Picking San Felipe Stakes or Santa Anita Derby next big question for top Robert Lewis finishers
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ARCADIA, Calif. - Managing the short-term race schedules of top-class 3-year-olds was on the minds of several trainers at Santa Anita on Sunday, a day after the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes.
Plutarch, Intrepido and Secured Freedom swept the top three positions in the $101,000 Lewis at a mile, in their first starts of the year.
Whether they return in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 7 or do not start until the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles on April 4 is an issue to be determined in coming weeks. The Santa Anita Derby is California’s leading prep to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 2.
“Do you dance every dance before you get down to business?” asked Jeff Mullins, who trains Intrepido. “If we would have won the race, we could have coasted and waited for the Santa Anita Derby.”
Plans for Plutarch, trained by Bob Baffert, and Secured Freedom, trained by Tim Yakteen, are unclear. Plutarch, an Into Mischief colt owned by the Coolmore syndicate, emerged from the race in good condition, Baffert said.
Plutarch stalked early pacesetter Intrepido before taking the lead on the turn. He won by three-quarters of a length.
“When he made the lead, he tried to pull himself up,” Baffert said. “He’s figuring it out. He doesn’t have it totally figured out.”
Plutarch, who is out of Stellar Wind, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2015, has won his last two starts after finishing second or third in his first four races from late August to late October.
Intrepido was an unexpected pacesetter in the Lewis. The winner of the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes at 1 1/16 miles last October, Intrepido was making his first start since a fifth-place finish after a slow start in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Oct. 31.
Intrepido, who was ridden by Hector Berrios, dueled with Plutarch in the stretch of the Lewis. Mullins noted on Sunday morning that Plutarch drifted to the inside in the final sixteenth, leaving him to question whether Intrepido was intimidated in any manner.
“Hector said if I’m outside I think I get by him,” Mullins said.
Secured Freedom broke from the outside in a field of seven and was away slowly. He was last early instead of contending for the lead.
“The race didn’t unfold the way the participants thought it would unfold,” Yakteen said. “We didn’t break super clean.
“He answered the question, can he handle the two turns?”
Plutarch, Intrepido and Secured Freedom earned 20, 10, and 6 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby.
Intrepido and Plutarch have 23 points overall, while Secured Freedom has six. Last year, the domestic qualifiers needed 39 points to get into the race.
The first three finishers of the $200,000 San Felipe earn 50, 25, and 15 points. The first three finishers of the $500,000 Santa Anita Derby earn 100, 50, and 25 points.
The San Felipe field is likely to include Start the Ride, who won the $175,500 California Cup Derby for statebreds at 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 17 for Harris Farms and trainer Dan Blacker. Start the Ride worked a half-mile in 48.60 seconds at Santa Anita on Saturday, his first workout since the Cal Cup Derby.
“He needs to improve a little bit and he has every right to,” Blacker said. “He should improve with the time and experience. Distance will never be an issue.
“It’s a question whether he’ll be good enough. I’m optimistic that he can be.”
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