Girvin (KY)
Dark Bay Colt
Trainer: Joe Sharp
Jockey Last Start: Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
Owner: Brad Grady
Breeder: Bob Austin & John Witte
Foaled: March 31, 2014
Sire: Tale of Ekati
Dam, Dam Sire: Catch the Moon, by Malibu Moon
Auction History: Sold to Grand Oaks for $130,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall 2015 Yearling Sale; RNA at the Keeneland September 2015 Yearling Sale.
Record: 4-3-1-0
Earnings: $874,400
Highest Beyer Speed Figure: 93
COMMENTS: After making a winning debut at Fair Grounds in December, this colt was forced to miss the first of that track’s three Kentucky Derby preps, the Grade 3 LeComte Stakes in January, when an equine herpes quarantine there prevented him from shipping in from trainer Joe Sharp’s barn at the Evangeline Training Center. He eventually finished a close second in his first start of the year in Fair Grounds’ Feb. 4 Keith Gee Memorial Stakes on the turf.
Back on dirt, Girvin proceeded to sweep Fair Grounds’ final two preps for the Kentucky Derby, the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 25 and the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby on April 1, to top the leaderboard with 150 qualifying points. His sire, Tale of Ekati, won Belmont Park’s Grade 2 Futurity Stakes in 2007 and captured Aqueduct’s Grade 1 Wood Memorial Stakes the following year before finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby won by Big Brown.
Girvin is a half-brother to graded stakes winner Cocked and Loaded. The colt will prepare for the Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs’ Trackside training facility where Sharp is based. His morning exercise rider is Sharp’s wife, former jockey Rosie Napravnik. Girvin’s regular pilot in the afternoons, Brian Hernandez, Jr., also rides highly-regarded Derby contender McCraken.
