In keeping with the tradition of the racing family into which he was born, Blaine Wright has been a successful trainer for more than 20 years based in Northern California and Washington state.
Wright, who celebrated his 46th birthday on Saturday, is among a group of Northern California conditioners who've sent strings south to Del Mar in recent years, boosting the horse population and adding another factor for handicappers to ponder in races at every level.
Next Saturday, Wright has representatives entered in two of the three stakes on the card: Anyportinastorm in the Grade I, 6-furlong, $250,000 Bing Crosby, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint in November at Keeneland, and Anneau d'Or in the $100,000, 1 1/16-mile Shared Belief Stakes, which offers points toward qualification for a spot in the Kentucky Derby.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has three of the six 3-year-olds entered in the Shared Belief, no surprise considering his annual deep bench of Derby contenders. But it was a surprise Sunday when Baffert entered multi-stakes winning McKinzie in the Crosby.
Wright's reaction: “I'm the kind of guy that those things don't bother me,” he said by telephone Monday. “(Baffert's) got a heck of a stable and obviously he manages it well. I just worry about my own horses and doing what's best for them.”
Anyportinastorm is a 6-year-old owned by Peter Redekop. The son of City Zip has eight wins in 16 career starts, half of them in the last eight months and accomplished in Northern California or Washington, compiling total earnings of $313,025.
“He's been kind of a touchy horse in the past, but he's sound and doing good right now,” Wright said. “When Southern California shippers have come up to Golden Gate Fields or Emerald Downs he's fared well against them. We think it's time to try him against them down there. He's 6 years old and there aren't too many chances in a Grade I for him, so we thought we'd give it a try.”
Wright is inclined to take the “discretion is the better part of valor” approach with Anneau d'Or. The Medaglia d'Or colt, also owned by Redekop and a $480,000 auction purchase in April of last year, raised Kentucky Derby hopes when runner-up to Storm the Court in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last November. But he has been off the board in three 2020 starts, all of them Grade I or II stakes.
“I'm 95 percent sure we're going to scratch and go to the Ellis Park Derby,” Wright said of the Shared Belief. “We were supposed to run in the Los Alamitos Derby (July 4), but he came down with something for about 36 hours that had him kind of blah, off his feed and with a small temperature.
“He was fine in a day or so and he had a really good workout (5 furlongs, 1:00.40, 12th of 96 at the distance, July 19). But we're planning on shipping to Kentucky and then staying there up to the Derby.”
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