Santa Anita Derby

The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance has partnered with 1/ST to promote accredited aftercare awareness on GI Santa Anita Derby day Apr. 8. The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance will be recognized with a named race on the Santa Anita Derby Day undercard. Following the running of the race, a presentation will be made to the winning connections, including a branded blanket and swag bag. There will also be an opportunity for jockeys to pledge their jocks mount fee throughout the day to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. Representatives from the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance will...

We've taken the plunge into the deeper end of the prep pool for the GI Kentucky Derby. Five nine-furlong stakes each awarding 100 qualifying points are scheduled over the next two Saturdays, after which this list will expand to the Top 20. 1) FORTE (c, Violence--Queen Caroline, by Blame) 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable; B-South Gate Farm (KY); T-Todd Pletcher. Sales history: $80,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $110,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo Colt, MGISW, 6-5-0-0, $1,833,230. Last start: 1st GII Fountain of Youth S....

Several prospects targeting the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby April 8 worked Sunday including the top three finishers of the GII San Felipe--Practical Move (Practical Joke), Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Skinner (Curlin). Practical Move, out of Tim Yakteen's barn, worked five furlongs in :59 seconds. "Straightforward drill, looked good," Yakteen said. "He was just cruising like he always does. It makes my job easier." Geaux Rocket Ride worked six furlongs for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella, completing the move in 1:12.20. "The rockets are ready to...

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...