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.
On Friday night at Turfway Park, trainer Tom Drury Jr. saddled Admit in the 1 1/16-mile Cincinnati Trophy. The filly ran out of ground to reel in loose-on-the-lead White Rocks, settling for second in the Kentucky Oaks points race.
Drury found himself on the opposite side of the scenario on Saturday night in Florence. His trainee California Burrito set a contested pace before holding off favored Baby Max in the stretch for a half-length victory in the $175,000 John Battaglia Memorial, a Kentucky Derby points race.
With Kentucky continuing to ride out record snowfall and deadly flooding, it sometimes seems as though winter will never end. But horse racing’s ultimate rite of spring, the Kentucky Derby, is just 10 weeks from Saturday, and while the temperature might be below freezing when a big field of 3-year-olds lines up for the $175,000 John Battaglia Memorial on Saturday night at Turfway Park, things are heating up on the local road to the classic.
Sandman has had just one work leading up to the Rebel on Sunday at Oaklawn, and that’s by design, according to his Hall of Fame trainer, Mark Casse.
The horse, who finished a troubled second in the Southwest in his last start Jan. 25, worked back on Feb. 9, drilling five-eighths in 1:01.40.
“That was a significant work,” Casse said. “He breezed five-eighths of a mile and galloped out three-quarters. He’s ready.
Trainer Brad Cox is hopeful Admiral Dennis will get the right kind of setup in the Grade 2, $1.25 million Rebel Stakes on Sunday at Oaklawn Park. The son of Constitution won an allowance last out at Fair Grounds and will be returning to stakes competition after finishing fourth in the Gun Runner in December.
Led by Cyclone State, the winner of the Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct on Jan. 4, Saturday’s Group 3, $1.5 million Saudi Derby at a mile in Saudi Arabia has three nominees to the American Triple Crown in its field of 10.
Cyclone State, trained by Chad Summers for the partnership of Gold Square LLC, George Messina, and Michael Lee, was the 3-1 favorite with British bookmakers as of Wednesday morning.
