Forbidden Kingdom, Messier face off in Santa Anita Derby
ARCADIA, Calif. – From the time Richard Mandella first worked Forbidden Kingdom last May 20, until his most recent start in the San Felipe Stakes five weeks ago, Mandella’s main focus has been trying to get Forbidden Kingdom to ration his abundant, natural speed. Mandella even postponed his first try around two turns, originally contemplated last fall after a winning debut, until Forbidden Kingdom had raced four times.
The San Felipe was a revelation. Forbidden Kingdom, in his first race around two turns, ran his rivals off their feet in the 1 1/16-mile race, rolling to a 5 3/4-length victory while earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 98.
On Saturday, Forbidden Kingdom will try to stretch that speed another 110 yards in the Grade 1, $750,000 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby. And if he can do that, he’ll have to go yet another furlong four weeks later, at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Derby.
After working for so long to mold Forbidden Kingdom, Mandella is hopeful the clay has set.
“I haven’t changed too much with him since the last race,” Mandella said. “I kinda liked the last one.”
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The Santa Anita Derby, at 1 1/8 miles, is the marquee race among 12 Saturday at Santa Anita. It is worth 170 points overall, including 100 to the winner and 40 for second, toward a berth in the Kentucky Derby.
The card has seven stakes, five graded, including the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies hoping to move on to the Kentucky Oaks on May 6.
First post is noon Pacific, and the stakes are front-loaded, owing to field size or national television commitments. Six of the first seven races are stakes, with the Santa Anita Derby race 6.
Six are entered in the Santa Anita Derby. Jon White, who makes the morning line at Santa Anita, has Forbidden Kingdom the second choice at 6-5, right behind even-money favorite Messier. On paper, it does look like a two-horse race.
Forbidden Kingdom, drawn just inside Messier in post 3, figures to take up the running, though Messier should never be far away. Juan Hernandez has been aboard Forbidden Kingdom in all his races, and Mandella said Forbidden Kingdom’s exercise rider, former jockey Nestor Capitaine, and groom Rosa Castillo also have been instrumental in the colt’s development.
“Rosa calls him ‘Bambino,’ ” Spanish for baby, Mandella said. “She’s a really wonderful person. And Nestor gets along with him so well.
“With my Derby experience,” said Mandella, who has never won the Kentucky Derby and whose most recent attempt in 2019 resulted in morning-line favorite Omaha Beach being scratched three days before the race, “I’m going to let them be in charge. I’m going to stand back and watch.”
The Santa Anita Derby is pivotal for Messier, who gets this one shot to earn enough points to move on to the Kentucky Derby. His victory in the Robert Lewis, and second in the Los Alamitos Futurity, would have been worth a combined 14 points, but they went unawarded owing to trainer Bob Baffert being denied participation in this year’s Derby by Churchill Downs. After months of legal maneuvering, and with a suspension looming for Baffert that began Monday, Messier a fortnight ago was transferred to trainer Tim Yakteen, and thus is eligible to now earn points.
In the Lewis, his final start for Baffert, Messier crushed his overmatched rivals by 15 lengths, with a Beyer Figure of 103. He beat Forbidden Kingdom last fall at Del Mar sprinting in the Grade 3 Bob Hope, but that was back when Forbidden Kingdom would blast off like a drag racer.
Messier has worked twice since Yakteen took control.
“He’s on go, looks great. Couldn’t be happier,” Yakteen said.
Yakteen has two other former Baffert trainees entered in the race. Armagnac, owned by the same partnership that campaigns Messier, tries again against Forbidden Kingdom after being dusted by him in the San Felipe. He is drawn inside Forbidden Kingdom and could try and contest the early pace, though that didn’t work out too well for him last time.
Taiba is Yakteen’s third entrant. A fast debut winner going six furlongs March 5, earning a 103 Beyer Figure, he now faces the best Derby prospects on the West Coast while stretching out from six furlongs to 1 1/8 miles to try two turns in his second start. His owner, Amr Zedan, was the owner of Medina Spirit, disqualified from a win in last year’s Derby, so he’s obviously hoping to get back, but this seems like overreach for a colt with potential. Taiba’s speed, though, could put him in Forbidden Kingdom’s orbit in the early going.
Baffert has won a record nine Santa Anita Derbies, and even though he’s not in this race, his impact is still profound. In addition to his former trainees now with Yakteen, Forbidden Kingdom is by American Pharoah, Baffert’s 2015 Triple Crown winner, and the longshot Win the Day is by Midshipman, whom Baffert trained to an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old male of 2008.
Win the Day is a recent maiden winner. He and his Doug O’Neill-trained stablemate Happy Jack – no match for Messier in the Lewis nor Forbidden Kingdom in the San Felipe – round out the field.