Trainer Bob Baffert’s big chestnut colt Dortmund stole the show on Saturday’s “Stars of Tomorrow” card at Churchill Downs.

The all-juvenile program featured the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club and G2 Golden Rod Stakes, nevertheless, Dortmund’s allowance conquest made the most lasting impression.

Dortmund (2c Big Brown – Our Josephina by Tale of the Cat) literally and figuratively towered over his rivals on Saturday.  He had been listed at 50-1 in pre-post markets for the 2015 Kentucky Derby but those odds dropped to 16-1 following his four length victory over 1600 metres.

“He needs a little experience, he’s still developing,” assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes said.  “Basically, we wanted to see how he handled Churchill.  He handled it really well, didn’t he.”

A son of Vinery Stud’s 2008 Kentucky Derby champion Big Brown, he started a prohibitive odds-on favourite and the race was essentially over a long way from home.  “The extra distance wasn’t a problem,” jockey Martin Garcia said.  “I never asked for anything and then at the top of the stretch, I asked him for a little bit.  I wanted to make sure he was in control.”

Big Brown sired Dortmund from LR Ohio Valley Hcp winner Our Josephina and he brought $140,000 at Fasig-Tipton 2YO Midlantic Sale in May.

DORTMUND