Santa Anita Derby

Practical Move (Practical Joke), coming off a win in the Mar. 4 GII San Felipe S., worked four furlongs in :47.60 (8/39), while stablemate Reincarnate (Good Magic), most recently third in the GII Rebel S., went six furlongs in company in 1:12.40 (3/4) at Santa Anita Saturday for trainer Tim Yakteen. "He came out of the San Felipe in great shape and it's all systems go," Yakteen said of Practical Move, who is expected to start next in the Apr. 8 GI Santa Anita Derby. Reincarnate is likely heading back...

Mandarin Hero (Jpn) (Shanghai Bobby), a winner of four of five career starts in Japan, will make his next start in the GI Santa Anita Derby Apr. 8 at Santa Anita. Mandarin Hero races on the National Association of Racing (NAR) circuit, comprised of regional tracks predominantly offering dirt racing and widely considered to be a cut below the Japan Racing Association circuit. Mandarin Hero will be the first NAR horse to compete in the U.S., though Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) was a four-time black-type winner at NAR tracks...

Roadster (Quality Road--Ghost Dancing, by Silver Ghost),  Colonel Liam (Liam's Map--Amazement, by Bernardini), and Gretzky the Great (Nyquist--Pearl Turn, by Bernardini)--all first-year stallions at Ocala Stud--have had their first mares confirmed in foal, the farm announced Monday. Alotofappeal, a stakes-producing daughter of Trippi owned by Ocala Stud, has scanned in foal to 2019 GI Santa Anita Derby winner Roadster. Oakleaf Farm's Florida-bred Sainted Dancer, a seven-time winner by Saint Anddan, is confirmed in foal to Colonel Liam, a three-time Grade I winner and back-to-back winner of the GI Pegasus World...

Santa Anita Park will launch its annual winter/spring live racing season on Monday with a 11-race card featuring six stakes races, highlighted by the $300,000 GI Runhappy Malibu S., $300,000 GI American Oaks, and $300,000 GI La Brea S., the last three Grade Is of the year in the U.S. Dubbed this season for the first time as the Classic Meet, racing at Santa Anita will be conducted on a Thursday-through-Sunday schedule through Apr. 9, the exceptions being Monday, Jan. 2 for the New Year's Day holiday, Monday, Jan. 16...

Roadster (Quality Road--Ghost Dancing, by Silver Ghost), winner of the 2019 GI Santa Anita Derby and runner-up in the GI Malibu S., has been retired and will stand the 2023 breeding season at Ocala Stud. Racing in the colors of Speedway Stables, the $525,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase earned 'TDN Rising Star' status on debut for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert as a juvenile and was also third in the GI Del Mar Futurity. "Roadster is all class, and he was an exciting colt on the racetrack," said Ocala Stud's...

Undefeated 'TDN Rising Star' Taiba (Gun Runner) had his final work ahead of the May 7 GI Kentucky Derby Thursday at Santa Anita, going six furlongs in 1:12.80 in company with Drayden Van Dyke aboard. "It was very straight forward," trainer Tim Yakteen said. "He worked three-quarters from the five-eighth pole. It was a typical Taiba work and we accomplished what we wanted. I got him in 1:12.60 and out in 1:26. We're good." An ultra-impressive debut winner at Santa Anita Mar. 5, the $1.7-million FTFMAR buy followed suit with...

The Week in Review by T. D. Thornton This past Saturday's last-chance trio of nine-furlong preps for the GI Kentucky Derby unfolded like a tense card game that came down to the crucial final draw. Some decent hands had already been dealt over the course of the long season, but we still needed to see the last three cards from the deck to get a handle on how intriguing and entertaining this year's Run for the Roses would turn out to be. That final turn revealed, in succession: An ace....

MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm's multiple graded stakes-winning 3-year-old Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah), who retreated to finish last as the favorite in Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby, will be taken off the GI Kentucky Derby trail with an epiglottis issue, trainer Richard Mandella told Horse Racing Nation Sunday. "We are going to look under his epiglottis to see if he has an ulcer," Mandella said. "But no Derby for sure." A runner-up in the GIII Bob Hope S. last fall at Del Mar, Forbidden Kingdom announced himself as a Derby...

Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby was billed mainly as a match-up of back-to-back Grade II winner Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) and 15-length GIII Robert B. Lewis S. romper and 'TDN Rising Star' Messier (Empire Maker), but the former dropped out of it in the lane after setting the pace, and $1.7-million FTFMAR buy Taiba (Gun Runner) ran by fellow Tim Yakteen trainee Messier to post the 4-1 upset and stamp his ticket to the GI Kentucky Derby. Having earned 'Rising Star' status himself and a gaudy 103 Beyer Speed...

Barring something unforeseen, they are both headed to Louisville in a month's time, but Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby will make either Messier (Empire Maker) or Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) the left coast's best chance at GI Kentucky Derby glory when they go head-to-head for the second time Saturday afternoon. Named a 'TDN Rising Star' when graduating by a space at second asking over a six-furlong trip that was always bound to be sharp, Messier easily handled Forbidden Kingdom in Del Mar's GIII Bob Hope S. over seven furlongs...

Barring something unforeseen, they are both headed to Louisville in a month's time, but Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby will make either Messier (Empire Maker) or Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) the left coast's best chance at GI Kentucky Derby glory when they go head-to-head for the second time Saturday afternoon. Named a 'TDN Rising Star' when graduating by a space at second asking over a six-furlong trip that was always bound to be sharp, Messier easily handled Forbidden Kingdom in Del Mar's GIII Bob Hope S. over seven furlongs...

Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharaoh), one of the favorites in Saturday's GI Santa Anita Derby, stands to earn a $4-million stallion bonus for his connections if he wins. The "Future Stallion Bonus" is an incentive for selected MyRacehorse-owned horses to earn connections financial benefits if they win a Grade I event on the dirt in the U.S. "We selected a few really well-bred colts and attached a pre-payment of potential stallion value as a way of providing a more immediate financial return for winning a Grade I," said Michael Behrens, Founder...