SANTA ANITA “BLUES”

Ron Correll
Senior columnist
Tracksideview —-

With the track problems going on at Santa Anita Park in Southern California, it’s time for an adjustment in my Top 10 colts headed to the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Track management at Santa Anita has decided to reopen the track on March 22 for racing. They also canceled two 3-year-old preps, the important one for the colts was the San Felipe scheduled for March 9.

This has caused some trainers to reroute their colts to other races. Bob Baffert will be sending three colts to the Rebel on March 16 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. Management at Oaklawn says if 20 or more colts are entered, the race will be run in divisions with a reduction in Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer got lucky by shipping his colt to New York to run in the Gotham on March 9. Instagrand ran a very game third after chasing hot early fractions and not having run for seven months. For that reason he gets added to my list.

War of Will, a son of War Front, won the Risen Star at the Fair Ground and is training forwardly for the Louisiana Derby on March 23. He sits comfortably atop the points list with 60.

Game Winner, the undefeated son of Candy Ride, is one that will ship to Oaklawn for the Rebel. Baffert has had lots of luck shipping horses to Oaklawn. The colt is training well but he has not run since the first of October. He has 30 points.

Code of Honor won the Fountain of Youth on March 2 at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. The son of Noble Mission has 54 points and probably will come back on March 30 in the Florida Derby.

Mucho Gusto won the Robert B. Lewis on Feb. 2 at Santa Anita. Baffert was pointing this one to the Rebel before the problems at Santa Anita. This son of Mucho Macho Man has 14 points and needs a good showing in the Rebel.

Tacitus, an offspring of Tapit, surprised everybody in the Tampa Bay Derby on March 9 at Tampa Bay Downs. He picked up 50 points in the process and that should give him a place in the Kentucky Derby starting gate, but I think he’ll run one more time before the big race.

Haikal was another surprise winner in the Gotham on March 9 at Aqueduct. Now the question is he really that good or did he benefit from fractions of 22.36, 44.42 and 1:09.23 for six furlong. The colts that were setting those fractions ran second, third and fourth and all within a neck of each other. The son of Daaher has 50 points.

Country House, a son of Lookin at Lucky, was second in the Risen Star and he was the only one close to War of Will. He has 20 points and probably needs more.

Bourbon War was second in the Fountain of Youth. The son of Tapit has 21 points.

Improbable, another Baffert trainee, won the Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 8 and hasn’t raced since. He was set for the San Felipe and now is going to the Rebel. This son of City Zip has 10 points.

Instagrand, was third in the Gotham and I guess I could put either Mind Control (Stay Thirsty), second in the Gotham or Much Better (Pioneerof the Nile), fourth in the Gotham, in this spot. But I liked how tough Instagrand ran off the long layoff and I think there are better things ahead for him. Instagrand is a son of Into Mischief and has 10 points. Mind Control has 30 points and Much Better has seven points.