1 of 2 | Citizen Bull, shown winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, will make his 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita. Benoit Photography, courtesy of Del Mar Turf Club
Jan. 31 (UPI) — Kentucky Derby doings heat up significantly in weekend racing with 2024 juvenile champion Citizen Bull returning in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita and the Withers at Aqueduct and the Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park, both full of potential late bloomers.
Each of those races offers 20 Derby qualifying points to the winner.
Kentucky Oaks qualifiers accompany all those races. We might know a bit more about the first weekend in May when the smoke clears.
There’s a bit of graded stakes action for older steeds around the country, too. And the Chinese New Year weekend also includes the initial leg of the Hong Kong Derby series for 4-year-olds.
Gong Hei Fat Choy! It’s the Year of the Wood Snake. Don’t forget the red envelopes.
The Road to the Roses
Citizen Bull, winner of the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the year’s 2-year-old Eclipse Award champion, makes his 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s $250,000 Grade III Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita.
The Into Mischief colt has been burning up the track in morning workouts and will be joined by two stablemates from the Bob Baffert barn, recent maiden winners Rodriguez and Madaket Road.
Only two others surfaced for the 1-mile event with one, Clock Tower, switching from the turf for trainer Wesley Ward. Valentines Candy makes his first start in open company.
Mo Quality, second in the Smarty Jones at Oaklawn in his last start, returns in Saturday’s $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.
Opposition for the 1 1/8 miles includes Omaha Omaha, second in the local Jerome Stakes in his last, and some promising maiden winners and other form-climbing types.
Four of the seven 3-year-olds entered for Saturday’s $265,000 Grade III Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park are maiden winners. The other three will be using the 1 1/16 miles to see whether some early-career successes were flukes or the real thing.
Guns Loaded comes off a victory in the local Mucho Macho Man on Jan. 4 and seems a likely candidate.
Ferocious finished second in both the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga and the Grade I Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, but then was fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
He’s Not Joking won the Grade III Grey Stakes on the Woodbine all-weather but finished a well-beaten eighth in the Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club on the Churchill Downs dirt.
Saturday’s $165,000 Swale Stakes at Gulfstream Park is just 7 furlongs, but could be a spot for a latecomer to the Derby trail.
We’re thinking of Gunmetal, coming off a dynamite first-race win at 6 furlongs over the course for trainer Brad Cox, and Grayscale, who also won at first asking for conditioner Saffie Joseph Jr. Donut God is 2-for-2 with wins at Churchill Downs and Tampa Bay Downs.
The Road to the Oaks
Seven are entered for Saturday’s $125,000 Ruthless Stakes at Aqueduct at 7 furlongs. If there’s an Oaks contender among them, this would be the time to raise a hoof. Note the presence of a North Carolina-bred, Volleyball Princess.
Saturday’s $165,000 Grade III Fasig-Tipton Forward Gal at Gulfstream Park also is 7 furlongs and has 11 set to go. The mixed bag offers plenty of room for handicapping — or program-stabbing.
Tenma, winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante and Grade II Starlet last season, makes her 3-year-old debut in Sunday’s $100,000 Grade III Fasig-Tipton Las Virgenes at Santa Anita.
Trainer Bob Baffert also saddles maiden winner Cipriani off a three-month layoff. Three others look less likely, but they’re all still learning.
Sprint
Saturday’s $175,000 Toboggan at Aqueduct has seven takers.
Coastal Mission returns from a fourth-place finish in the Grade II Cigar Mile. Maximus Mischief, Full Moon Madness and Runninsonofagun exit a 1-2-3 finish in the local Gravesend Stakes.
Ten are signed on for Saturday’s $125,000 6 1/2-furlongs Forego on the Turfway Park all-weather. One Timer, a Breeder’s Cup aspirant from the Larry Rivelli barn, has the outside gate.
Last year’s winner, Surly Furious, is back after a nine-month break. Red Flag has recent wins at Del Mar and Oaklawn Park. Lightly raced Shards has some claims.
Filly & Mare Sprint
Baffert sends out three of just four entries for Saturday’s $200,000 Grade II Santa Monica at Santa Anita — Richi, Hope Road and Splendora. The favorite, though, is Richard Mandella-trained Kopion, last-race winner of the Group 1 La Brea Stakes.
Benedetta and Taxed headline a field of seven for Saturday’s $150,000 American Beauty at Oaklawn Park. Taxed has the advantage of experience over the track. Benedetta has won three in a row — at Churchill Downs and Mahoning Valley.
Turf
Saturday’s $175,000 Grade III Tampa Bay Stakes has a field of 10, with Running Bee, from the Chad Brown operation, as the 8-5 favorite on the morning line.
Turf Mile
Somebody has to deliver on promise in Saturday’s $100,000 Grade III Thunder Road at Santa Anita. The question is: Which of these nine will it be? The field ranges from graded stakes-placed horses to Packs a Whallop, who was claimed out of his last race for $50,000.
Fillies and mares tackle the same 1 mile challenge in Saturday’s $100,000 Megahertz at Santa Anita. The field shows a bit more recent form that the Thunder Road bunch, but it’s still a difficult call to separate them with any certainty.
Mucho Macho Girl was claimed for $50,000 from her last start in December at Fair Grounds and could be the controlling speed.
Filly & Mare Turf
Saffron Moon is the narrow favorite in a contentious field of 10 set for Saturday’s $175,000 Grade III Endeavour at Tampa Bay Downs.
Turf Sprint
It would be tough to put together a more wide-open field than the overflow bunch assembled for Saturday’s $100,000 Robert “Bobby” Kelly Memorial at Fair Grounds.
We’ll be cheering for Richard Perkins’ homebred Oeuvre, a 6-year-old Illinois-bred mare knocking on the door of $1 million in career earnings. The Chris Block trainee is 5-for-6 in New Orleans, but has the outside stall to start the 5 1/2 furlongs.
Around the world, around the clock
Hong Kong
Friday’s Hong Kong Classic Mile kicks off the BMW Hong Kong Derby series for 4-year-olds — a challenge that requires a steady progression from the 1 mile to 1 1/2 miles over three heats. Any victory in the series is important to local owners, and a sweep indicates an impending superstar. Golden Sixty was one such.
The top-rated horses in this year’s field are Rubylot, trained by David Hayes, and the Francis Lui-conditioned Packing Hermod. Lui is the reigning Hong Kong champion trainer and has booked Zac Purton, who last weekend became Hong Kong’s all-time winningest jockey.
Lui knows the drill, as he trained Golden Sixty to a series sweep in 2020 at the start of that horse’s superstar career.
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