Strong Contender talented, but has tough challenge

He will run in the Blue Grass Stakes for a chance at the Kentucky Derby.
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- After watching Strong Contender work in the starting gate and gallop around Keeneland, John Ward walked back to his car a satisfied trainer.
"You don't have to tinker with talent," Ward said Wednesday.
The talent may be there, but Strong Contender still needs a near flawless performance in Saturday's $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes for a chance to run in the Kentucky Derby three weeks later.
"We have a finite target," Ward said. "We have to be there."
The lightly raced Strong Contender is 2-for-2 and is running in his first stakes race. With no stakes earnings, the son of Maria's Mon would need to win or finish second in the Blue Grass to earn enough money to make the Derby field if more than 20 horses are entered.
And even if Strong Contender makes it to Churchill Downs, he would be bucking history: Regret in 1915 was the last Derby winner coming into the race with just three career starts.
Formidable task
The task in the 11/8-mile Blue Grass will be a formidable one, too. First Samurai, winner of the Fountain of Youth through disqualification, is the 8-5 morning-line favorite, with trainer Todd Pletcher's Bluegrass Cat the second choice at 5-2.
Both are seasoned and financially set for the Derby: First Samurai has won five of seven starts with earnings of $892,575; Bluegrass Cat is 4-for-6 with $323,780 in earnings.
Strong Contender, with Edgar Prado aboard, is the 4-1 third choice in a field of nine 3-year-olds entered Wednesday.
Also in the field are Little Cliff (10-1), trained by Nick Zito, and Sinister Minister (15-1), trained by Bob Baffert.
Believe in Strong Contender
Clearly, Ward and owner John Oxley believe Strong Contender will become more than just a contender. Oxley paid a sales' topping $800,000 for the colt at the Keeneland April sales of 2-year-olds in training, and Ward has no reservations about running a horse with little racing experience.
"He was the standout in the sale," Oxley said after the post-position draw at the Keeneland sales pavilion. "He had the looks. He worked extremely well. And he has the pedigree, like Monarchos, out of a Dynaformer mare. He had all the parts."
Still does, even after missing several months of training with a shin fracture and missing the Lane's End Stakes at Turfway Park last month because he didn't have enough earnings to qualify.
"He's big, strong and able -- at the end of his works when his rider asks -- to lay it in there and finish that last eighth mile," Ward said.
Big-time tall order
Strong Contender won a maiden race last August at Arlington Park and an allowance Feb. 22 at Gulfstream Park. Stepping up to the big time seems like a tall order.
"He's like your star sophomore," Ward said. "You know he can hit all those jump shots but what happens when he has to stand at the free throw line at the end of the game? You've got to be able to execute."
Monarchos did when it counted, and Ward is hoping for the same from Strong Contender. The horses, though, couldn't be more different on the racetrack.
"Monarchos was a tough-minded animal that was able to run the last five-eighths of a mile as hard as he can go. He just went into that zone," Ward said. "This horse is more of an athlete and has got tremendous lungs on him."
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