On the day that the Triple Crown would have been concluding in New York, a race will be run in California that serves as a prep for a Kentucky Derby that is three months away instead of the usual gap of one month. So just add that to the lengthy list of “what else is new?” for 2020, as the Santa Anita Derby finally is held two months after its intended date.
Spendthrift Farm has acquired a majority interest in unbeaten Kentucky Derby hopeful Authentic, continuing to invest in its leading sire line.
Tiz the Law has moved back into the role of favorite for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby following last week's injury to Nadal. Tiz the Law is now 3-1 on the line set by Marty McGee of Daily Racing Form after being 4-1 last week.
Interruptions, one minor, then a bigger one beyond control, have been a theme through the brief, promising career of Honor A. P. On Saturday, trainer John Shirreffs will get confirmation of just where Honor A. P. stands as he takes on Authentic anew in the Grade 1, $400,000 Santa Anita Derby.
Shooters Shoot, a winner of two of six starts, makes his stakes debut Saturday in the Santa Anita Derby. If he wins, he would be second-year sire Competitive Edge's fifth stakes winner.
Jockey Drayden Van Dyke will start the June portion of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting Friday with three wins in the three weeks since racing resumed May 15. “I’m definitely back in the flow,” he said Sunday morning “I’ve won three races, which is better than none. I would have liked to have started off a little better. Hopefully, I can end it really strong.”
Anneau d’Or, winless in three races, all graded stakes, since a narrow loss in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last November, will start in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on June 6, trainer Blaine Wright said earlier this week.
Nadal, the undefeated 3-year-old and leading contender for the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5, suffered a condylar fracture to his left foreleg after completing a workout Thursday morning at Santa Anita and has been retired from racing, according to co-owner George Bolton.
The impressive victory by Maxfield in the Matt Winn last Saturday at Churchill Downs caused his odds to tumble to 6-1 from last week's 15-1 on the line set by Marty McGee of Daily Racing Form for the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.
Though the fate of his victory in a division of the Arkansas Derby on May 2 is to be determined, Charlatan continues to train for potential tasks ahead, and on Wednesday at Santa Anita he breezed an easy half-mile in 50 seconds for trainer Bob Baffert in his first work since the race. Of the 94 works on Wednesday at Santa Anita, his was the only one designated as breezing.
