In Lexington, the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes has DORNOCH vs. SIERRA LEONE; at Aqueduct in New York a large field of 13 compete in the Wood Memorial (G2); and on the west coast, the Santa Anita Derby (G1) could produce a major Kentucky Derby (G1) contender.
Those are the ‘big three’ races this weekend (also part of a new wager) and the last of the major stepping-stone races for the 150th Kentucky Derby on May 4. It is sure to be a wild afternoon of racing.
(Canadian Thoroughbred and bet365 Canada have handicapping articles on all three races on the site, check them out here, here and here!)
Peter Brant, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook Smith’s Sierra Leone is the 2-1 morning line favorite in a field of 11 three-year-olds entered for the 100th running of the $1 million Toyota Blue Grass (G1).
Contested at 1 1/8 miles over the main track, the Toyota Blue Grass is the 10th race on Saturday’s 11-race program with a 5:52 p.m. ET post time. First post Saturday is 1 p.m.
Trained by two-time Toyota Blue Grass winner Chad Brown, Sierra Leone comes into Saturday’s race off a victory in the Risen Star (G2) run at 1 1/8 miles at Fair Grounds on Feb. 17. Sierra Leone has won two of three races and was second by a nose to Toyota Blue Grass rival Dornoch in the Remsen (G2).
Tyler Gaffalione has the mount on Sierra Leone and will exit post 10.
Brown’s Toyota Blue Grass winners are Good Magic in 2018 and Zandon in 2022. Good Magic is the sire of Dornoch, who is also a full brother to last year’s Derby winner Mage.
Brown has two other entrants in the race: Calumet Farm’s Good Money (20-1) and Flanagan Racing’s Top Conor (15-1).
Good Money has won one of two races and finished fourth in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G3) on March 9 in his most recent start. Javier Castellano, who won the 2019 Toyota Blue Grass on Vekoma, has the mount from post 5.
Top Conor has won his only race, going a mile at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 17. Top Conor will exit post 1 and be ridden by Jose Ortiz, who won the Toyota Blue Grass in 2018 on Good Magic.
West Paces Racing, R. A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding, Two Eight Racing and Pine Racing Stables’ Dornoch, is the second choice on the morning line at 3-1.
Trained by Danny Gargan, Dornoch enters Saturday’s race off a front-running victory in the Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream on March 2. Dornoch has won three consecutive races starting with his initial victory at Keeneland last fall going 1 1/16 miles. His second victory came by a nose over Toyota Blue Grass rival Sierra Leone in the Remsen last December going 1 1/8 miles.
“That’s a good spot,” Gargan said. “He came out of the three hole in the Fountain of Youth and the Remsen. He will come out of there running and make his way through.”
Three-time Toyota Blue Grass-winning rider Luis Saez has the mount on Dornoch and will attempt to join six other riders to have won the race in consecutive years. Saez won aboard Tapit Trice (2023), Essential Quality (2021), and Brody’s Cause (2016). Dornoch drew post position 4.
Third choice on the morning line at 7-2 is Qatar Racing, Resolute Racing and Marc Detampel’s Just a Touch, who has won one of two races and comes into Saturday’s race off a runner-up effort in the Gotham (G3) at Aqueduct March 2. Florent Geroux has the mount from post position 6.
Just a Touch is trained by Brad Cox, who won the Toyota Blue Grass in 2021 with Godolphin’s Essential Quality. Cox has another Godolphin runner this year in Encino (10-1). A winner of two of three races over the all-weather surface at Turfway Park this winter, Encino enters Saturday’s race off a victory in the John Battaglia Memorial (L) on March 2. Flavien Prat, who won the 2022 Toyota Blue Grass on Zandon, has the mount Saturday from post position 11.
Repole Stable’s Be You, fourth choice on the morning line at 8-1, will attempt to give trainer Todd Pletcher back-to-back Toyota Blue Grass victories following Tapit Trice last year. Third in the American Pharoah (G1) and fourth in the Hopeful (G1) last year, Be You notched his first victory in six starts on March 2 at Gulfstream going 7 furlongs.
Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount on Be You from post 2 for Pletcher, whose other Toyota Blue Grass winners were Bandini (2005), Monba (2008) and Carpe Diem (2015).
Two trainers will seek to add to their victory ledger in the Toyota Blue Grass. Two-time winner Kenny McPeek will saddle Lat Long (30-1), and two-time winner D. Wayne Lukas will send out Seize the Grey (20-1).
