s no question in all of our minds he was a disappointment. But if you were around the horse and watched him train in the mornings, he was the definition of a ‘morning glory.’ I mean, he could outwork any horse in the barn, so we saw his ability in the mornings. He just couldn’t put it together in the afternoons.”

Though Out of the Woods is a son of the popular WinStar stallion Constitution and the stakes-winning mare Sensitive, four starts with the best finish a fourth by 11 lengths made sacrificing any future breeding career by castrating the horse much easier. The turnaround was not immediate, as Out of the Woods was once again a lackluster fourth. D’Amato had seen enough and shipped Out of the Woods to Oaklawn Park in Arkansas.

“Tried to just give him a change of scenery, and really credit to Phil D’Amato and his team,” Koch said. “When he went wire to wire that day to break his maiden, just all of a sudden he realized what he was supposed to do. I think people really overlook confidence when horses get good and they understand how to win.”

The Oaklawn triumph was followed by victory at Churchill Downs in an allowance race on Kentucky Derby (finishing a close third was fellow Indiana Derby contender Our Moneyman).  A subsequent trip to the $300,000 Delaware Derby at Delaware Park produced a second to Maryland-based favorite Big Cuddle, who had won the Sir Barton Stakes on Preakness Day and now is 4 for 5 with a second.

“We took him to Churchill on Derby Day in a really salty allowance race, and he wired him again,” Koch said. “I think his confidence just kind of went through the roof. We tried him in the Delaware Derby, and got in a little bit of a speed duel there. The horse that beat him that day is a very, very nice horse. We weren’t really thinking that the Indiana Derby was a possibility. But he came out of the race so well, and he breezed so well the last couple weeks that we’re like, hey, let’s take a shot.”

The Little Red Feather Racing partnership owns Out of the Woods with Sol Kumin’s Madaket Stables, Paul Gange’s Panic Stable and William Strauss. Because they thought the then-colt could be special, they gave him a special name to honor Eddie Woods, the internationally prominent Ocala-based 2-year-old trainer and consignor from whom they purchased the horse. Woods announced beforehand that last year’s OBS April sales would be his last before retiring.

“Madaket and Little Red Feather, we both used Eddie Woods a lot to break and train horses, and we bought a lot of horses from Eddie over the years,” Koch said. “He was the last horse we bought from Eddie Woods, and we thought, ‘Oh, what a great tribute to one of the greatest trainers we’ve seen in a long time.’ Just a great man, Eddie, and we miss him, and we thought it would be a proper tribute. It just didn’t look like that for the first four or five races.

“This is a great group of owners. Everyone was on the same page. Everyone trusted Phil. This is a ‘show-me’ world now, right? Whether it’s Twitter, TikTok, our society has become just ‘now,’ and sometimes horses just take a little while to develop. That’s what he did, and he’s turning into the horse we always thought he would be.”

Woods is happy to see his namesake living up to the potential he saw when Out of the Woods was a baby.

“It was quite flattering for them to name him that way, and it was a little disappointing his first few starts,” Woods said by phone. “But when they took him out of California, the light went on…. He’s starting to look like the nice horse we thought he’d be. Hopefully he does well here on the weekend. Hopefully he steps up.”

Koch says the Indiana Derby presents a stiff challenge, even with the expected scratches of Desert Gate and Bricklin. He said he watched his competition’s race replays and was particularly impressed with the Brad Cox-trained Leading Change, who comes into the 1 1/16-mile Indiana Derby off a single race: a 6 1/2-length maiden victory at seven furlongs June 7 at Churchill Downs.

“He was absolutely brilliant, and Irad Ortiz flying in to ride means something,” Koch said. “Brad Cox is no stranger to winning these types of races, and I think he’s going to be very, very tough to beat.”

Koch also watched Creole Chrome beat fellow Louisiana-breds by 18 lengths in his last start, speaking of confidence-builders.

“I was blown away. I don’t care who he was facing, to win by that many and that easily,” he said. “He’s a very nice horse, and same with Our Moneyman. I mean, we beat him at Churchill, but then he came back and ran second to Further Ado in the Matt Winn, and I was very impressed.”

Luis Saez, perennially in the top 10 in America in wins and purse earnings, comes in to ride Out of the Woods for the first time.

“I think that he should fit him really well,” Koch said. “Luis is a really strong gate rider; he likes to be up close, and he’s a strong finisher. I think you just got to play the break, and if he breaks good, and no one wants the lead, he can certainly take it. He’s shown that he will fight, but if someone wants to blast off and go really fast, I think with his post being outside, Luis can kind of take a look to his left, and if he needs to sit second or third, he’ll be forwardly placed, I believe. If it breaks right and we get lucky, he has every shot to win.”

Irad Ortiz seeks first Indiana stakes victory

This could probably be a bar bet: Irad Ortiz has ridden at Horseshoe Indianapolis previously but never won a stakes. He’s also never ridden the stakes-laden Indiana Derby card before.

