Kentucky Derby Blog

Heavy rain forced the postponement of the $150,000 Sham Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita.

Track officials said Saturday that heavy overnight and early morning rain was expected to continue throughout the day, causing drainage problems with the synthetic track. However, they are scheduled to rain today.

The Sham will be run March 6, with the field redrawn for the 1 1/16-mile race that is a major prep for the Santa Anita Derby on April 3.

Ten unproven colts will go to the gate at Santa Anita on Saturday for the 1 1/8 mile, Grade 3 Sham Stakes for 3-year-olds, a pre-lim to the Grade I Santa Anita Derby on April 3 and, more important, a big step toward earning entry into the Kentucky Derby on May 1. The winner will have to impress here in order to harbor a legitimate shot at eventually shipping to Louisville.

“Hope” is the key word in $150,000 Sham Stakes as only one of the 10-year-olds entered in the 1 1/8-mile race over the synthetic Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita has stakes experience. Two colts from the barns of Hall of Fame trainers loom as the likely favorites and they could emerge as fresh-faced contenders on the road to Churchill Downs and the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI) on Saturday, May 1.

One is The Program, who is coming off a narrow victory over stablemate Indian Firewater in a Santa Anita allowance race and will be ridden by Martin Garcia. The latter returned to run second in last week’s Turf Paradise Derby. Owned by Thoroughbred Legends Stable, The Program ran fourth to another Baffert-trained stablemate, champion 2-year-old Lookin At Lucky, in Hollywood Park’s CashCall Futurity (GI).

Another likely to draw attention is Setsuko, a son of Pleasantly Perfect trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella. Setsuko has run five straight races at two-turn distances and Rafael Bejarano will be in the saddle.

Other contenders include Darley’s Kettle River, who brings a two-race winning streak into the Sham for trainer Eoin Harty; Nextdoorneighbor, a Mike Machowsky-trained son of Lido Palace who scored an impressive maiden victory at 1 1/16 miles last out; and trainer Ken McPeek’s Outlaw Man, a winner on grass in his last start.

Post Positions (Post Time: 4:07, 8th Race)

From both a visual and speed figure perspective, the performance of the weekend was Eskendereya running away from the field at Gulfstream Park. Buddy’s Saint certainly has an excuse for his poor performance as he got bumped and pinched pretty badly as the field went into the first turn. Without that trouble would he have won? Seems unlikely considering how good Eskendereya looked during his stretch drive, but he probably would have finished better than 9th. Runner-up Jackson Bend ran another solid race, although he never threatened the winner for the top spot.

Eskendereya, who figures to move way up in the Kentucky Derby rankings, has now won three of five races with one second. He more than doubled his career earnings to $275,700 with the winning purse of $150,000.

Sent off as the third choice, Eskendereya paid $9.80, $4.20 and $3 while topping a $35.20 exacta. Jackson Bend, second in the Holy Bull (gr. III) at Gulfstream to begin his season Jan. 23 for trainer Nick Zito, returned $3.60 and $2.10. Aikenite, also from the Pletcher stable, was $3.60 to show.

Todd Pletcher’s Connemara closed from dead last to pass a tiring pace setter, Ranger Heartly, in mid-stretch. Connemara made his big move from the half mile mark to the ¾ mile mark, clicking of an internal fraction of 22.86, and then came home in average splits to take the prize. Haimish Hy ran the final eighth of a mile fastest of the field and nabbed 2nd at odds of 25/1. Connemara will likely move forward from this race (although the race came up pretty slow in terms of a speed figure) but as for the rest of the field, it’s difficult to see any as serious contenders for the Derby.

Distreetly Mine set the pace and then held off all comers for the win at the Fair Grounds in a race that saw the top four horses at the 6f mark finish in that same order. Ron the Greek and Stay Put were able to rally from the back of the field to grab 5th and 6th place, but they never posed a serious threat to win this race at any time. Not sure where to rank the performances in this race given the Merry-Go-Round nature of the pace given the fact that some of the early races of the day saw some scorching fractions on the board but the Risen Star featured anything but that. The leaders hit six furlongs in 1:13.44 and the mile in 1:38.17. For comparisons sake, three year old fillies went 1:11.75 for six and 1:38.54 for the mile in the Grade 3 Silverbulletday. The come home time in the Risen Star wasn’t bad but the early pace was pedestrian. Perhaps the Louisiana Derby will tell us more.

Paul Pompa Jr.s D’ Funnybone opened up his 3-year-old season in style, cruising to a professional one-length win as the even-money favorite in the $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes (gr. II)Feb. 20 at Gulfstream Park.
A two-time grade II winner in New York as a 2-year-old, D Funnybone disappointed in his season finale last year when finishing last in the Grey Goose Breeders Cup Juvenile (gr. I) on Nov. 7. But that race was over Santa Anitas Pro-Ride surface, giving the D’wildcat colt an excuse and his connections hoped that he would return to form on dirt.

Breaking from post 7 under Edgar Prado, D Funnybone rated well in the early going, racing in third while Wildcat Frankie set the pace and Hear Ye Hear Ye tracked in second. The opening splits were :22.37 and :45.10.

Florida-bred Tight Precision, sent off as the 6-5 favorite, won the $300,000 Filly & Mare Turf at 1 1/8 miles, overhauling Bootleg Annie and Pretty Unusual to win by 1 1/2 lengths under Joel Rosario.

This Ones For Phil outnosed Pashito The Che to win the $200,000 Sunshine Millions Sprint at six furlongs. This Ones For Phil, a Richard Dutrow trainee who won last year’s Sunshine Millions Sprint—then called the Dash—hadn’t raced since Nov. 28 at Laurel Park in Maryland. The 4-year-old Florida-bred Untuttable gelding, out of Heaven’s Gate, by Septieme Ciel, won that race and was shipped to Gulfstream to prepare for a winter campaign.

“It was a great horse race,” Dutrow said. “I’m glad everybody got to see it, and I’m glad we were able to win it. When he won here last year (in the Sunshine Millions Dash), it was his first start for us, so we didn’t know what to expect, but he has been breezing like clockwork and we expected him to run well today.”

Bold Chieftain and jockey Russell Baze wove through tight traffic to complete a wild rally and beat Palladio by a neck as heavy favorite The Usual Q.T. faded to last in the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Classic on Saturday at Santa Anita.

Bold Chieftain earned $275,000 for the win, his 15th in 35 starts, 14 of them with Baze in the irons. The horse has earned a lifetime total of $1,406,411. The purse for the previously million-dollar Classic was cut in half and the Sunshine Millions was reduced from eight races to six amid economic woes.

Bold Chieftain paid $12.20, $4.80 and $4. Palladio paid $6.60 and $4.40. The longest shot in the field, Unusual Smoke, was third and paid $13.40 to show.