Slow Down Andy, upset winner of the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 11, is under consideration for two Grade 3 races in the next month – the $750,000 Southwest Stakes on Jan. 29 at Oaklawn Park or the $200,000 Robert Lewis Stakes on Feb. 6 at Santa Anita.
It's a rare winter when trainer Dale Romans doesn't show up with some promising young faces for the major 3-year-old stakes here later in the season. And this year is no exception.
Derby sleepers are re-emerging. A closing third by Oviatt Class in the Sham Stakes and a runner-up finish in the Bob Hope and subsequent layoff by Forever Kingdom have not dampened expectations for the Santa Anita-based graded stakes-placed colts.
For Dash Attack, the Road to the Derby goes through Hot Springs. He followed up his debut win at Oaklawn four weeks earlier with this late-running victory in his stakes debut, and there’s no reason for him to not stay locally for the terrific, well-spaced series of Derby preps at Oaklawn.
Led by Courvoisier, the top three finishers from Saturday's $150,000 Jerome Stakes are expected to meet again in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes on Feb. 5 at Aqueduct.
If Saturday's New Year's Day program here was a hockey game, nobody could argue that the top three stars at the end of the day were Simplification, Lightening Larry, and Kathleeen O. The only discussion, perhaps, would be what order to put them in.
Newgrange gave trainer Bob Baffert his third consecutive win in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, and the trainer's sixth win in the last 10 years in the early season one-mile test for 3-year-olds. Newgrange joins outstanding company as a winner of the Sham trained by Baffert.
Newgrange, a winner of his lone prior start sprinting, successfully stretched out around two turns when facing both winners and making his stakes debut, but this race could not have played out better for him, so not much was learned as to his quality.
The regally bred COURVOISIER (he’s out of Eclipse winner Take Charge Brandi) prevailed in his stakes debut while cutting back to a one-turn mile after defeating maidens going two turns in his previous start.
Newgrange took advantage of ideal conditions in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita and strolled to a 2 3/4-length victory, scoring in front-running fashion in a Kentucky Derby prep void of pace other than his stablemate.
