Rock Your World may play stalking role in Kentucky Derby

ARCADIA, Calif. - Rock Your World, winner of the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby on Saturday, will be trainer John Sadler’s fifth starter in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 1, and the first in seven years.

In 2014, Candy Boy finished third behind California Chrome in the Santa Anita Derby. A month later, Candy Boy had a troubled trip to finish 13th behind that colt in the Kentucky Derby.

California Chrome raced in a stalking position in those wins. Rock Your World may have the same kind of prominent trip in the Kentucky Derby at 1 1/4 miles.

“He’s got a high cruising speed and can run a long way,” Sadler said. “Distance is his friend, too.”

In the Santa Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles, Rock Your World set the pace from post 2, led by a half-length through the first half-mile, and pulled clear through the stretch to win by 4 1/4 lengths over Medina Spirit as the 5-1 third choice in a field of nine. Rock Your World was timed in 1:49.17 and earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 100.

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Rock Your World won his main-track debut in the $752,000 Santa Anita Derby, having won two turf races as a stalker in January and February. That may be Rock Your World’s preferred style, Sadler said.

In the Santa Anita Derby, jockey Umberto Rispoli took advantage of Rock Your World’s position from post 2.

“What he did is because he wound up in the two hole,” Sadler said. “We didn’t want to come from off the pace and eat a lot of dirt. I don’t think he has to be on the lead.”

Sadler’s best career result in the Kentucky Derby was a sixth by Corby in 1993. In 2010, Sadler finished 17th and 18th with Sidney’s Candy and Line of David. Sidney’s Candy won the Santa Anita Derby.

Rock Your World, a $650,000 yearling purchase, races for Pete and Kosta Hronis and Michael Talla, longtime clients of Sadler’s stable.

With Sadler, Talla has had such runners as Crisp, who won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks in 2010, the same year Talla and Sadler won the Grade 1 Humana Distaff on the Kentucky Derby program with Mona de Momma. More Chocolate won the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes for Talla and Sadler in 2013.

The Hronis family has been the foundation of Sadler’s stable in the last decade, racing such notable runners as Stellar Wind, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2015, and Accelerate, the champion older male of 2018, as well as the Grade 1 winners Cistron, Combatant, Gift Box, Hard Aces, Higher Power, Iotapa and Lady of Shamrock.

Rock Your World will be the first Kentucky Derby runner for Talla and the Hronis family.

“It will be a fun year for the Derby,” Sadler said. “You’ll have the fans back and it looks like there are a lot of different storylines. I don’t think there is a dominant horse.”

Through Saturday, Sadler, 64, had 19 wins at the current Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, leaving him sixth in the standings. He has won three stakes at the meeting, which began on Dec. 26.

:: KENTUCKY DERBY 2021: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more

“I’m at a point in my career that [these are] the sort of races I want to be in,” Sadler said of the nation’s leading races.

Medina Spirit is likely to be the only other runner from the Santa Anita Derby in the Kentucky Derby.

Medina Spirit was 4-5 on the basis of his win in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes on Jan. 30 and second-place finishes to Life Is Good in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Jan. 2 and the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 6. Life Is Good was the leading 3-year-old in California, but was sidelined with injury on March 20.

Life Is Good, who is expected to return to training this year, and Medina Spirit are trained by Bob Baffert.

Medina Spirit was purchased for $35,000 at a 2-year-olds in-training sale last year.

“He shows up and he runs hard every time,” Baffert said. “He’s an overachiever. He came back well. The winner was very impressive.”

Dream Shake was third in the Santa Anita Derby, beaten 6 1/2 lengths by Rock Your World. As of Sunday, Dream Shake had 30 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, and ranked 24th in a race that will be limited to 20 starters.

Trainer Peter Eurton said Dream Shake will be considered for races such as the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs on May 1 or the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes at 1 3/16 miles at Pimlico on May 15, pending conversations with the partnership that owns the colt.

“There are so many options,” Eurton said Sunday morning. “His legs are cold. He looked well.”

There are likely to be four California-based runners in Saturday’s Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park – Concert Tour, Get Her Number, Hozier, and Roman Centurian.

Concert Tour, who won the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes on March 13 at Oaklawn Park, worked six furlongs in 1:12.80 on Saturday.

“He cruised around there,” Baffert said. “We’re very happy.”

Hozier, trained by Baffert, was second to Concert Tour by 4 1/4 lengths in the Rebel in his stakes debut and third start. Hozier worked a half-mile in 46.60 seconds on Saturday at Santa Anita, the fastest of 67 works at the distance.

Get Her Number, the winner of the Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes at Santa Anita last October, was seventh in the Rebel after sustaining a bump in the stretch in his first start of 2021.

Roman Centurian was withdrawn from the Santa Anita Derby after trainer Simon Callaghan said he was unhappy with the colt’s training on Friday. A blood test revealed no abnormalities, Callaghan said Sunday.

“He’s got to go forward the next few days,” Callaghan said. “The horse looks good."

Roman Centurian, fourth in the San Felipe, galloped on Sunday morning.

“I don’t think anybody would have beaten that horse yesterday,” Callaghan said of Rock Your World.