Mc Vay will try to win Santa Anita Derby as a maiden

Trainer John Shirreffs has won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby three times since 2007, and has a potential for a fourth if Mc Vay scores an upset in the $750,000 race on April 6.

A win by Mc Vay would be unique, a victory by a maiden in California’s leading race for 3-year-olds.

Mc Vay, owned by Lee and Susan Searing’s CRK Stable, was a well-beaten third in his last start, the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on March 3.

Mc Vay has worked quickly in recent weeks, including five furlongs in 59 seconds on Friday that has left the Searings and Shirreffs contemplating a start in the Santa Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles.

The race is a key prep for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4.

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Jockey Hector Berrios was aboard Mc Vay for Friday’s workout, the fastest of 124 works at the distance on a busy morning at Santa Anita. Berrios rode Mc Vay to a second-place finish in a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs on Jan. 20, a day the colt was beaten 7 1/2 lengths by Maymun, another candidate for the Santa Anita Derby.

“The horse really responded well and was focused in the work,” Shirreffs said.

Shirreffs said Berrios will ride Mc Vay in the Santa Anita Derby, if the colt runs.

By Constitution, Mc Vay was purchased for $1.25 million at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale. The colt has had four starts, including a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes at a mile on Feb. 3 in his stakes debut.

Shirreffs said he has seen progress from Mc Vay since the beginning of the year.

“He’s shown improvement in the mornings, which was a big deal,” Shirreffs said. “He’s gotten better every month.”

If Mc Vay can join Tiago (2007), Gormley (2017), and Honor A. P. (2020) as Shirreffs-trained Santa Anita Derby winners, he will do so as longshot.

The field is expected to include Stronghold, the winner of the Grade 3 Sunland Park Derby in New Mexico on Feb. 18; Tapalo, who was second in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields on Feb. 11; and Tessuto, a maiden race winner on Feb. 25.

Tessuto worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 on Friday for trainer George Papaprodromou.

Trainer Bob Baffert has four nominees – Imagination, who won the San Felipe; Maymun, undefeated in two starts; Wine Me Up, who was second in the San Felipe; and Wynstock, who won the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity but was last of 11 in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 3.

Baffert, who has won the Santa Anita Derby a record nine times, declined on Friday to state his Santa Anita Derby team, saying he would wait until next week to finalize plans.

Wynstock worked a half-mile in a rapid 46 seconds from the gate on Friday, the quickest of 113 works at the distance.

The Santa Anita Derby is the leading race on a four-day racing week, from Thursday through April 7, that includes eight stakes.

Two Grade 3 turf stakes worth $100,000 – the Wilshire and the American – will be run on Thursday after the track canceled racing this weekend because of a forecast of extensive rain. Thursday’s program was added to the schedule because of this weekend’s cancellations.

The April 6 program also includes the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks, a $300,000 race for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles.

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