ARCADIA, Calif. - Judging from trainer Doug O’Neill’s success at Santa Anita this year, a stakes win on Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby program is within expectations for the nationally prominent stable. Through Sunday, O’Neill, 57, had a clear lead in the Santa Anita trainer standings at the winter-spring meeting with 36 wins, well in front of Mark Glatt (25) and Bob Baffert (23). O’Neill had 145 starters, the most of any trainer, but had won at a 24.8 percent clip. The season ends on Sunday, April 5, before the spring meeting begins on April 17. O’Neill has all but clinched the title at the current meeting with four days of racing remaining from Thursday through Sunday. The results were not entirely expected, he said over the weekend. “You’re always hopeful to be competitive,” he said. “The horses have trained well and, knock on wood, the horses have stayed sound. The races have been good spots. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “It’s so crazy how it cycles. You’ll go through a couple of months and everything seems body sore. Every race you should be 3-1 and you’re 8-1. It’s been opposite of late, so it’s been good.” This will be O’Neill’s first training title at a winter-spring meeting since 2023-24, when he finished with 31 wins, two more than Glatt. This weekend, O’Neill has two intended starters in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby with the contender Robusta and the outsider Vitruvian Man. On the same program, O’Neill plans to start Hypergamy in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles, the recent Grade 3 stakes winner Princesa Moche in the Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes for fillies and mares at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course, and the stakes-placed Thirsty Rebel in the $125,000 Echo Eddie Stakes for California-bred 3-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs. On Sunday, Robusta worked six furlongs in 1:14.20, while Vitruvian Man worked five furlongs from the gate in 59.20 seconds, the fastest of 60 recorded works at the distance. “Robusta worked really well,” O’Neill said. Robusta was second by a head at 67-1 in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes behind Potente, another contender for the $500,000 Santa Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles. Vitruvian Man will have his first start in a stakes, and first start of 2026, in the Santa Anita Derby. He was third by 2 1/2 lengths in an allowance race at Turfway Park on Dec. 27 in his last appearance. O’Neill has won the Santa Anita Derby twice, with I’ll Have Another in 2012 and Goldencents in 2013. I’ll Have Another was the first of two Kentucky Derby wins for O’Neill, followed four years later by Nyquist, who did not start in the Santa Anita Derby. Goldencents was 17th in the Kentucky Derby, but won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in 2013 and 2014. For this year’s Kentucky Derby on May 2, O’Neill has Pavlovian, the runner-up in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby on March 21, as a hopeful. If he has a second runner, it may emerge from the Santa Anita Derby. O’Neill said on Sunday that he will not send Civil Liberty to the Grade 2 Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday. At Santa Anita on Sunday, Civil Liberty worked five furlongs from the gate in 1:01.80 . “He worked good, not great,” O’Neill said. Civil Liberty is winless in four starts, including a fourth-place finish behind Intrepido in the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita last October. Intrepido, trained by Jeff Mullins, worked a half-mile in 50.20 seconds on Sunday for the Santa Anita Derby. Intrepido was second to the now-sidelined Plutarch in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes at a mile at Santa Anita on Feb. 7 in his only start this year. “He cruised around there,” Mullins said. Mullins said clear weather in California for the last six weeks has given Intrepido an uninterrupted training schedule. “It’s saved me a few gray hairs,” he said. Aside from Intrepido, Potente, Robusta, and Virtuvian Man, the list of candidates for the Santa Anita Derby include Cherokee Nation, a maiden race winner by 10 lengths in Feb. 27; and So Happy and Start the Ride, who were third and sixth in the San Felipe Stakes. Cherokee Nation and Potente are trained by Bob Baffert. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.