Preview of coming attractions

ARCADIA, Calif. - Each of the seven 3-year-olds in Wednesday's fifth race at Santa Anita has beaten only maidens. But in three months, a few of them could be at Churchill Downs, preparing for the Kentucky Derby.

Run over a mile, Wednesday's optional claimer could produce contenders for the Santa Anita Derby and the Triple Crown.

Azillion, Puerto Banus, Raven Power, and True Monarch face winners for the first time. Cable Ready, Gold Dollar, and Pelirrojo were each well beaten in their last starts.

Trainer Bob Baffert, who has won four of the last six runnings of the Santa Anita Derby, starts Puerto Banus and True Monarch.

"The Derby trail starts for me on Wednesday," Baffert said.

Baffert may have the race favorite with True Monarch, but several starters will be well supported.

The speedy True Monarch tries two turns for the first time, having won a maiden race over 5 1/2 furlongs by three lengths on Jan. 12. He has since had two bullet workouts - six furlongs in 1:12 on Jan. 21 and five furlongs in 58.40 seconds on Jan. 26.

"He's very fast," Baffert said.

Puerto Banus, a half-brother to 2000 Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Spain, won his debut on Jan. 5. Sent off at 15-1, he rallied wide to win by a head. He has since worked well over seven furlongs.

"He wasn't fully cranked when he won that day," Baffert said. "He'll get better in time."

Pelirrojo will be trying to rebound from a fourth-place finish behind Werblin in an allowance race Dec. 26.

"I think he wants to go long," trainer John Sadler said. "Wednesday is a test."

Gold Dollar, trained by D. Wayne Lukas, is the most experienced colt in the field, having made nine starts. His lone win came in a seven-furlong maiden race at Saratoga last summer.

Last November, he was third in the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs, and he was fourth in an allowance race over 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 29.

"It's a logical spot for him," Lukas said. "I'm looking for him to step up. We're still trying to find out what he's going to be."

* In the seventh race, Skip to the Stone, the winner of the 2001 Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct, makes his 4-year-old debut in an optional claimer on the hillside turf course. He won the Baldwin Stakes on dirt here last February.

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