Anothertwistafate, the Northern California-based colt with three runaway wins on the synthetic surface at Golden Gate Fields, will race on a dirt surface next out in a one-shot attempt to earn a berth in the Kentucky Derby trainer Blaine Wright said Thursday.

“His next race is going to be on dirt, no matter what,” Wright said. “People are going to say, oh, he doesn’t like dirt. I’m not putting any stock in that. A racehorse is a racehorse.  If he is going to be on the Derby trail, he’s going to have to overcome it.”

Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Oaklawn Park, Feb. 18, 2019

(10 Derby qualifying points for a win, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)

Winner: Super Steed, by Super Saver
Trainer: Larry Jones
Jockey: Terry Thompson
Owner: Michael Pressley and Steed Jackson
Beyer Speed Figure: 87

ARCADIA, Calif. – Just a few minutes after Galilean won the California Cup Derby on Monday here at Santa Anita, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer saw Jeff Lifson, the former TVG personality who for years has worked as the executive vice president for West Point Thoroughbreds, and they congratulated one another on the victory with a colt West Point had purchased at auction 10 months ago and placed with Hollendorfer.

“You guys have been so kind I can’t believe it,” Hollendorfer said. A mischievous grin came across his face. “But I’ll accept more kindness.”

Galilean
Uncle Mo – Fresia, by El Prado
(Bred in California by Bar C Racing Stables ($60,000 Barretts August yearling purchase by Quarter Pole Enterprises; $600,000 Barretts spring juvenile purchase by West Point Thoroughbreds)

WHO’S HOT

Country House, second in the Risen Star on Saturday, and Galilean, who romped in the California Cup Derby on Monday and is now headed for open stakes racing, are the two newcomers to this week’s Derby Watch top 20. Country House is 20-1 on the line set by Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper, for the May 4 Kentucky Derby. Galilean is 30-1. War of Will, the Risen Star winner, saw his odds cut from 12-1 last week to 10-1, making him the co-fourth choice with Instagrand.

WHO’S NOT

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- Trainer Larry Jones suspected Super Steed would be double-digit odds for the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes on Monday at Oaklawn, but he was not prepared for what he saw on the infield tote board walking up for the race with his staff.

“I said, ‘Man, I don’t believe it,’ ” Jones recalled Tuesday.

Super Steed ended up going off at 62-1 in the Southwest, and won the race with a sweeping, four-wide move on the final turn. He paid $126.60.

In a surprising development, trainer Bob Baffert on Tuesday said there is a very good chance his top two Kentucky Derby prospects, Game Winner and Improbable, will make their 3-year-old debuts against one another in the Grade 2, $500,000 San Felipe Stakes on March 9 at Santa Anita.

“I have a feeling they’ll both be in there,” Baffert said. “It might be Clemson vs. Alabama.”

Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star, 1 1/16 miles, Fair Grounds, Feb. 16, 2019
(50 Derby qualifying points for a win, 20 for second, 10 for third, 5 for fourth)

Winner: War of Will, by War Front
Trainer: Mark Casse
Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione
Owner: Gary Barber
Beyer Speed Figure: 92

Network Effect, the runner-up in two graded stakes as a juvenile and a member of Daily Racing Form’s first installment of Derby Watch, has been taken off the Triple Crown trail due to “a minor setback,” trainer Chad Brown said Sunday.

“I’m going to back off the horse a little bit,” Brown said by phone from South Florida. “It’s a minor setback. Hopefully, I’ll have him in good shape for the summer.

“It’s disappointing. We were looking to make the Derby with him. It wasn’t meant to be.”

Brown said the horse will remain in his barn at Palm Meadows.

War of Will’s decisive victory in Saturday’s Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds was a good example of how hot takes immediately after a race might not age very well.

I understand why there was some gushing over War of Will in the time between his gallop-out and when the last patron left the Fair Grounds dining room. I mean, War of Will scored by just more than two lengths, which was his third straight decisive victory since moving to dirt last fall, and he did so after prompting a pace that otherwise fell completely apart.