Baffert has one to beat in Illinois Derby

STICKNEY, Ill. – Two Saturdays ago trainer Bob Baffert ran one-two in the Santa Anita Derby with Dortmund and One Lucky Dane. This past Saturday, Baffert won the Arkansas Derby with American Pharoah while capturing an Oaklawn Park undercard 3-year-old stakes, the Northern Spur, with the maiden Wolf Man Rocket.

This Saturday at Hawthorne, Baffert will try to do something he has never done before, win the Illinois Derby, though it’s not like he has often tried the race. Baffert’s first Hawthorne starter came in the 2014 Illinois Derby, where Midnight Hawk lost by an eyelash to Dynamic Impact.

This year’s representative, according to Hawthorne racing officials, is Whiskey Ticket, who has made all of one start in his career, winning a March 19 Santa Anita maiden mile by a neck. But the 90 Beyer Speed Figure the victory produced is easily tops among the probable starters in the race, and with the Baffert cachet attached, Whiskey Ticket might well be the race favorite.

The Grade 2, $400,000 Illinois Derby, a 1 1/8-mile dirt race positioned as a potential prep for the Preakness Stakes, is easily the highlight of the Hawthorne spring meet. The meet’s only other graded stakes, the Sixty Sails, headlines the Saturday undercard. Entries will be taken Wednesday, with a field of eight or nine expected. Expected to run besides Whiskey Ticket are Alabaster, Conquest Curlinate, Magic of Believing, Phenomenal Phoenix, Private Prospect, and one horse each from several nominees trained by Jerry Hollendorfer and Mike Maker. The Hollendorfer horse that seems the most logical participant is Cyrus Alexander; for Maker, it is Task Force Glory.

Baffert trained the last horse to win the Illinois Derby and the Kentucky Derby, War Emblem in 2002. But War Emblem was privately purchased and transferred from trainer Bobby Springer to Baffert following his impressive Illinois Derby win when the race was still run at now-defunct Sportsman’s Park.

Whiskey Ticket, by Ghostzapper, has worked back three times since his debut score last month.

Gudiel one hot apprentice

Out of nowhere over the winter came apprentice jockey Vicente Gudiel, who has emerged from obscurity to lead the Hawthorne jockey standings entering this week’s racing.

Gudiel officially has 41 wins at the meet, but that total includes two days of racing in January before Hawthorne went dark during midwinter. The spring meet commenced Feb. 20, and since then Gudiel has gone 37-20-21 from 162 mounts, a 23 percent strike rate and a win total 10 greater than Tim Thornton, second in the standings.

This is the third straight Hawthorne spring meet where an apprentice rider has unexpectedly risen in the standings. In 2013 it was Manny Esquivel, and last winter Santo Sanjur had a strong run. Sanjur, like Gudiel, is represented by the agent Jimmy Ernesto.

Ernesto was hooked up with both riders by trainer Wesley Ward, for whom Gudiel was working as an exercise rider before coming to Chicago on Dec. 26.

Using the standard term for an apprentice jockey, bug boy, does not quite suit Gudiel, who is 28, and age is not the only thing that sets him apart. Gudiel is from Guatemala, not exactly a hotbed of Thoroughbred riders. His family, though, moved to Florida when Gudiel was a child, and Gudiel went to the track to gallop for trainer Patricia Farro at Parx Racing before winding up with Ward in Florida.

Gudiel notched a five-win day early this meet and has stayed hot. He has ridden nine winners for trainer Scott Becker while expanding his business steadily.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Gudiel said. “I’m winning and I’m saying I don’t know how I did it, but I did it. My agent is a hard worker. Scott Becker, he opened his door and gave me a chance to ride good horses.”

Gudiel figured out quickly the rail was the place to be during February and March. “I was watching every race, and I’m thinking the best spot is the rail, saving ground,” he said. “I started staying on the rail, and I kept winning.”

Gudiel plans to move his tack from Hawthorne to Arlington when the meet there starts next month.

Recount looks to Iowa

Recount ended his 2-year-old campaign winning the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Futurity and started his 3-year-old season Saturday with a sharp victory in the Land of Lincoln Stakes for Illinois-bred 3-year-olds. Recount ran favored Dom the Bomb into submission, pressing him through a torrid pace, and went on to a comfortable victory. His six-furlong time of 1:10.32 produced an 81 Beyer Speed Figure, which doesn’t quite do the performance justice.

Trainer Jim DiVito said Recount is likely to make his next start at Prairie Meadows with his major goal the $250,000 Iowa Derby there June 27.