Endlessly, winner of two Grade 3 turf stakes for 2-year-olds last September and October, had minimal interest in a late autumn vacation a few months ago. “We were hoping to keep him idle until March,” trainer Michael McCarthy said earlier this week. “He wasn’t having it.” Endlessly wanted action and was back in a workout routine by early December. Two months later, Endlessly will make his 2024 debut as a heavy favorite in Saturday’s $100,000 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. The El Camino Real Derby, run at 1 1/8 miles, drew a field of eight and will be run for the final time Saturday. Golden Gate Fields is scheduled to close in June. While the El Camino Real Derby is not graded and is not part of the Kentucky Derby qualifying system administered by Churchill Downs, the race has Triple Crown ramifications. The winner receives a berth to the Preakness Stakes on May 18 at Pimlico. Both Golden Gate Fields and Pimlico are owned by 1/ST Racing. McCarthy, based at Santa Anita, won the 2021 El Camino Real Derby with Rombauer in his first start since a fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland the preceding November. Rombauer later won the Preakness Stakes. Endlessly, who races for John and Jerry Amerman, has not raced since he finished eighth in the BC Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita in November, his only loss in four starts. “We sort of drew a line through the Breeders’ Cup,” McCarthy said. “Things didn’t unfold the way we expected. “He wants to sit behind horses and make that one run. In the Breeders’ Cup, he was up on the pace and didn’t get his kind of trip.” Endlessly, who will be ridden for the first time by Umberto Rispoli on Saturday, should get a stalking trip in the El Camino Real Derby with runners such as Tapalo, a recent maiden winner at Santa Anita, likely to show speed. Wild Jewels, winner of two stakes at Golden Gate Fields last fall, also can race near the front. The El Camino Real Derby is the start of a season McCarthy hopes will lead to more lucrative races for 3-year-olds in the coming months, provided the colt can handle a different scenario Saturday. “This is a new distance, new surface, and new racetrack – he’s got three new things to handle,” McCarthy said. “It’s a mile and an eighth and a first time off the bench.” Of the eight runners, six will have their first starts in stakes, including the three-time winner Old Triangle, who races for Francis O’Leary and trainer Tim Bellasis. Old Triangle closed from fifth of six to win a starter allowance at a mile by a nose on Jan. 27 in his sixth start. The victory justified a start in the El Camino Real Derby. “You don’t get a chance to run in a race like this very often,” Bellasis said. “I don’t think the mile and an eighth will be a problem.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.