Harcyn brings classic pedigree into El Camino Real Derby

None of the projected runners in Saturday’s $100,000 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields have a Triple Crown pedigree quite like the unbeaten colt Harcyn.

Owned by Jerry Moss, Harcyn is from the family of half-brothers Giacomo, the winner of the 2005 Kentucky Derby, and Tiago, who won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in 2007 and was seventh behind Street Sense in the Kentucky Derby.

Harcyn runs in the El Camino Real Derby at 1 1/8 miles following wins in two races at six furlongs – a maiden race in October and an allowance race on Jan. 16. He led throughout in both wins, pulling clear through the stretch.

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“I know we’re asking a lot to go from six furlongs to a mile and an eighth,” trainer Steve Sherman said earlier this week. “I wish the race was a mile, obviously. I got a feeling he’s a nice horse.”

Moss raced Giacomo and Tiago, who were trained by John Shirreffs. Harcyn, who is by Goldencents, is out of Florian. She is a half-sister to Set Them Free, the dam of Tiago and Giacomo.

The El Camino Real Derby is the lone Triple Crown prep race in Northern California. The winner receives a berth to the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 20. Golden Gate Fields and Pimlico are both owned by 1/ST Racing.

In 2021, Rombauer won the El Camino Real Derby, finished third in the Blue Grass Stakes, and won the Preakness Stakes.

Harcyn is expected to be part of a field that includes Passarando and Chase the Chaos, the first two finishers of the Gold Rush Stakes at a mile on Dec. 3; Gilmore, a maiden race winner at a mile for trainer Bob Baffert at Los Alamitos on Dec. 10; and Happy Does, the winner of an allowance race at a mile at Golden Gate Fields on Jan. 21.

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