Rock Your World blinkers-on for turf return in Twilight Derby

Before he won the Santa Anita Derby in April Rock Your World won the first two starts of his career on turf at Santa Anita.

Those grass races loom prominently on Rock Your World’s record as he returns to the surface in Sunday’s Grade 2 Twilight Derby at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita. Rock Your World is one of eight stakes winners over the past 12 months in a competitive field of 10.

The lineup includes None Above the Law and Flashiest, the first two finishers of the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 4; Wootton Asset, winner of the Grade 3 Virginia Derby on Aug. 31 at Colonial Downs; and Subconscious, who will have his stakes debut after winning two starts since being gelded in early summer.

The $200,000 Twilight Derby is the final race of the track’s autumn meeting, the last event on a 10-race program that begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.

Del Mar starts its November meeting on Wednesday, highlighted by the Breeders’ Cup races on Friday and Saturday. Live racing resumes at Santa Anita with the start of the six-month winter-spring meeting on Dec. 26.

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Rock Your World, owned by Hronis Racing and Michael Talla and trained by John Sadler, has not raced since a second by 1 1/4 lengths to BC Classic hopeful Medina Spirit in the $100,500 Shared Belief Stakes at a mile on dirt for 3-year-olds on Aug. 29 at Del Mar.

Rock Your World stalked pacesetter Medina Spirit throughout the Shared Belief but could not keep pace in the stretch.

“I wasn’t happy the other day,” Sadler said of Rock Your World’s trip. “You don’t let that horse” have the lead.

The Shared Belief Stakes was an improvement from Rock Your World’s troubled 17th in the Kentucky Derby on May 1 at Churchill Downs, when he was knocked around shortly after the start, or a sixth in the Belmont Stakes on June 6 when he was part of a quick early pace before fading through the stretch.

“It hasn’t been a smooth ride with him all year,” Sadler said.

Rock Your World did well to win his lone stakes start on turf in the $100,000 Pasadena Stakes at a mile in February. For the Twilight Derby, Sadler will fit Rock Your World with blinkers. Umberto Rispoli, who has ridden Rock Your World three times, has the mount.

Rock Your World is likely to race near the front, and could be joined in that position by Subconscious, who is trained by Richard Mandella. Subconscious earned a start in the Twilight Derby after a win in an allowance at a mile on turf on Oct. 2 from slightly off the pace.

“He’s getting pretty good,” Mandella said. “We’ve always thought a lot of him. The other day he rated nicely.”

None Above the Law, trained by Peter Miller, has had 10 starts this year, including four stakes wins. Joe Bravo rode None Above the Law for the first time in the Del Mar Derby at 1 1/8 miles, guiding the gelding from seventh to a narrow win. Bravo has the mount in the Twilight Derby.

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Cathkin Peak, winner of the Eddie Logan Stakes at Santa Anita last December, was fourth in the Del Mar Derby, beaten 1 1/2 lengths after racing in traffic in the stretch. He could have been in the first three with a better trip, trainer Phil D’Amato argued recently.

“He ran a better-than-looked race in the Del Mar Derby,” D’Amato said. “He got beat a length with nowhere to go in the stretch.”

Flashiest is a threat from the back of the field. Trained by Leonard Powell, Flashiest won the Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf in July, finished last of 11 in the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby in August, and missed catching a game None Above the Law in the final strides of the Del Mar Derby.

Flashiest has thrived in the last several weeks, Powell said.

“He’s been very straightforward and working in a regular routine,” Powell said. “I expect to win, let’s put it that way. I’ll be disappointed not to.”