A clean path in early stretch and a hard-fought finish led to a narrow win for Blackadder in Saturday’s El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields. Ridden by Edwin Maldonado, Blackadder ($9.60) edged 3-5 favorite Mackinnon in the final strides to win his stakes debut and second consecutive start by a neck. Blackadder ran 1 1/8 miles on the synthetic track in 1:50.34. Blackadder earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 82. Maldonado rode Blackadder for the first time in the $102,700 El Camino Real Derby and was the colt’s fourth different rider in as many starts for trainer Bob Baffert. With the win, Blackadder earns a berth in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 21. Golden Gate Fields and Pimlico are owned by 1/ST Racing. Last year, Rombauer won the El Camino Real Derby and the Preakness Stakes two races later. :: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures On Saturday, Maldonado had Blackadder in seventh on the first turn and sixth on the backstretch, tracking the outsider Nuestro Engreido through early fractions of 23.46 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 47.77 seconds. Blackadder moved closer to the front on the turn when Maldonado moved the colt to the inside in early stretch, finding space between rivals. Mackinnon had a one-length advantage with a furlong remaining, but could not hold Blackadder, who rallied on the inside. “I’ve been looking at the races all day and it’s been speed, speed, speed,” Maldonado said in a post-race television interview. “I waited on the fence and I got the opening. I got through.” Mackinnon, third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar in November, was squeezed at the start, and recovered to race in a stalking position. Jockey Abel Cedillo had Mackinnon behind the leaders on the turn before he moved the colt into a four-wide position entering the stretch. Mackinnon took the lead and appeared to be in command of the race until Blackadder reached contention. Del Mo (13-1) finished third. Mackinnon and Del Mo are trained by Doug O’Neill. Blackadder races for the large partnership of SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert Masterson, Stonestreet Stables, Jay Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital, Catherine Donovan, Golconda Stable, and Siena Farm. Madaket Stables is also part of a smaller partnership that owns Mackinnon. :: Serious horseplayers use serious products. Get DRF's premium past performances, now free for the first time Blackadder, by Quality Road, was purchased for $620,000 as a weanling and has earned $108,920. The colt was third and fifth in his first two starts before winning a maiden special weight race at 1 1/4 lengths at a mile at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, a race originally scheduled for turf but moved to dirt because of rain. The El Camino Real Derby had a minor role in the qualifying system for the Kentucky Derby, offering 10 points to the winner followed by 4, 2 and 1 point to the second through fourth-place finishers. Blackadder will not earn any qualifying points since Baffert has been banned from running horses at Churchill Downs in 2022 and 2023 by that track’s management after 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit was found to have a medication overage, a case that remains the subject of upcoming regulatory hearings.