ARCADIA, Calif. – Spring finally arrived at Santa Anita, where the disruptions during a wet winter were matched by instability among Santa Anita Derby and Kentucky Derby aspirants.
More than 34 inches of rain this season led to the cancellation or rescheduling of eight racing programs since opening day on Dec. 26, as horsemen juggled workouts and races around the weather. The chaos filtered into the California 3-year-old division.
Hit Show, the Grade 3 Withers winner, drew the extreme outside in a bulky field of 13 3-year-olds entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
The Wood’s top five finishers earn qualifying points (100-40-30-20-10) to the May 6 Kentucky Derby.
Brave Emperor, who holds a berth for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 6 through the European qualifying series, is unlikely to be sent to the United States.
Tom Palin, the racing manager for the Middleham Park Racing syndicate that owns the gelding, said on Wednesday that high costs of entry fees and traveling from Great Britain was the primary reason to pass on the Kentucky Derby.
Palin said there was an outside chance Brave Emperor could be sent to Churchill Downs if the gelding was sold in coming weeks.
Trainer Tim Yakteen is back on the Kentucky Derby trail, and this year it’s not all about Bob.
A year ago at this time, with trainer Bob Baffert on suspension owing to the medication positive incurred by Medina Spirit in the 2021 Kentucky Derby, Yakteen deputized over the development of 3-year-olds Taiba and Messier. Those two horses ran one-two in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, qualifying both for the Kentucky Derby, where Taiba finished 12th and Messier 15th as the second and fourth choices, respectively.
Trainer Kenny McPeek comes into Saturday’s Blue Grass Stakes under the radar despite being expected to enter three in the Grade 1, $1 million race. Hayes Strike, last-out winner of the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel, headlines the trio, while McPeek also planned to saddle graded stakes-placed Sun Thunder and the unbeaten but lightly raced Mendelssohns March.
On the one-year anniversary of relocating to California, jockey Ramon Vazquez finds himself in an enviable position Saturday – riding favorite Practical Move in the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby and Grade 1-winning filly And Tell Me Nolies in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks.
Vazquez, 37, moved from Oaklawn Park to Santa Anita and began riding regularly in California on April 8, 2022. Top local jockeys Flavien Prat and Umberto Rispoli had announced plans to relocate; the timing was right for a West Coast move by Vazquez, whose agent is Bill Castle.
Best birthday gift ever? The 2021 yearling that Jim Bernhard purchased for Dana Bernhard ranks near the top. “My wife always gives me great birthday presents . . . the first Thoroughbred I decided to buy was a horse for her birthday at the July sale,” Bernhard recalled this week.
