Hit Show, the Grade 3 Withers Stakes winner, will return to New York for the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 8 at Aqueduct, trainer Brad Cox confirmed Wednesday.
In the days after he won the Withers, Hit Show shipped to Fair Grounds to train while Cox and owner Gary West were contemplating whether to run back in the Wood or perhaps go to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby on April 1 at Oaklawn Park, where the horse won an allowance race in February.
Henry Q will face Southern California shippers Fort Bragg and Hard to Figure on Sunday in the Grade 3, $600,000 Sunland Park Derby.
The 1 1/8-mile race offers Kentucky Derby points to its first five finishers on a scale of 50-20-15-10-5.
Henry Q, who was previously based in Southern California, could go favored when he breaks from post 4 in the seven-horse Sunland Derby. He won the local prep, the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby, by 14 3/4 lengths on Feb. 28. Edwin Maldonado was aboard for The Del Mar Group and trainer Todd Fincher and again has the mount Sunday.
Trainer Ben Colebrook and owners Andrew and Rania Warren will have a little more breathing room between races when their colts Scoobie Quando and Raise Cain run in a pair of major Kentucky Derby points races in the coming weeks.
Colebrook will saddle Scoobie Quando in Saturday’s Grade 3, $700,000 Jeff Ruby at Turfway Park, with Raise Cain likely to carry the same owners’ colors two weeks later in the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass at Keeneland. Both races offer Derby points on the 100-40-30-20-10 scale.
Jockey Luis Saez knew what it felt like to win the Kentucky Derby for about 22 minutes. Then, he didn’t.
The disqualification of Maximum Security from the 2019 Kentucky Derby for interference – and two subsequent losses in the Derby – officially leaves Saez zero for 9 in the race every jockey wants to win. Six weeks out from the 149th Run for the Roses, May 6 at Churchill Downs, Saez finds himself the regular rider of two of the more promising contenders in Instant Coffee and Tapit Trice.
Instant Coffee
Bolt d’Oro – Follow No One, by Uncle Mo
Bred in Kentucky by Sagamore Farm ($200,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Joe Hardoon, agent)
Instant Coffee is the morning-line favorite for Saturday’s Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds, which will award 100 Kentucky Derby points to its winner. The Gold Square LLC colorbearer is by a promising young sire and from a steadily productive female family.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – It either was 1988 or 1989 when Bob Baffert first laid eyes on Lanfranco “Frankie” Dettori.
“I saw him in the paddock there at Santa Anita one time,” Baffert said. “He was just jibber-jabbering, talking to somebody. I was like, ‘Who’s that kid?’ ”
Thirty-five years have gone by since Baffert and Dettori crossed paths. Baffert recently turned 70, Dettori 52. The years have marched forward like a well-mannered set going out to train early on a crisp morning. Is time a line or a circle? Everything is coming back around.
Japan-based Mandarin Hero is the only known shipper for the Santa Anita Derby. His trainer, Terunobu Fujita, provided insight into the colt’s late-running style in a recent visit to California. Fujita told Santa Anita publicity that Mandarin Hero “has really good acceleration in the final stretch.”
“I think he probably cannot handle the early pace, but he really likes to chase down other horses,” he said.
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Geaux Rocket Ride will be among the least experienced entrants in the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby on April 8, but the two-start colt could inherit the most important role – he is the likely pacesetter.
Runner-up in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes, Geaux Rocket Ride is the only true front-runner among six known possibles for the 1 1/8-mile Santa Anita Derby. Nominations close March 30 and early possibles include Geaux Rocket Ride, Practical Move, Skinner, I Don’t Get It, Mandarin Hero, and Dazzlemesilver.
