Public Sector does not lack for competition in Hollywood Derby

Some horses are good right from the start, like debut winner and graded stakes-placed Public Sector last year at age 2. The hope is they get better, like Public Sector this year at age 3.

“You hope, from year to year, that they develop like this guy has,” trainer Chad Brown said. “You can never be certain, and this guy really developed nicely this year. He continues to get better, faster.”

Fast enough to win the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby? Probably. New York-based Public Sector arrived this week at Del Mar, where on Saturday he will try to extend his three-race graded stakes win streak over a deep field in the $400,000 Hollywood Derby.

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The nine-furlong turf race for 3-year-olds is Public Sector’s toughest race yet. He faces legitimate rivals whose development was not as smooth. Those include California-based Subconscious, a Tapit-sired underachiever until trainer Richard Mandella gelded him in summer. Subconscious has not lost since, and also enters the Hollywood Derby on a three-race win streak.

Camp Hope arrives from Kentucky following two highly rated wins that coincide with his switch to turf four starts back. In hindsight, the move was overdue.

“I’m scratching my head why I didn’t run him on turf sooner,” trainer Ken McPeek said. “My goodness, he’s so much better a turf horse.”

Camp Hope’s recent Beyer Speed Figures – 95 and 96 – top the field.

Then there is Cathkin Peak, a California-based gelding still looking for his first win this year. Based on his efforts in recent Grade 2s – a troubled fourth in the Del Mar Derby and a second to Subconscious in the Twilight Derby at Santa Anita – Cathkin Peak enters the Hollywood Derby as a bona-fide upset candidate.

“The key with this horse is to get him to relax early,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “When you can do that, he’ll finish strong. His last two, he was able to get covered up, relax, and get his feet under him. He’s come with a big run two in a row.”

Public Sector, Cathkin Peak, Subconscious, and Camp Hope will be among the most well-backed runners in the Hollywood Derby, the finale on a nine-race card with three graded stakes on turf. Sacred Life is the likely favorite in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap for 3-year-olds and up, race 5. Virulente, a longshot, makes her U.S. debut in a wide-open edition of the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, race 7.

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The Hollywood Derby field also includes stakes winners Team Merchant, Hudson Ridge, Flashiest, Sifting Sands, and It Can Be Done. Others in the field are Dicey Mo Chara, Beyond Brilliant, Zoffarelli, In Effect, Santin and also-eligible Airman. Fifteen entered, 14 can start in the Hollywood Derby, the 63rd race this meet on turf compared to 62 races on dirt.

Southern California’s transition to a turf circuit – Santa Anita ran 79 turf races and 70 on dirt this fall – matches the history of Public Sector’s trainer. Chad Brown has won 76 graded stakes on dirt. He entered the weekend having won 271 graded stakes on turf, including the Hollywood Derby three of the last five years.

By the time Public Sector runs Saturday at Del Mar, his form might look even better. Never Surprised, runner-up to Public Sector in the Grade 2 Hill Prince at Belmont Park and Grade 3 Saranac at Saratoga, is scheduled to run Friday at Aqueduct as a heavy favorite in the Gio Ponti Stakes, race 8.

While Public Sector has won at the Hollywood Derby distance of 1 1/8 miles, Brown looks forward to longer races for him as a 4-year-old in 2022.

“I think as time goes on, he’ll be able to stretch out,” he said.

Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Public Sector, who is 5 for 9 with 3 seconds. Brown also entered Sifting Sands, whose rider is Jose Ortiz. Sifting Sands finished seventh in the Hill Prince.

Cathkin Peak is reunited with Flavien Prat after a pair of imperfect trips. Prat rode Cathkin Peak in his maiden win and a win in the Eddie Logan Stakes last fall, and though Cathkin Peak has not won since, the D’Amato-trained import from Europe always shows up.

“His only really bad race was when I ran him fresh off the bench at Del Mar to prep for the Del Mar Derby and he was so fresh he just bolted to the lead, didn’t get cover, ran off, and stopped,” D’Amato said.

Tiago Pereira picks up the mount on McPeek-trainee Camp Hope, whose regular rider Brian Hernandez Jr. rides eight juveniles for McPeek on Saturday at Churchill Downs, including graded stakes favorites Tiz the Bomb and Sandstone.

Subconscious drew post 12 under rider Juan Hernandez. Over the past eight years at Del Mar, posts 10-14 are a combined 2 for 50 in nine-furlong turf races.