WHO’S HOT
The undefeated Mohaymen is the favorite at 5-1 on the line set by Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper, for the inaugural Derby Watch top 20 of 2016. Mor Spirit, the winner of the Robert B. Lewis Stakes last Saturday, is next at 8-1, with Airoforce and Eclipse Award winner Nyquist co-third choices at 10-1. Remember that Derby Watch lists the 20 runners in order of Watchmaker’s future line. Bob Baffert, the trainer of Mor Spirit, and Chad Brown lead all trainers with three runners each among the top 20.

ARCADIA, Calif. – It was just four years ago that trainer Doug O’Neill, jockey Mario Gutierrez, and owner Paul Reddam won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with I’ll Have Another, who parlayed a pair of victories at Santa Anita earlier that year into success in the first two legs of the Triple Crown.

Now the same team is set to embark on another bid at the classics with Nyquist. The differences between what the two colts have accomplished to this point are striking and, in the case of Nyquist, have allowed O’Neill to utilize a prep schedule he finds ideal.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A quarter crack is likely to prevent the three-time stakes winner Toews On Ice from starting in Monday’s $200,000 San Vicente Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita.

Trainer Bob Baffert said on Wednesday that Toews On Ice “missed training time” recently. The colt has had one recorded workout since a sixth-place finish as the 3-5 favorite in the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Jan. 18. Toews On Ice worked six furlongs from the gate in 1:14.20 on Feb. 5.

“Right now, I would say no,” Baffert said regarding a start for Toews On Ice on Monday.

A massive overhaul from Pool 1 just 11 weeks earlier has resulted in 13 new names being among the 23 separately listed wagering interests for Pool 2 of the 2016 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday at noon Eastern for a three-day run.

The new names for Pool 2 are Awesome Banner, Cherry Wine, Collected, Danzing Candy, Discreetness, Gettysburg, Mo Tom, Shagaf, Smokey Image, Tom’s Ready, Vorticity, Whitmore, and Zulu.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Matt King Coal, an impressive maiden winner last fall at Belmont, returned to the work tab Sunday for the first time in 10 weeks, breezing a half-mile in 49.93 seconds in company over the training track. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.19 and six furlongs in 1:15.10.

If he continues to train like this, Matt King Coal could run in the Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham on March 5, trainer Linda Rice said.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Nyquist, the undefeated champion 2-year-old male of 2015, was pronounced ready for the start of his 3-year-old season in the $200,000 San Vicente Stakes on Feb. 15 after a five-furlong workout in 59.38 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday.

The Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at seven furlongs will be the first start for Nyquist since he clinched the division championship with a win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland on Oct. 31.

Grade 3, $150,345 Robert Lewis Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Santa Anita, Feb. 6, 2016

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

Winner: Mor Spirit, by Eskendereya
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Gary Stevens
Owner: Michael Lund Petersen
Beyer Speed Figure: 92

ARCADIA, Calif. - Songbird was so far in front in the last furlong of the $300,345 Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday that she was practically galloping on the lead.

The champion 2-year-old filly of 2015, Songbird extended her unbeaten record to five races with an easy win by 6 1/2 lengths in the one-mile race. The margin could easily have been measured in double-digits if jockey Mike Smith had urged Songbird in any capacity in the final furlong.

“It’s quite amazing that she can do that,” trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said on Sunday morning.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Options abound for Mor Spirit, who scored his second straight stakes victory on Saturday in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita. He will have either one or two more preps before the May 7 Kentucky Derby, according to trainer Bob Baffert.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Bob Baffert and Gary Stevens won the Kentucky Derby in tandem in 1997 with Silver Charm, and those two Hall of Fame gunslingers are back on the Derby trail again this year with Mor Spirit, who made an appropriate stop along the way on Saturday at Santa Anita by capturing the Grade 3, $150,345 Robert Lewis Stakes, named for the man who owned Silver Charm.