Stay Hot will try to run them down in Twilight Derby
?q=100)
ARCADIA, Calif. – The best 3-year-old grass horse in California? He is Formidable Man, recent winner of the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby.
The most durable and consistent? None match four-time stakes winner Stay Hot, runner-up in the Del Mar Derby and the one to beat Saturday in the Grade 2 Twilight Derby at Santa Anita.
Formidable Man passed the race to train into the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby on Nov. 30, which makes Stay Hot the Twilight Derby favorite against stakes winner Twirling Point, Del Mar Derby third-place finisher Atitlan, potential pacesetter Curlin’s Kaos, and stakes-placed Rothschild.
Even though Stay Hot has been hot for more than a year, his attitude is entirely chill.
“He’s so relaxed, he doesn’t do anything unless he has a reason to,” trainer Peter Eurton said. “His works, I have to put him in company” to make him go.
Stay Hot’s laid-back demeanor is evident in races. He drops out early, lollygags under jockey Antonio Fresu, and flies home late. It has worked half the time. Stay Hot has won 5 of 10 starts and will enter the Twilight Derby off an outstanding runner-up finish in the Del Mar Derby.
“It was a paceless race, and it was a really good horse that beat us,” Eurton said. He was not exaggerating. The opening half of the nine-furlong race was 50.19 seconds, six furlongs in 1:15.08. Stay Hot smoked his final three furlongs in 34.24 and finished a half-length behind Formidable Man.
Stay Hot’s chance to win Saturday will increase if front-runner Curlin’s Kaos is allowed to start and help insure an honest pace. But Curlin’s Kaos was a vet scratch from his last two scheduled starts. His status is uncertain. Vet scratches are a regular occurrence in California.
Two recent examples include durable 25-start veteran The Chosen Vron, already disallowed from the Breeders’ Cup Sprint based on a veterinary evaluation. In late September, 17-start filly Flying Connection was a vet scratch from the Grade 2 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita.
If there is an upset in the Twilight Derby, it might be orchestrated by Midwest shipper Twirling Point. Jonathan Thomas trains the stakes-winning colt who is entered in the Grade 3, $600,000 Bryan Station Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland. He will pass.
“We drew the 12 [post], and it came up a very, very stout race,” Thomas said, explaining the reason Twirling Point will come out of the Bryan Station. He shipped to Santa Anita early this week. Thomas said the Twilight Derby “seemed like it was going to come up, not easy by any means, but maybe a little kinder than the race at Keeneland.”
Twirling Point, 3 for 8, has not started start since early July.
“I think he’s pretty fit,” Thomas said, adding the reason for midseason break. “I thought he lightened up on me a little bit over the summer.”
On turf, Twirling Point has never raced beyond one mile.
Thomas believes the longer distance may help.
“If you lean into his pedigree, I don’t foresee the distance being an issue, even off the break,” he said.
Twirling Point is by Twirling Candy, and produced by a Kitten’s Joy turf-marathon stakes winner. Umberto Rispoli, regular rider of Formidable Man, will ride Twirling Point.
Lightly raced Atitlan finished third in the Del Mar Derby, just his fourth career start for trainer John Shirreffs. Hector Berrios rides Atitlan, who encountered traffic into the stretch last out, but was third best. Five of the 12 Twilight Derby winners since 2010 came out of the Del Mar Derby.
Others in the Twilight Derby field are Los Alamitos specialist Wynstock, a Grade 2 winner on dirt who figures to be forwardly placed, and last-out allowance winner Cathal.
With seven entered, this year’s Twilight Derby field is the smallest since a six-runner field in 2006. The race, previously named the Oak Tree Derby, was renamed Twilight Derby in 2012.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.