Henry Q and the trainer of Hard to Figure, Bob Baffert, are honorary locals when it comes to Sunland Park in New Mexico.
The Southern California-based horses will vie for favoritism Sunday in the Grade 3, $600,000 Sunland Park Derby. Fort Bragg, another leading contender entered in the 1 1/8-mile race, will not start and will re-route to the Florida Derby, according to trainer Tim Yakteen.
You could bet on Instant Coffee to win the Louisiana Derby. He won his career debut at Saratoga, finished a decent fourth facing strong competition in the Breeders’ Futurity, overcame a slow pace to capture the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, and rallied steadily into stronger splits winning his most recent start, the Jan. 21 Lecomte at Fair Grounds, by 2 1/2 lengths.
Major Dude and Two Phil’s, the top two choices on the morning line for Saturday’s Grade 3, $700,000 Jeff Ruby at Turfway Park, make a surface switch to Tapeta as they collide with local prep winners Funtastic Again and Congruent.
Hit Show, the Grade 3 Withers Stakes winner, will return to New York for the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 8 at Aqueduct, trainer Brad Cox confirmed Wednesday.
In the days after he won the Withers, Hit Show shipped to Fair Grounds to train while Cox and owner Gary West were contemplating whether to run back in the Wood or perhaps go to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby on April 1 at Oaklawn Park, where the horse won an allowance race in February.
Henry Q will face Southern California shippers Fort Bragg and Hard to Figure on Sunday in the Grade 3, $600,000 Sunland Park Derby.
The 1 1/8-mile race offers Kentucky Derby points to its first five finishers on a scale of 50-20-15-10-5.
Henry Q, who was previously based in Southern California, could go favored when he breaks from post 4 in the seven-horse Sunland Derby. He won the local prep, the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby, by 14 3/4 lengths on Feb. 28. Edwin Maldonado was aboard for The Del Mar Group and trainer Todd Fincher and again has the mount Sunday.
Trainer Ben Colebrook and owners Andrew and Rania Warren will have a little more breathing room between races when their colts Scoobie Quando and Raise Cain run in a pair of major Kentucky Derby points races in the coming weeks.
Colebrook will saddle Scoobie Quando in Saturday’s Grade 3, $700,000 Jeff Ruby at Turfway Park, with Raise Cain likely to carry the same owners’ colors two weeks later in the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass at Keeneland. Both races offer Derby points on the 100-40-30-20-10 scale.
Jockey Luis Saez knew what it felt like to win the Kentucky Derby for about 22 minutes. Then, he didn’t.
The disqualification of Maximum Security from the 2019 Kentucky Derby for interference – and two subsequent losses in the Derby – officially leaves Saez zero for 9 in the race every jockey wants to win. Six weeks out from the 149th Run for the Roses, May 6 at Churchill Downs, Saez finds himself the regular rider of two of the more promising contenders in Instant Coffee and Tapit Trice.
Instant Coffee
Bolt d’Oro – Follow No One, by Uncle Mo
Bred in Kentucky by Sagamore Farm ($200,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Joe Hardoon, agent)
Instant Coffee is the morning-line favorite for Saturday’s Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds, which will award 100 Kentucky Derby points to its winner. The Gold Square LLC colorbearer is by a promising young sire and from a steadily productive female family.
Japan-based Mandarin Hero is the only known shipper for the Santa Anita Derby. His trainer, Terunobu Fujita, provided insight into the colt’s late-running style in a recent visit to California. Fujita told Santa Anita publicity that Mandarin Hero “has really good acceleration in the final stretch.”
“I think he probably cannot handle the early pace, but he really likes to chase down other horses,” he said.
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