ARCADIA, Calif. – All the pre-race hype was on the wrong 3-year-old Saturday in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita.
Journalism ran past odds-on favorite Barnes in deep stretch of the San Felipe, winning by one and three-quarter lengths and stamping himself as a leading candidate – perhaps the new favorite – for the Kentucky Derby.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani's Wathnan Racing purchased the colt Flood Zone following his second start, a 5 1/4-length win on Jan. 4 in a Florida-bred maiden race at Gulfstream. Whether Flood Zone wants to run as far as the 1 1/4 miles of the Kentucky Derby and is a good enough horse to contend in such a race remains to be seen, but Flood Zone earned 50 qualifying points toward the Derby when he captured the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes by 3 1/4 lengths Saturday at Aqueduct.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Ferocious, currently 19th in the point standings for the 2025 Kentucky Derby, has been taken off the Derby trail, his connections reported on Friday.
Ferocious, two-time Grade 1 placed at 2 who finished fourth making his 3-year-old debut earlier this month in the Grade 2 Holy Bull, suffered a muscle tear after the race, according to Gustavo Delgado Jr., a part owner of the horse and the son of trainer Gustavo Delgado.
Viewed through the prism of a Kentucky Derby prep, Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes comes up lacking. Viewed through the prism of a gambling exercise, the Gotham comes up rather intriguing.
Eight of the 10 entrants come into the race off wins, many in restricted races. None of the 10 have an open-company stakes win on their résumé, and only one has even competed in such a race.
Opera Ballo performed to expectations with a four-length win in Wednesday’s $75,800 European Road to the Kentucky Derby Condition Stakes at Kempton Park outside of London, the first race of 2025 in the European-Middle East qualifying series for the Kentucky Derby.
Ridden by William Buick, Opera Ballo ($3.60) stalked pacesetter and stablemate Olympus Point to early stretch before taking the lead and drawing clear of five rivals.
Shortly after Janis Whitham put horses into Carl Nafzger’s barn in 2004, the Hall of Fame trainer began to scale back his operation, eventually turning his stable over to his longtime assistant, Ian Wilkes.
Whitham is a fixture in the Thoroughbred business. With her husband, Frank, she campaigned two-time Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner and female champion Bayakoa. And according to her son, Clay, she never thought about moving her horses out of Wilkes’s barn after Nafzger retired.
Burnham Square
Gelding by Liam’s Map – Linda, by Scat Daddy
Bred in Kentucky by Whitham Thoroughbreds
Burnham Square, winner of the Grade 3 Holy Bull, looks to take the next step on Gulfstream’s path to the Kentucky Derby in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth. The Liam’s Map gelding is a third-generation homebred for Whitham Thoroughbreds.
WHO’S HOT
Coal Battle and Madaket Road finished one-two in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, but opinions may differ on who ran better. Coal Battle benefited from a perfect trip behind a hot pace to win clear. Daily Racing Form linemaker David Aragona lowered his Derby Watch odds from 50-1 to 15-1. Coal Battle is 5 for 5 on dirt.
Led by a brilliant recent maiden race winner in Opera Ballo, Wednesday’s $75,800 European Road to the Kentucky Derby Condition Stakes at Kempton Park outside of London is the first race of 2025 in the European-Middle East qualifying series for the Kentucky Derby.
None of the six entrants in the Road to the Kentucky Derby Condition Stakes at a mile were nominated for $600 to the American Triple Crown in late January. The next nomination deadline, with a fee of $6,000, is April 7.
