ARCADIA, Calif. – The most highly anticipated three-furlong workout of the California winter season will take place Saturday at Santa Anita, where Bolt d’Oro is scheduled for his first timed drill of 2018.
A pulled muscle in late December interrupted training for Bolt d’Oro, the Mick Ruis-owned and -trained colt who is a leading candidate for the Kentucky Derby after a 2-year-old campaign that included two Grade 1 wins and a third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Although the major players on the road to the Kentucky Derby seem a little more defined this year than in 2017, when eventual winner Always Dreaming was still a maiden in mid-January, I have no doubt that little-known 3-year-olds will vault into the Derby discussion in the coming weeks. Such is the norm with young colts at this stage of the year, when they are experiencing physical and mental development.
$147,000 Smarty Jones Stakes; one mile; Oaklawn Park; Jan. 15, 2018
(10 Derby qualifying points for a win, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)
Winner: Mourinho, by Super Saver
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Drayden Van Dyke
Owner: Phoenix Thoroughbred III
Beyer Speed Figure: 99
Listed, $150,000 Jerome Stakes, one mile, Aqueduct, Jan. 13, 2018
(10 Derby qualifying points for a win, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)
Winner: Firenze Fire, by Poseidon’s Warrior
Trainer: Jason Servis
Jockey: Manny Franco
Owner: Mr. Amore Stable
Beyer Speed Figure: 85
Grade 3, $100,345 Sham Stakes, one mile, Santa Anita, Jan. 6, 2018
(10 Derby qualifying points for a win, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)
Winner: McKinzie, by Street Sense
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Mike Smith
Owners: Karl Watson, Mike Pegram, Paul Weitman
Beyer Speed Figure: 97
In a point in time when there seems to be a contest to see how infrequently good horses can race, it is a welcomed development that legitimate Kentucky Derby candidates are competing in these initial days of January, some four months out from the first leg of the Triple Crown.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bolt d’Oro will resume galloping this week after recovering from a pulled muscle that interrupted his training and ultimately postponed his 2018 debut.
Veterinarians gave owner-trainer Mick Ruis a green light to resume Bolt d’Oro’s training program after a nuclear scan on the colt showed no irregularities.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Cool Bobby, one of the top Kentucky Derby prospects on the West Coast, is off the Derby trail after undergoing surgery for a chip in his left front ankle, trainer Peter Eurton said Sunday at Santa Anita.
Cool Bobby would have been one of the top contenders in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes on Jan. 6. But two days after his most recent workout, at Santa Anita on Dec. 15, "he had a little heat," Eurton said.
"We took a picture – bingo," Eurton said.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The road to the Kentucky Derby is full of potholes. In the Northeast, those potholes can be filled with ice and snow.
New York’s road to the May 5 Kentucky Derby is scheduled to open Monday with the $150,000 Jerome Stakes, which offers 10 Derby qualifying points to the winner. However, the forecast calls for frigid conditions that could prompt the cancellation of Monday’s eight-race card, likely postponing the Jerome until next weekend.
