Correll’s Corner: Holy Bull lacking talent; Nobody new cracks the top 10.

Ron Correll
Senior columnist
Tracksideview —-

TRINITY, Fla. – February started off with the Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita in Southern California and the Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. Some of the colts that ran in those two contests may be in the “big race” on the first Saturday in May, but right now I don’t see any of them as being a factor.

Four colts ran in the Lewis and all were trained by Bob Baffert, and because of that none qualified for Kentucky Derby points. Newgate, a son of Into Mischief, won but I don’t think any of the four are in Baffert’s top tier.

The Holy Bull proved that none of the top 3-year-olds has run as of yet in South Florida. The mile-and-a-sixteenth race was contested in a slow 1:44.97 and the final five-sixteeth was a stagger fest in 31.21. Rocket Can, another of Into Mischief, won but for now he’s not going on my list.

I did see one nice colt Feb. 4 at Oaklawn Park. Gun Pilot (Gun Runner) was impressive winning a one-mile allowance race. He previously ran behind Verifying (the Brad Cox trainee) in another race at Oaklawn. Steve Asmussen trains Gun Pilot and he may have another Derby horse.

Arabian Knight (sire: Uncle Mo) tops the list after his impressive win in the Southwest Stakes (96 Beyer) at Oaklawn Park. This was a followup to his runaway performance in a maiden race on Breeders’ Cup weekend at Keeneland. Bob Baffert is loaded this year, but …

Forte (Violence) goes here off his win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. His connections are awaiting his 2023 return.

Instant Coffee (Bolt d’Oro) has won the Kentucky Jockey Club at Louisville and the Lecomte at Fairgrounds in New Orleans. He’s Brad Cox’s top runner.

Faustin (Curlin) ran second in the one-turn San Vicente to his speedster stablemate Havameltdown. Faustin is a two-turn colt and didn’t embarrass himself in the San Vicente. Yep, he’s another Baffert.

Cave Rock (Arrogate) was flying high until he ran into Forte in the Juvenile (Baffert).

Dubyuhnell (Good Magic) won the Remsen at Aqueduct, but I have never been a big fan of winter racing in New York.

Practical Move (Practical Joke) outran a trio of Baffert colts to win the Los Alamitos Futurity and that could be saying something.

Verifying (Justify) is one of the many colts Cox is training, but I think he’s a step behind stablemate Instant Coffee.

Reincarnate (Good Magic) won the Sham Stakes at Santa Anita and comes from loaded Baffert barn.

Victory Formation (Tapwrit) won the Smarty Jones at Oaklawn. He’s another Cox colt.

Others to keep an eye on: Gun Pilot, Newgate, Red Route One, Two Phils, National Treasure, Blazing Sevens and Curly Jack.

Cover Photo: Arabian Knight; Coady Photography