Life's still pretty good for Baffert in Robert Lewis at Santa Anita

Five times in the last nine years, the Kentucky Derby winner has been trained by Bob Baffert or Doug O’Neill. They combine to send out four of the eight runners on Saturday at Santa Anita in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes, a Derby prep that finds the top-rated 3-year-old in California looming large, even though he’s sitting this one out.

Baffert – who has won the Derby three times in the last six years – doubles up with Spielberg, the Los Alamitos Futurity winner, and Medina Spirit, second in the Sham earlier this month to unbeaten stablemate Life Is Good, who was the shortest price among individual horses in last week’s Kentucky Derby Future Wager and is awaiting the San Felipe on March 6.

O’Neill, a two-time Derby winner, counters with Wipe the Slate, who defeated maidens second time out after losing his debut against Life Is Good, and Hot Rod Charlie, making his first start since finishing second at a giant price in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

The four others are Roman Centurian, who also won against maidens second time out after finishing behind Life Is Good and Wipe the Slate in their common debuts; Rombauer, like Hot Rod Charlie making his 3-year-old debut after getting time off following the BC Juvenile; and the John Shirreffs-trained duo of Parnelli and Waspiriant, seeking to bounce back from disappointing efforts against Life Is Good and Medina Spirit in the Sham.

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The octet will be going 1 1/16 miles for a $100,000 purse and Derby points worth 10-4-2-1 to the top four finishers. The Lewis, named for the late popular owner who campaigned horses like Charismatic and Silver Charm with his wife, Beverly, is race 7 on an eight-race card that begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.

Santa Anita was scheduled to be closed Friday owing to a powerful rainstorm predicted to hit the area beginning Thursday night, and late Thursday morning the racing office announced the track would be closed for training Friday morning. That should allow the track maintenance crew to get a good, tight seal on the main track prior to the storm’s arrival. Once it passes, the track can be cut open as normal for racing and training Saturday, as the storm is supposed to be gone by then.

Spielberg is the most experienced horse in the field, with six starts, and though he won an important race last month, his career-best Beyer Speed Figure is 83. Flavien Prat, who rode him for the first time in the Los Al Futurity, is back aboard.

“Prat said he didn’t give him 100 percent,” Baffert said Thursday morning, adding he was glad to see the form of the Los Al Futurity get a boost when runner-up The Great One came back to romp against maidens last week.

Medina Spirit got a Beyer Figure of 99, tops among this field, in the one-mile Sham. He is the 5-2 morning-line favorite.

“Distance won’t be a problem for him,” Baffert said. “He has to work out a trip from the one hole.”

Hot Rod Charlie improved sharply last fall after adding blinkers, winning a maiden race in his fourth start and then finishing second in the BC Juvenile at 94-1. Joel Rosario is his new rider.

“He’s training really well. Joel has worked him twice if not three times,” O’Neill said Thursday. “We want to win, but this is also hopefully a start of our journey to the first Saturday in May.”

Wipe the Slate brings the band back together. He is by O’Neill’s 2016 Derby winner, Nyquist, and is owned by Paul and Zillah Reddam and ridden by Mario Gutierrez, who teamed with O’Neill to win the Derby with Nyquist and I’ll Have Another in 2012. This will be his first try around two turns following a sprint win against maidens in which he got a Beyer Figure of 88.

“He got a dream trip, tracking trip from an outside post, and he attacked when Mario called on him,” O’Neill said. “He’s by Nyquist, so it feels like there’s a lot of love in the family.”

Roman Centurian beat maidens going two turns after his sprint debut against Life Is Good and Wipe the Slate. He is the lone horse in the field who has raced this year in a non-stakes race and thus is coming off Lasix, which is banned for stakes racing at Santa Anita.

Rombauer was fifth in the BC Juvenile after taking second in the Grade 1 American Pharoah, in which he finished in front of Spielberg.

Umberto Rispoli takes over on Parnelli, who looked to be making steady progress prior to a step back last time. Waspirant has yet to reach a Beyer Figure of 70 in four starts.