That changes Saturday when the sure-bet future Hall of Fame jockey rides seven races on the 13-race card, six in stakes. Ortiz rides the highly regarded Leading Change in the $300,000, Grade 3 Indiana Derby for Brad Cox, along with four stablemates: Prom Queen (the $200,000, Grade 3 Indiana Oaks’ 9-5 favorite), Instant Replay (Michael G. Schaefer Memorial), Yes It Tiz (Mari Hulman George Memorial Handicap and Wadsworth (Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial). He also rides Miwa for trainer Joe Sharp in the $100,000 Indiana General Assembly Distaff Handicap.

According to Equibase statistics, Ortiz has ridden 10 races at Horseshoe Indy during his career, with two wins and two seconds. He’s only been in four stakes: the Horseshoe Indianapolis Stakes and the Caesars Stakes in mid-May in 2022 and 2023, resulting in a second and a third.

Star Actress seeks leading role in Indiana Oaks

Trainer Bill Mott’s team is hoping George Krikorian’s homebred 3-year-old filly Star Actress can play a leading role instead of supporting cast in Saturday’s $200,000, Grade 3 Indiana Oaks at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Off a maiden win in her second start at Gulfstream Park, Star Actress finished third in Keeneland’s Grade 1 Ashland Stakes. Good, but not good enough to run in the Kentucky Oaks. Instead, Star Actress was fifth in an allowance race that same day (the 1-2 finishers, Maximum Offer and Betty’s Pearl, are also in the Indiana Oaks).  A switch to grass resulted in another good performance — a second — but not good enough to pursue a grass stakes.

“Her turf race was good, but it wasn’t anything to think, oh, we found the correct surface,” said Kenny McCarthy, who oversees Mott’s Churchill Downs operation. “Her dirt form had trailed off a little bit, so we wanted to change something. He just wanted to try the grass with her to see. It wasn’t maybe the Grade 1 performance you were hoping for.”

McCarthy says he’s hoping a “dirt-to-turf-to dirt” angle gets Star Actress into marquee billing. That or shipping to a different track.

At 8-1 in the morning line, Star Actress is the longest shot in the 1 1/16-mile Indiana Oaks, which will scratch down to five 3-year-old fillies with Mizumi running in Friday night’s Iowa Oaks. But her pedigree and a half-mile work in a “bullet” 47 3/5 seconds three works ago may provide clues to underlying ability.

Star Actress is a daughter of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. She’s out of the Street Cry mare Star Act, who took nine attempts to win a race and whose biggest accomplishment was a Del Mar allowance victory. However, Star Act’s mom was millionaire Starrer, who got better with age and ended her career with a pair of Grade 1 victories at 5.

Here’s another reason to take a long look at Star Actress: Junior Alvarado — Mott’s go-to rider, including on 2025 Kentucky Derby winner and Horse of the Year Sovereignty — comes in to ride. Alvarado also rides Bendoog in the Michael Schaefer Memorial and Kapoor in the Mari Hulman George Memorial for Mott, as well as Modarosa in the Indiana General Assembly for Mott’s son Riley. He will ride Creole Chrome in the Indiana Derby for trainer Joe Sharp.

Stakes win would carry a lot of weight for Clairita

Whoever said you can’t be too rich or too thin wasn’t referring to racehorses. Maybe the money part rings true, but keeping weight on some horses is among the many heavy challenges trainers face.

So trainer Phil Bauer wishes Rigney Racing’s 4-year-old Gun Runner filly Clairita carried more flesh heading into Saturday’s $100,000 Mari Hulman George Handicap on the Indiana Derby undercard. What she does bring in to her stakes debut is a very consistent record: two wins, two seconds and a third in five starts, most recently a front-running allowance victory May 17 at Churchill Downs.

“Her whole life we’ve struggled to maintain weight,” Bauer said. “We thought it was immaturity, turned her out a couple of times, just trying to get her to come along. We’ve gotten to the point where we’ve just figured out a way to manage it as best we can. She’s doing well, so we thought it was a good time (to try a stakes). I was a little surprised some of the horses that went in there. It’s no easy spot.”

Rigney Racing paid $375,000 for Clairita as a Keeneland September yearling.

“She always possessed a lot of ability,” Bauer said. “It’s just been a frustrating stop-and-go with her based on how she looked physically. You get to a point where we were approaching her 4-year-old year (and she hadn’t raced). I told the owner, let’s go on and give her a run.”

Clairita finished a close third in her debut last fall at Keeneland, following up with a 12-length off-the-turf maiden win in the slop last fall at Churchill. In three starts this year, she was second at Gulfstream Park, second again by a neck at Keeneland and then went wire-to-wire for a 3 1/2-length victory at Churchill Downs on May 17.

“She has ability, no doubt,” Bauer said. “Hopefully she’s one that can stick around for a while, based on how lightly raced she is. But the more races you’re in, the deeper the waters get. We’ll see how she stacks up here.”

Luis Saez, aboard for Clairita’s maiden win as well as the allowance second neck defeat in a Keeneland allowance, has the mount.