Potente, Cherokee Nation work for Santa Anita Derby
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The seven-figure yearlings Cherokee Nation and Potente are scheduled to represent Bob Baffert in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 4, two leading chances to give the Hall of Famer a 10th win in California’s leading prep race for the Triple Crown.
On Thursday, both horses had workouts at Santa Anita. Potente, the undefeated winner of the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 7 in his stakes debut, worked five furlongs in 59.20 seconds. Potente, bought for $2.4 million as a yearling at Saratoga, won his first start in a maiden race at six furlongs on Jan. 31.
Cherokee Nation, purchased for $1.15 million as a yearling at Keeneland, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20. The Santa Anita Derby will be Cherokee Nation’s first start in a Grade 1. He won a maiden race at a mile on Feb. 27 by 10 lengths, earning a lofty Beyer Speed Figure of 100.
The maiden race was Cherokee Nation’s sixth start. Cherokee Nation has finished fifth in two stakes – the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs last November and the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes at a mile at Santa Anita on Feb. 7.
This year, the Santa Anita Derby will have a rare shipper in Express Kid, who was second by a nose in the $500,000 Sunland Park Derby in New Mexico on Feb. 15. Express Kid breezed six furlongs in 1:11 at Sunland Park on Tuesday and is scheduled to be vanned to Santa Anita on Sunday or Monday, trainer Justin Evans said.
Evans had hoped to have Express Kid at Santa Anita by the end of this week, but said vanning opportunities are limited.
“I was hoping to get there in the next couple of days,” he said.
Express Kid, purchased for $800,000 by Brad and Sharon Klevin in a one-horse digital sale conducted by Fasig-Tipton in January, has won 3 of 6 starts. On Tuesday, Express Kid worked in company with stablemate Misinformation, a 3-year-old colt purchased for $180,000 at a Fasig-Tipton digital sale in February by Lobo Ranch.
“They went down there pretty fast,” Evans said.
Misinformation is a candidate for the $125,000 Mind That Bird Derby at 1 1/8 miles at Sunland Park on April 5, Evans said.
The $500,000 Santa Anita Derby is the richest race of the track’s winter-spring meeting, which ends on April 5. The spring meeting begins on April 17.