Baffert sending 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.