Free Rose has earned respect ahead of Twilight Derby

ARCADIA, Calif. – Free Rose may finally have gained respect after winning graded stakes at the Del Mar summer meeting at odds of 28-1 and 11-1.

In Friday’s $200,000 Twilight Derby at Santa Anita, Free Rose will be a much shorter price in a competitive field of 12. The Grade 2 Twilight Derby is the final race on a 10-race program highlighted by four Breeders’ Cup races. First post is 11:25 a.m. Pacific.

The Twilight Derby, for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on turf, has been a goal for Free Rose since the gelding won the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 4.

“I gave him enough time after the Del Mar Derby,” trainer Richard Baltas said. “He had three races at Del Mar.”

Free Rose had been racing in Kentucky and joined Baltas’s stable in the summer. He was third in an allowance race at Del Mar on July 23 in his California debut and won the Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap in a 28-1 upset on Aug. 6.

The success has come despite Free Rose showing little while training on the main track in the morning.

“He’s always surprised me in the afternoon,” Baltas said. “He really takes to the grass. He doesn’t train very good on the dirt.”

Free Rose drew the rail and will be prominent early. He is likely to have company in Blackjackcat, who was sixth in the Del Mar Derby and a troubled third in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby on dirt on Sept. 24.

Free Rose races for a partnership that includes Abbondanza Racing.

There are eight stakes winners in the Twilight Derby, notably Oscar Nominated, Monster Bea, Mr. Roary, and Gold Rush Dancer. Oscar Nominated, who was 17th in the Kentucky Derby in May, won the Dueling Grounds Derby on Sept. 11. This will be his first start in California.

Monster Bea won the Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar in July. Mr. Roary scored a 38-1 upset in the Rainbow Stakes here in June and won an optional claimer here Oct. 9. Gold Rush Dancer won three stakes for statebreds in the spring and summer but was 12th in the Del Mar Derby, beaten 4 1/4 lengths.