Walking L Thoroughbreds’ Lat Long, third in the Lecomte (G3) in his most recent start, will attempt to join Harlan’s Holiday (2002) and Java’s War (2013) as Toyota Blue Grass winners for McPeek. Brian Hernandez Jr., who won the 2020 Toyota Blue Grass aboard Art Collector, has the mount on Lat Long from post 7.
Lukas, who saddled War to victory in 1987 and High Yield in 2000, will be represented by MyRacehorse’s Seize the Grey. Seize the Grey, who will be ridden by Nik Juarez and break from post 3, enters Saturday’s race off a third-place finish in Turfway’s Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) on March 23.
The Toyota Blue Grass offers 200 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale to the first- through fifth-place finishers.
$750,000 Wood Memorial
St. Elias Stables, Ken Langone, Steven Duncker and Vicarage Stable’s Grade 3 Gotham-winner DETERMINISTIC (Liam’s Map) vies to lock in his spot in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby when taking on 12 rivals in Saturday’s 99th running of the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino, a 100-50-25-15-10 Kentucky Derby qualifier for sophomores traveling nine furlongs, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The Wood Memorial, slated as Race 10, tops a lucrative 11-race card that will also feature the Grade 2, $300,000 Carter Handicap presented by NYRA Bets, the Grade 3, $175,000 Distaff, the Grade 3, $200,000 Gazelle, a 100-50-25-15-10 qualifier for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, and the Listed $150,000 Bay Shore. First post is 11:30 a.m. Eastern.
Deterministic makes his second start off a nearly seven-month layoff that followed a strong debut graduation sprinting seven furlongs in August at Saratoga Race Course for trainer Christophe Clement. He returned with gusto on March 2 to post a dominant score when making his stakes debut in the one-turn mile Grade 3 Gotham over sloppy and sealed footing, capturing the historic test by two lengths.
“He’s trained very well all year long and came back very well, very straightforward,” Clement said of Deterministic’s development from two to three. “All his works have been very good and he’s a very athletic kind of horse – the most beautiful mover. He barely touches the ground and moves like a cat. He’s good mentally, too.”
Ridden by returning pilot Joel Rosario in the Gotham, Deterministic stalked in fifth 1 1/2 lengths off the pace set by Maximus Meridius, who marked splits of 23.42 seconds and 46.63 before relinquishing command to the returning New York-bred El Grande O. Deterministic steadily improved position at each point of call and was within striking range in third at the top of the lane.
The Liam’s Map dark bay went four-wide in pursuit of El Grande O with Just a Touch moving in tandem with him, but Deterministic had the advantage and kicked clear in the final sixteenth to claim victory and the 50 Kentucky Derby points that accompanied it. He completed the mile in 1:36.37 in an effort that garnered a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.
“It was a very good race and a good field over a wet track – he handled the whole thing very well,” said Clement, who looks to make it to the Kentucky Derby for the first time in his accomplished career. “It will be interesting to see him going two turns. We’ll just go one step at a time. You never know until you try, but his style of racing and the way he trains makes you believe he should stay.”
(Read more at www.nyra.com)
$750,000 Santa Anita Derby
A field of eight has been gathered for the 1 1/8 mile showcase race for Santa Anita but two of the entrants, favourite IMAGINATION and WYNSTOCK, are trained by Bob Baffert and are not eligible to collect Kentucky Derby points or start in the Derby.
STRONGHOLD (Ghostzapper) is exiting a breakthrough victory in the GIII Sunland Derby in New Mexico on Feb. 18. Trained by Phil D’Amato, Stronghold attended the pace under Antonio Fresu and kicked clear late to score by 2 ½ lengths at Sunland Park.
The Santa Anita Derby offers Kentucky Derby qualifying points to eligible horses who finish in the top five on a scale of 100-50-25-15-10. Stronghold currently has 25 points, which ranks 21st on the Derby leaderboard with still three additional prep races to be run over the next two weekends. The Kentucky Derby is limited to 20 starters.
Prior to his win in the Sunland Derby, Stronghold finished second in both the GII Los Alamitos Futurity at 1 1/16 miles in December and the seven-furlong GIII Bob Hope at Del Mar in November.
Stronghold will again have Fresu in the irons Saturday. A homebred for Eric Waller and Sharon Waller, Stronghold has a record of 5: 2-3-0 with $337,200 in earnings.
Woodbine’s three-time leading jockey KAZUSHI KIMURA picks up the mount on TESSUTO, a son of Munnings who won his maiden in his first try at a route distance.
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