Kentucky Derby Preps Highlight Saturday’s Racing

How quickly the month of April is upon us and for race fans that means the Kentucky Derby is just around the corner as trainers,horses jockeys try to secure a spot in the possible field of 20 which will contest the 2021 Derby the first Saturday in May.

This coming weekend we have 3 major Derby prep races beginning with the Wood memorial which will take place at Aqueduct Racetrack.

The Wood Memorial is a Grade II stakes race open to three-year old . This year’s event offers a total prize purse of $750,000 along with Kentucky Derby qualifying points for the top four horses.
The Wood Memorial winner has not won the Kentucky Derby since Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000.

1. Brooklyn Strong (Manny Franco, Daniel Velazquez) 6-1
2. Crowded Trade (Eric Cancel, Chad Brown) 4-1 (THIRD $3.70)
3. Bourbonic (Kendrick Carmouche, Todd Pletcher) 30-1
4. Risk Taking (Irad Ortiz, Jr., Chad Brown) 5-2
5. Dynamic One (Jose Ortiz, Todd Pletcher) 12-1
6. Prevalence (Tyler Gaffalione, Brendan Walsh) 3-1
7. Candy Man Rocket (Junior Alvarado, Bill Mott) 12-1
8. Weyburn (Trevor McCarthy, Jimmy Jerkens) 9-2
9. Market Maven (Dexter Haddock, Penny Pearce) 30-1

The second of the major preps is the Toyota Bluegrass Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on the dirt track at Keeneland for a purse of $800,000.The field is set for this race with nine contenders listed as entered.

This year’s 97th edition of the Blue Grass drew a nine-horse field, headlined by 2020 champion 2-year-old male, current Kentucky Derby future-book leader, and odds-on morning-line favorite Essential Quality.

1.Hidden Stash (Rafael Bejarano, Victoria Oliver) 20-1
2.Untreated (Joel Rosario, Todd Pletcher) 8-1
3.Highly Motivated (Javier Castellano, Chad Brown) 7-2
4.Essential Quality (Luis Saez, Brad Cox) 3-5 (WINNER- $3.10 $2.40 $2.10)
5.Rombauer (Florent Geroux, Michael McCarthy) 15-1
6.Leblon (Albin Jimenez, Paulo Lobo) 30-1
7.Hush of a Storm (Santiago Gonzalez, William Morey) 15-1
8.Sittin On Go (Corey Lanerie, Dale Romans) 15-1
9.Keepmeinmind (David Cohen, Robertino Diodoro) 8-1

The final race of the three major preps on Saturday is the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby. This is the final tune-up for top contenders, and the last opportunity to earn enough qualifying to make that list of 20.

The likely morning line favorite going to post will be Bob Baffert’s Medina Spirit. This Florida-bred colt has past experience racing at this track with second-place runs in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes and the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes.Medina Spirit in four career races has won twice, and been the runner up on a pair of occasions. Both second-place finishes came against Life is Good, who was on pace to be the odds on choice to win the Kentucky Derby before getting injured.

Post time for the Santa Anita Derby is 7:15 pm EST

1.ROMAN CENTURIAN 10/1 J J Hernandez S Callaghan
2.DREAM SHAKE 3/1 F Prat P Eurton (THIRD $2.70)
3.ROCK YOUR WORLD 5/1 U Rispoli J Sadler
4.PARNELLI 30/1 E Maldonado J Shirreffs
5.BACK RING LUCK 30/1 T Baze J Sadler
6.OTTOTHELEGEND 20/1 M Gutierrez S Asmussen
7.MEDINA SPIRIT 9/5 J Velazquez B Baffert
8.LAW PROFESSOR 15/1 K Desormeaux M McCarthy
9.THE GREAT ONE 10/1 A Cedillo D O’Neill
10.DEFUNDED 6/1 M Smith B Baffert