ARCADIA, Calif. – Lombo is an excitable boy, always on the edge, but Saturday at Santa Anita he was able to ration his speed enough to score a front-running victory in the Grade 3, $151,380 Robert Lewis Stakes in his first try going two turns. The Lewis precedes the San Felipe and Santa Anita Derby as points-scoring races on the road to the Kentucky Derby on May 5, but this year’s edition came up without most of the West’s best. Lombo, under Flavien Prat, took advantage of the situation as the race favorites, Peace and Shivermetimbers, badly disappointed. “After his work on Monday I schooled him every day and thought about schooling him this morning,” said Mike Pender, who trains Lombo for his owner and namesake, Michael Lombardi. “He’s definitely a high-octane horse. “He’s just a big kid and got a little ADD to him, but he’s starting to figure it out. In November he was doing cartwheels in the paddock.” Lombo had made his first three starts in sprints, and showed sharp speed in his two tries on dirt. He had his necked bowed in the paddock and acted as if he might come out of the gate too aggressively, but he wasn’t uncooperative with the commands he got from jockey Flavien Prat. Lombo ($19.40), the fourth choice in the race, went the opening quarter in 23.40 seconds and half in 47.26 with Dark Vader in closest pursuit, then he began to widen on his opposition as the field went around the far turn. “They put a little pressure on him down the backside, but he was nice and relaxed,” Prat said. Lombo had a four-length lead a furlong from home and finished two lengths best of Ayacara, who passed Dark Vader in deep stretch to claim second. Dark Vader finished 2 1/4 lengths behind Ayacara, then came, in order, Regulate, Peace, Pepe Tono, Shivermetimbers, Blame the Rider, and Inscom. The visual aspects of the race, though, were not impressive. Lombo needed 7.07 seconds to complete the final sixteenth of a mile and covered 1 1/16 miles on the fast main track in 1:45.41, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 86. “He was sort of getting a little rubber-legged at the sixteenth pole,” Pender said. Still, Lombo earned 10 points for the victory under the system used by Churchill Downs to determine the field for the Derby. Lombo, a colt by Graydar, was purchased by Pender on behalf of Lombardi for $75,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale in March 2017. “Bought five colts, and he was the most expensive,” Pender said. Lombo earned $90,000 on Saturday and now has earnings of $129,225. Lombo was making his third start of the meet. He was third to the highly regarded Ax Man on Jan. 1 before winning against maidens on Jan. 20. He’ll be in action more this meet. “Santa Anita is home,” Pender said.