The next objective for Songbird is likely to be the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks at 1 1/16 miles on April 9, the final California prep for the $1 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 6. Owner Rick Porter stressed on Saturday that he has no interest in starting Songbird in the Kentucky Derby on May 7, or any of the leading prep races against males in the next few months.
Options aplenty abound for Mor Spirit, who scored his second straight stakes victory on Saturday in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita. He will have either one or two more preps before the May 7 Kentucky Derby, according to trainer Bob Baffert.
Bob Baffert and Gary Stevens won the Kentucky Derby in tandem in 1997 with Silver Charm, and those two Hall of Fame gunslingers are back on the Derby trail again this year with Mor Spirit, who made an appropriate stop along the way on Saturday at Santa Anita by capturing the Grade 3, $150,345 Robert Lewis Stakes, named for the man who owned Silver Charm.
Reservations might be needed to get into this year's Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn.
Nyquist, the champion 2-year-old male of 2015, is likely to have few rivals when he makes his 3-year-old debut in the $200,000 San Vicente Stakes at seven furlongs on Feb. 15.
Trainer Cliff Sise reiterated on Friday that Danzing Candy, impressive winner of a first-level optional $80,000 claimer Thursday at Santa Anita, will make his stakes debut in the $400,000 San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 12.
Nyquist is breezing in preparation for his first start at 3 – along with many other horses that he beat in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile – but one thing hasn't changed: The opposition remains slow.
Proven distance form will meet keen sprint speed when Mor Spirit, considered one of California's leading candidates for the Kentucky Derby, takes on I Will Score when seven 3-year-olds try to keep their Derby dreams alive on Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Robert Lewis Stakes over 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita.
Dolphus, who was scratched at the gate of the Lecomte after acting up and briefly getting loose, returned to action Sunday with a three-quarter-length win in a first-level, two-turn allowance at Fair Grounds. He will make his next start in the Risen Star, trainer Joe Sharp said.
Greenpointcrusader, who finished second to Mohaymen in the Holy Bull Stakes last Saturday at Gulfstream Park, will have just one more race prior to the Kentucky Derby, trainer Dominick Schettino said Wednesday, with his preference being the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds on March 26.
