Zeewat (No. 3, in front), with Russell Baze aboard, won the Cal Derby at Golden Gate Fields in January.(Photo: Marcel Langevin, Vassar Photography)
Story Highlights
Russell Baze is looking for his record ninth El Camino Real Derby victory Saturday
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer will be shooting for his sixth win in the race
Will Take Charge heads the field in Monday’s Southwest Stakes
(PhatzRadio / USA Today) — Jockey Russell Baze shoots for his record ninth victory in Saturday’s $200,000 El Camino Real Derby while trainer Jerry Hollendorfer goes after his sixth as the Hall of Fame combo teams again with Zeewat in Northern California’s premiere 3-year-old stakes.
Zeewat won the non-graded California Derby at 1 1/16 miles and mile Gold Rush in his last two starts, bringing his record to 4 for 6 with a third heading into Saturday’s 11/8-mile, Grade III event. But he’s only the 5-2 second choice in the field of nine, with trainer Bob Baffert shipping in 9-5 program favorite Manando, who finished third after setting a brisk pace in Santa Anita’s Sham Stakes in his last start.
Manando drew post 4, but there is plenty of speed to his inside, which could give him a tactical advantage under new jockey Aaron Gryder.
Baffert also has entered 3-1 third choice Carving, the two-time stakes-winner who hasn’t run since finishing sixth in the Dec. 15 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park. Carving is owned by professional skier Bode Miller and Baffert’s wife, Jill.
Baffert is a three-time Kentucky Derby winner. His lone win in the El Camino Real Derby came with Cavonnier, who finished second by a nose to Grindstone in Baffert’s first Kentucky Derby appearance in 1996.
Zeewat, owned by Hollendorfer and longtime client George Todaro, had to overcome adversity in the Cal Derby. He was cut off at the start by eventual runner-up (and El Camino entrant) Wildcat Moon and forced to race four-wide into the stretch.
Baze has won six of the last eight runnings of the El Camino, the last time being on Silver Medallion in 2011. However, during that stretch starting in 2005, he has yet to lose two consecutive years.
He teamed with Hollendorfer to win in 2009 (Chocolate Candy), 2007 (Bwana Bull), 2006 (Cause to Believe) and 1998 (Event of the Year).
“I think we’ll be back off the pace and then make our run,” Hollendorfer said of Zeewat, who drew post 5. “It looks like there’s quite a bit of speed in the race. But our horse has speed, too.”
Derby production: The El Camino Real Derby has produced one Kentucky Derby winner: 1999 Horse of the Year Charismatic. But it has produced the Preakness winner five times, most recently Charismatic, the El Camino runner-up whose Triple Crown bid and racing career ended when he was injured while finishing third in the Belmont Stakes.
Southwest:
Baffert has his own streak going at Oaklawn Park, site of Monday’s $300,000 Southwest Stakes at the new distance of 11/16 miles. The Hall of Fame trainer has won six of Oaklawn’s last nine graded stakes for 3-year-olds, including sweeping both divisions of the Southwest, the Rebel and Arkansas Derby in 2012. His latest California shipper to Oaklawn is impressive Santa Anita allowance winner Super Ninety Nine.
The top three finishers in the Smarty Jones – Will Take Charge, Texas Bling and Always in a Tiz – return in the Southwest, for which entries will be taken Saturday. Will Take Charge had to overcome racing extremely wide around the first turn, while Always in a Tiz encountered a brutal trip in the Smarty Jones.
Derby production: Lil E. Tee was the first Southwest horse to capture the Derby. He finished third in the 1992 Southwest in one of the great examples of losing the battle to win the war, with jockey Pat Day forcing the head-strong colt to learn how to rate. Smarty Jones, who earned a $5 million bonus by sweeping the Oaklawn preps and the 2004 Kentucky Derby, is the only other Southwest horse to wear the roses at Churchill Downs.
Updates:
Verrazano, who was made the shortest-priced individual horse in Churchill’s Downs first pool of its pari-mutuel Kentucky Derby Future Wager at 11-1 odds after a 16 1/2-length allowance romp, will make his stakes debut in the March 9 Tampa Bay Derby. Other next starts for trainer Todd Pletcher’s deep roster: unbeaten CashCall Futurity winner Violence in next week’s Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream and Palace Malice in the Fair Grounds’ Risen Star as the first of the 50-point win races begin; Overanalyze, Aqueduct’s Gotham; and champion Shanghai Bobby, Florida Derby. Plans for Withers winner Revolutionary and Delhomme have not been finalized. …
Capo Bastone, who suffered pulmonary bleeding when third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, makes his first start for Pletcher in a 11/16-mile allowance Saturday at Gulfstream.
Other interesting prospects in that race include Duke of the City and Sky Commander. …
Though it’s not a points race, Sunday’s seven-furlong San Vicente at Santa Anita could produce Derby candidates, including stretch-running maiden winner Treasury Bill.
He’s owned by Gary and Mary West, who also campaign leading Derby candidate Flashback. But Treasury Bill is trained by Ron Ellis, Flashback by Baffert. …
Fortify, making his first start since finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, finished sixth in Thursday’s UAE 2000 Guineas won by the unbeaten 4-year-old South African-bred Soft Falling Rain. …
The Mark Casse-trained Uncaptured had his first workout since bruising a foot in his Kentucky Jockey Club victory, breezing three-eighths of a mile in 35 3/5 seconds and galloping out the half-mile in a strong 48 2/5 in Ocala.
Road to the Kentucky Derby: Churchill Downs has changed the method in which horses earn their way into the Kentucky Derby if more than 20 are entered for the May 4 race, abandoning preference based on graded-stakes earnings in favor of a tiered points system based on 36 races. The two races this holiday weekend offer a 10-4-2-1 scale for the top four finishers, with the points kicking up to 50-20-10-5 for next week’s Fountain of Youth and Risen Star. Churchill has estimated that 40 points should comfortably get a horse into the Derby.
Point leaders (only Triple Crown nominated horses listed): Shanghai Bobby, Goldencents 24; Oxbow, 11; Violence, Itsmyluckyday, Overanalyze, Uncaptured, Den’s Legacy, Power Broker, Will Take Charge, Falling Sky, Revolutionary, Flashback, 10.
Saturday’s points race: The $200,000 El Camino Real Derby (G3) at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, Calif.; 1 1/8 miles; post time 7:40 p.m. ET; HRTV, TVG.
Monday’s points race: $300,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.; 1 1/16 miles; post time TBD; HRTV.
Rees writes for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal
Horse Racing Recap: Zeewat, Baffert horses clash in El Camino Real Derby is a post from: PhatzRadio.com
