Derby dream on the line for Anothertwistafate, Sueno in Lexington Stakes

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Now comes the final twist on the Kentucky Derby trail for Anothertwistafate, whose journey to Louisville has been anything but a straight line. The colt, whose emerging talent and side-door route have placed him on the threshold of cracking the Derby field, will try to clinch his spot when he faces nine other 3-year-olds Saturday in the Lexington Stakes before a packed house at Keeneland.

Anothertwistafate comes into the Grade 3, $200,000 Lexington with 30 qualifying points toward the May 4 Derby, just a little shy of the 40 or so that figures to be required to make the 20-horse lineup. The 1 1/16-mile Lexington offers 34 Derby points (20-8-4-2), with only Anothertwistafate and Sueno (28 points) seeming to have legitimate chances to make this their own little Win and You’re In toward the 145th Derby at Churchill Downs.

Anothertwistafate dominated three straight races this winter over the Tapeta surface at his home track, Golden Gate Fields in Northern California, before finishing second in the March 24 Sunland Park Derby in New Mexico. Instead of shipping home right afterward, the colt remained stabled at Sunland because of a quarantine situation at Golden Gate. While there, Anothertwistafate got in a half-mile work in 46.80.

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“It was a blessing in disguise,” said Blaine Wright, who trains the dark bay Scat Daddy colt for Peter Redekop. “The weather was good there, and he worked well before we left. I’m very happy with him. His races have been spaced out, and he’s carrying good flesh.”

Anothertwistafate will break from post 4 in the Lexington and will be ridden by the red-hot Javier Castellano, who won four of the first nine stakes at this meet. Although Anothertwistafate led wire to wire in all three of his Golden Gate races, he’s unlikely to make the front in the opening furlongs of the Lexington with such speedy rivals as Hawaiian Noises, Knicks Go, and Zenden – so Castellano’s skills will be critical as the race unfolds.

Likewise, with all the other speed signed on, Sueno (post 3, Corey Lanerie) surely will be farther back in the early stages than when he raced close to the pace while finishing third in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds last month. Trained by Keith Desormeaux for the Silverton Hill of Tommy and Bonnie Hamilton, the Atreides colt began his career last summer at Del Mar in the maiden-claiming ranks, but has made commendable progress in recent months. In his three starts before the Louisiana Derby, he won the Gold Rush at Golden Gate in December, then finished second in the Grade 3 Sham at Santa Anita and Grade 3 Southwest at Oaklawn.

If in fact the pace melts down, then Harvey Wallbanger (post 5, Brian Hernandez Jr.) is the most logical horse to capitalize with a late run. Trained by Kenny McPeek for a four-way partnership managed by Harold Lerner, the Congrats colt used precisely that strategy when pulling a 29-1 upset in the Feb. 2 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park. He returned in the Grade 1 Florida Derby March 30 there and finished eighth in a field of 11.

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“Now’s the time go get something done,” said McPeek. “Even if we won, we probably wouldn’t have enough points to make the Derby, but it’d still be nice to see him run like we know he can.”

This is the 38th running of the Lexington, which was used as a final prep by Derby winners Swale in 1984 and Charismatic in 1999. Desormeaux won the 2018 running with My Boy Jack, who wound up fifth in the Derby.

The Lexington is the ninth of 11 races Saturday, when a crowd of more than 30,000 is expected, and is surrounded by the Ben Ali (race 7), Giant’s Causeway (race 8), and Jenny Wiley (race 10) in an all-stakes pick-four wager.

First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern, with the Lexington going at 5:30. The forecast calls for cloudy skies and a high of 68.