Months after their first meeting, the rivalry is renewed Saturday at Santa Anita. And this race happens 90 minutes before California Chrome and Shared Belief run in the San Antonio.
For a guy headed to the dentist’s office Thursday morning, John Terranova certainly sounded excited. And for good reason. In El Kabeir, Terranova trains one of the top 3-year-olds in North America, one who looks to take the next step toward the Kentucky Derby when he heads a field of seven entered in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.
The matchup is almost too good to be true. The champions California Chrome, voted 2014 Horse of the Year, and Shared Belief, the outstanding 2-year-old male of 2013, meet for the second time in Saturday’s $500,000 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita.
War Story, the runner-up in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes, will likely make his next start in the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park, co-owner Ron Paolucci said on Wednesday.
Trainers Kiaran McLaughlin and Todd Pletcher landed the most runners on the inaugural Derby Watch top 20, with four each. The only other trainer with multiple runners on the list is Bob Baffert, who has American Pharoah and Dortmund.
Both Kiaran McLaughlin and Todd Pletcher came up under D. Wayne Lukas, the trainer who has the most starters in the history of the Kentucky Derby. But the approaches McLaughlin and Pletcher have taken toward the Derby have differed sharply.
Upstart, who stamped himself as a leading Kentucky Derby contender with his impressive victory in the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes, blew out an easy half-mile in 50 seconds at Palm Meadows on Wednesday. The work was his first since the Holy Bull 10 days earlier.
American Pharoah, the Eclipse Award winner for top 2-year-old male, is the top individually listed wagering interest behind the heavily favored mutuel field in Pool 2 of the 2015 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday at noon Eastern for a three-day run.
Trainer Wesley Ward sent out a pair of 3-year-olds, Asia and City of Vengeance, to win their career debuts on turf here last weekend. But it was a performance by another 3-year-old in his barn, The Great War, on Saturday night at Turfway Park that has the former rider most excited.
After Lord Nelson turned in a disappointing effort to end his 2-year-old campaign, trainer Bob Baffert decided to regroup and start anew, and Lord Nelson took a positive first step on his 3-year-old journey by holding off Texas Red to capture the Grade 2, $200,250 San Vicente Stakes over seven furlongs on Sunday at Santa Anita.
