Santa Anita Derby turns into 13-horse scramble

ARCADIA, Calif. – What a difference a month makes.

Just weeks ago, as Mastery crossed the wire in the San Felipe Stakes, he looked as if he would be a heavy favorite in the Santa Anita Derby, similar to the status that was to be afforded the filly Unique Bella for the Santa Anita Oaks. Now the day has arrived when both of those races are run, and both won’t leave their barns on Saturday, with injuries knocking them to the sidelines and their trainers hoping to salvage the day with understudies.

Bob Baffert, who trains Mastery, and Jerry Hollendorfer, who has Unique Bella, square off in both the Santa Anita Derby and the Santa Anita Oaks, races that have decidedly different feels without the local leaders. The Santa Anita Derby was particularly impacted, with a huge field of 13 stuffing the entry box now that Mastery is out of the picture. Four of the runners have never even run in a stakes race.

Baffert will send out three runners – American Anthem, Irish Freedom, and Reach the World – in the Grade 1, $1 million Santa Anita Derby, while Hollendorfer has Battle of Midway. That comes two races after they meet in the Grade 1, $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks, with Baffert running the newly acquired Abel Tasman and Hollendorfer saddling It Tiz Well.

Those are two of the six stakes – four of them graded – that will be part of an 11-race card that begins at noon Pacific. The Santa Anita Derby goes as race 8, and in a year in which the Kentucky Derby is viewed as being wide-open, opportunities abound.

“My instructions to my riders will be easy,” Baffert said Thursday here at Santa Anita. “If you want to be in the Kentucky Derby, you better run one-two.”

The Santa Anita Derby is worth 170 points overall, with 100 for first and 40 for second, point totals that would be enough to make the field at Churchill Downs on May 6 if more than the maximum 20 enter.

The lukewarm favorite could be Iliad, who was second to Mastery in the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe in his first try around two turns. Now he must try to handle 1 1/8 miles. Trainer Doug O’Neill said he has worked Iliad more aggressively for this race.

O’Neill also is sending out Milton Freewater, So Conflated, and Term of Art, giving him four horses in the race.

“If Mastery was running, Iliad would have run for sure, but the other three might have gone different routes,” O’Neill said. “His defection opened the door.”

Baffert is seeking a record eighth win in the Santa Anita Derby. All of his horses have something to prove. American Anthem was favored in the Rebel Stakes three weeks ago at Oaklawn but finished 10th of 11. Martin Garcia takes over as Mike Smith – who would have been on Mastery – moves to another of Baffert’s horses, Reach the World.

American Anthem “broke flatfooted and pulled a shoe off” in the Rebel, Baffert said. “We’ve got to get lucky at the break. Martin’s strength is speed horses.”

Reach the World is making his stakes debut in his fourth start. He was second in an allowance race last time out.

“Mike said when the light goes on, he wants to be the one on him,” Baffert said.

Irish Freedom got the green light after a strong workout last weekend, but this is an ambitious spot for his third start after finishing fifth in the same allowance race that Reach the World exits.

The winner of that allowance race was Battle of Midway, the Hollendorfer trainee who was making his first start around two turns.

“He’s still got room for improvement, I would think,” Hollendorfer’s local assistant, Dan Ward, said Thursday. “He’s trending up.”

Like O’Neill and Baffert, trainer John Shirreffs has multiple entries, with Gormley and Royal Mo both trying to rebound from losses.

Gormley was fourth in the San Felipe last time, but prior to that, he outdueled American Anthem in the Sham Stakes. Shirreffs believes Gormley did not react well to being between horses in the San Felipe.

“He never was in a comfortable spot,” Shirreffs said while watching his horses train Thursday. “Once you hit that glide part of your stride, you’re set. He never hit it, and it takes a lot out of them.”

Royal Mo was ninth in the Rebel in his last start after winning the Robert B. Lewis Stakes here in his prior start. Shirreffs said it’s “possible” Royal Mo displaced his palate in the Rebel, and thus he will use a tongue-tie Saturday.

Royal Mo landed the outside post in the field of 13, but he’s such a big, long-striding colt that it’s probably better for him than being nearer the rail.

“He likes being on the outside,” said Shirreffs, who will put nine-time Santa Anita Derby winner Gary Stevens on Royal Mo.

Kimbear was an easy winner against maidens last time out, and the runner-up in that race, Sonneteer, came back to finish second in the Rebel.

Comma Sister and Midnight Pleasure round out the field.