If this were a merciful world, and let’s pretend that it is, that would have been the final running of the San Juan Capistrano last Sunday at Santa Anita Park. The race needs to be put out of its misery. Devalued, downgraded, and roundly ignored, what was once the aesthetic pinnacle of West Coast grass racing has become a ghost, a remnant, whatever it is that comes after an afterthought.

The media horde primed to cover the 142nd Kentucky Derby gave a whoop and a holler last Saturday when the action provided not only Brody’s Cause and Dale Romans, that mischievous Kentucky quote machine, but also Trojan Nation and Paddy Gallagher, Northern Ireland’s version of Chris Rock.

They should have been enough to feed the hungry media maw. But as the day wound down, there emerged from the muck and mire of Santa Anita’s main track a result so ripe with possibilities that every publication from Mad Magazine to Psychology Today might be begging Churchill Downs for credentials.

If you woke up Sunday morning more confused than ever about the Kentucky Derby picture, take heart. You have a lot of company. A lot.

Of course, there are some who will take the results of Saturday’s three huge Kentucky Derby preps – the Santa Anita Derby, the Blue Grass, and the Wood Memorial – as compelling evidence that when it comes to this Run for the Roses, there is undefeated Nyquist, and then there is everyone else. Hey, they might be right.

Four Saturdays before the Kentucky Derby is one of the best and busiest days on the American racing calendar. This year, April 9 is host to seven Grade 1 races – the Ashland, Blue Grass, Carter, Madison, Santa Anita Derby, Santa Anita Oaks, and Wood Memorial – and some pretty solid Grade 2s and 3s, including the Bay Shore, Commonwealth, Excelsior, Fantasy, Gazelle, Providencia, and Shakertown.

Songbird’s most ambitious fans won’t get to see their filly run against colts in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on Saturday, but at least she will be on the undercard.

If this sounds wrong, you’re right. Madonna does not open for Avril Lavigne. You don’t advertise Bruno Mars, then mention in the small type that Springsteen will play a set. No one ever heard, “Ladies and gentlemen, I know you’ve all paid to hear the Dave Clark Five tonight, but first, here’s Elvis!”

Michael Wrona was driving southbound on that long, dreary stretch of California’s Interstate 5, bereft of any sights beyond factory cattle farms and almond orchards, when the phone chirped a blessed interruption. The message conveyed by the caller was brief and to the point.

“You got the job.”

So, why was I courtside at NRG Stadium in Houston on Saturday watching the ninth race at Laurel Park on my laptop while the rest of the crowd, which would swell to 75,000, was watching the Villanova and Oklahoma warmups? Well, I knew that the trainer of Tide Is High specialized in winning races with horses off long layoffs – two years, five years, forever. What I didn’t know is if the trainer himself could win after an 8 1/2-year layoff.

The most anticipated matchup in a Kentucky Derby prep in years that was supposed to take place in Saturday’s Florida Derby never materialized. But don’t be angry with Nyquist. It’s not his fault that, at least on this day, he was just much, much better than Mohaymen.

Two young horses were strutting their stuff for prospective buyers last Wednesday at Del Mar, where Barretts was holding its sale of 2-year-olds, and there was David Lanzman, watching one of them walk. Lanzman knows what it’s like to buy a champion at Barretts, like he did with Squirtle Squirt in 2000. Having seen enough, he turned to the gathered group and pointed to the guy who was eyeballing the other horse.

“I’ll do whatever he says to do,” Lanzman said.

“No one knows where a good stud comes from.”
– Leslie Combs II

California Chrome won the Dubai World Cup to prove he’s one of the best racehorses in the world. His North American record for earnings also attests to his class and place in history. Plus, he’s a Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner to boot, and he’s competed at the top of the racing world for the past three years. As a racehorse, he has it all. But what about his prospects as a stallion once he heads off to stud?