HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The small but very talented U.S. contingent that’s expected to race on the undercard of the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 22 arrived safely in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
The group is led by 2024 sprint champion Straight No Chaser (Riyadh Dirt Sprint) and includes the South Florida-based duo of Howard Wolowitz (Turf Sprint) and Cyclone State (Saudi Derby), a Kentucky Derby hopeful. They all figure to be among the favorites in their respective races.
Trainer Rick Dutrow has obviously been pleased with what he’s seen from Captain Cook on the racetrack, the 3-year-old having won both of his starts for him, including the Withers Stakes two weeks ago.
Dutrow is only just now starting to like what he’s seeing from Captain Cook at the barn.
Hypnus, who announced his presence with an eye-catching debut maiden route win Jan. 18 at Fair Grounds, remains a candidate for the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
The colt’s trainer, Kenny McPeek, told Daily Racing Form he was considering the Risen Star Stakes, the Rebel, and a first-level allowance for Hypnus, a son of Into Mischief and Dream Tree who made short work of eight rivals last month while earning an 85 Beyer Speed Figure.
Derby Watch member Coal Battle pulled a page out of the Mystik Dan playbook last month when he traveled from his Arkansas base to Louisiana to maintain an uninterrupted training schedule ahead of a major 3-year-old prep at Oaklawn Park.
Mystik Dan traveled from Oaklawn to Fair Grounds in January 2024 just before a major snowstorm hit Arkansas and disrupted training at Oaklawn. He logged three works in Louisiana and returned to win the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn and eventually the Kentucky Derby.
Santa Anita-based Bullard is headed to Oaklawn for the Rebel, and armchair handicappers might view his past performances and conclude he is merely a late-running sprinter. His first two starts were last-to-first sprint wins, including the Grade 3 Bob Hope on Nov. 17 at Del Mar, followed by an even-paced third in the seven-furlong San Vicente on Jan. 4 at Santa Anita.
“I sprinted him [again in the San Vicente] strictly because I didn’t want to wait another month to run him,” trainer Michael McCarthy said. “The winner of the San Vicente [Barnes] is a fast horse.”
Plans are fluid for California 3-year-olds, but well-seasoned Citizen Bull could start just once more before the Kentucky Derby, while lightly raced Barnes and Rodriguez have time for two more starts beginning with the Grade 2 Rebel on Feb. 22 at Oaklawn Park or Grade 2 San Felipe on March 1 at Santa Anita. Citizen Bull, Barnes, and Rodriguez are trained by Bob Baffert.
“I might wait for the Santa Anita Derby with” Citizen Bull, Baffert said last weekend.
WHO’S HOT
Sand Devil defeated just four New York-breds in the Damon Runyon Stakes last Saturday at Aqueduct, but the 3-for-3 colt was fast and game. Sand Devil is the only new face this week on the Derby Watch Top 20. Daily Racing Form linemaker David Aragona opens him at 40-1, replacing Poster.
Citizen Bull, last year’s champion 2-year-old colt and the winner of this year’s Robert B. Lewis Stakes in his only 2025 start, has been made the 6-1 individual morning-line favorite for the fourth Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool, which will open on Friday and close on Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern.
Citizen Bull, who won the Robert B. Lewis by 3 3/4 lengths in front-running fashion, is one of 39 individual entries for the Future Wager. The field, or "all other 3-year-olds," entry is the overall morning-line favorite at 5-1.
Disco Time, 3 for 3 to start his career and a late-rallying winner last month in the Lecomte, has been notably absent from the Fair Grounds work tab since that race and is not entered in Saturday's Risen Star Stakes.
“He’s fine. We just had a little setback with him,” said Brad Cox, who trains Disco Time for his breeder, Juddmonte.
Disco Time won a pair of one-turn races in Kentucky before closing from 10th to win the Lecomte with a modest 77 Beyer. Cox said the colt is in training and will be pointed toward the Louisiana Derby, Arkansas Derby, or Blue Grass.
In the days after Built struggled home second on Jan. 18 in the Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds, trainer Wayne Catalano deemed the horse an unlikely runner in the Risen Star Stakes. Built had scored a sharp victory a month earlier in the Gun Runner, and Catalano figured he’d bring a fresh horse into the Louisiana Derby on March 22.
But there’s been a change of plans. Built showed up in the entries when the Grade 2, $500,000 Risen Star was drawn Saturday, and Catalano said the intention is to run.
