Mackinnon seeks Preakness berth in El Camino Real Derby

There is no doubt Mackinnon has a solid future on turf. Last year, he won two stakes on turf and was third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar. Where he runs this spring will be determined to a large extent by his performance in Saturday’s $100,000 El Camino Real Derby on the synthetic track at Golden Gate Fields.

Mackinnon, trained by Doug O’Neill, will have his eighth start and first outside of Southern California in the El Camino Real Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles.

“It’s not a long way to travel,” O’Neill said earlier this week. “We thought his turf form was such that it should translate into a good, solid synthetic performance.

“I think he’s probably best on turf. Saturday will tell us a lot.”

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The winner of the El Camino Real Derby receives an entry in the Preakness Stakes on May 21 at Pimlico, provided the horse is nominated to the Triple Crown series. Mackinnon, who races for Erik Johnson, Madaket Stable, and Dave Kenney, was recently nominated to the Triple Crown. Both Golden Gate Fields and Pimlico are owned by 1/ST Racing.

Last year, Rombauer won the El Camino Real Derby and the Preakness Stakes.

O’Neill said the Preakness berth is a factor in running Mackinnon in the El Camino Real Derby, which drew a field of 11.

Mackinnon will be favored coming off a fourth in a field of five in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at a mile on Jan. 1 at Santa Anita. Mackinnon stalked ultimate winner Newgrange through a slow pace and faded to lose by 3 1/2 lengths. Newgrange also won the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes on Jan. 29 at Oaklawn Park.

Newgrange is trained by Bob Baffert, who starts Blackadder in the El Camino Real Derby. In his last start, Blackadder won a maiden special weight race at a mile on dirt on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita. The race was originally scheduled for turf.

Local contenders Boise and Dr Pescado are the only stakes winners in the field aside from Mackinnon.

Boise, trained by Jonathan Wong, and Dr Pescado, trained by Felix Rondan, were first and third in the Gold Rush Stakes at a mile on the synthetic track at Golden Gate Fields on Dec. 4. Dr Pescado has not raced since the Gold Rush, while Boise was seventh in the Eddie Logan Stakes at a mile on turf on Jan. 2 at Santa Anita.

“He was spinning his wheels,” Wong said of the loss in the Eddie Logan.

“He’s proven on the synthetic. I think he can be competitive in this spot. It’s an important race to see if he can get the mile and an eighth.

“If you throw out the last race, he hasn’t done anything wrong.”