Medina Spirit, Rock Your World looking at same next races
DEL MAR, Calif. – Medina Spirit and Rock Your World on Monday both appeared to have emerged in good order from their pitched battle Sunday in the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar, and both have the same potential options for their next starts, either the Pennsylvania Derby against fellow 3-year-olds on Sept. 25 at Parx Racing or the Awesome Again against elders Oct. 2 at Santa Anita.
The Pennsylvania Derby has the far larger purse ($1 million versus $300,000) and is age-restricted, but the Awesome Again would not involve shipping and has the bonus of being a Win and You’re In toward the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar, which is the current target for both colts. Both the Pennsylvania Derby and Awesome Again are Grade 1 races at 1 1/8 miles.
Medina Spirit got a Beyer Speed Figure of 100 for the Shared Belief. His career best is 102, earned when finishing first in the Kentucky Derby.
“He handled it pretty well,” his trainer, Bob Baffert, said Monday morning. “He waits on horses. He’s such a fighter, like Silver Charm,” Baffert said, referring to his first Kentucky Derby winner, in 1997.
“A mile and a quarter, a mile and a half, I think he could handle anything, that horse,” Baffert said of Medina Spirit. “He came back great. It was an exciting race. The fans were into it. That was nice to see. It was good racing.”
Medina Spirit was making his first start since finishing a tired third in the Preakness. He’s a slightly made horse who found the two-week turnaround from the Derby to the Preakness too abrupt.
“We brought him home, gave him some time. After the Preakness, he needed that,” Baffert said.
Rock Your World got a Beyer Figure of 98 for the Shared Belief, second best for him to the 100 he received for his front-running victory over Medina Spirit in the Santa Anita Derby in April. On Sunday, he was 1 1/2 lengths behind Medina Spirit with a furlong to go and wound up 1 1/4 lengths shy at the finish.
“I thought he ran well,” his trainer, John Sadler, said Monday morning. “I liked the fact that he kept digging all the way to the wire. It wasn’t like he got beat and backed up. It was a good, strong race.”
Sadler said the Pennsylvania Derby and Awesome Again are “the obvious spots” for Rock Your World’s next start, but he was in no hurry to make a decision. Sadler will relocate to Santa Anita after Del Mar’s meet ends on Labor Day.
“We’ll get back up to Santa Anita after this meet ends and start training him toward his next start. We’ve got time,” Sadler said.
One factor in the decision will be how Sadler manages the older horse Tripoli, who is a candidate for the Awesome Again but could be trained up to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, for which he won a fees-paid berth via his victory in the Pacific Classic. Kosta and Pete Hronis own Tripoli outright and are co-owners of Rock Your World, so there’s zero incentive to run them against one another.