Il Bellator returns in Robert Dupret Derby

Il Bellator has not raced since prevailing in a three-horse photo in the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields on April 30.

As the months have passed, the win has looked more attractive. Il Bellator finished a neck in front of Cabo Spirit, who was third in the California Derby and won the Grade 3 La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 7.

Il Bellator was sidelined with illness later in the spring, and will return to racing in Saturday’s $75,000 Robert Dupret Derby at 1 1/16 miles on turf at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa.

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Trained by Jose Bautista for Ed and Theresa DeNike, Il Bellator will have his turf stakes debut in the Dupret Derby as part of a field of seven. Il Bellator tends to race as a stalker, a style that might be beneficial in the Dupret Derby.

“I see a couple of horses with a lot of speed,” Bautista said on Thursday. “Hopefully they can go a little faster.

“I want to be laying third. That’s what he does.”

Bautista did not intend for Il Bellator to go more than three months between starts. The colt, a winner of 3 of 7 starts, was an intended runner in the Alcatraz Stakes for 3-year-olds on turf on May 29 but was not entered when he developed a temperature.

“It took him a couple of weeks to recover,” Bautista said.

Il Bellator was winless in three sprint races in 2021 and has won three of his last four starts in races at a mile or farther. The only loss in that span was a fourth in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields in February.

In the California Derby, Il Bellator closed from fourth on the turn to win by a head.

“He got into so much trouble that day,” Bautista said. “He was stuck on the rail. Finally, he got out and he showed me he has the ability to do it.”

Il Bellator’s main rival in the Dupret Derby is St Anthony, who won the Alcatraz Stakes and was later eighth after a wide trip in the Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar on July 22.

There is an unknown element of how Il Bellator will handle turf. He had one start on the surface at 2, finishing second to Boise in a maiden special weight race at five furlongs at Golden Gate Fields last September.

Boise later won a stakes at Golden Gate Fields and was second by a head in the California Derby.

“That’s the only concern I have,” Bautista said of turf. “I think he’ll handle it.”

Bautista, 37, has won 102 races through Thursday in a career that began in 2010. He worked for the late Tony Diaz and Keith Nations before launching his own stable, which currently has 20 horses.

“I learned a lot from those guys,” he said.