Practical Move emerged a nose best after a thrilling three-horse stretch duel with Japanese invader Mandarin Hero and Skinner in Saturday's Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.
Ridden by Ramon Vazquez and trained by Tim Yakteen, Practical Move saved ground throughout the 1 1/8 miles of Santa Anita's big 200-point Kentucky Derby prep, moved to the lead at the five-sixteenths pole, then held off a furious challenge down the stretch from Kazushi Kimura and Mandarin Hero, with Skinner and Victor Espinoza just to their outside.
Practical Move put his nose down on the wire first after drifting out into Mandarin Hero in the final yards. Mandarin Hero had a half-length on Skinner, who made a bold bid rounding the turn and into the stretch. National Treasure, a former Bob Baffert runner currently trained by Yakteen, finished 2 1/4 lengths back in fourth, with pacesetter One in Vermillion fifth in the field of eight 3-year-olds. Geaux Rocket Ride, runner-up to Practical Move in the G2 San Felipe, was scratched after spiking a fever.
The top five finishers earned 100-40-30-20-10 points.
Practical Move, winning for the fourth time in seven lifetime starts for Yakteen, ran the 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:48.69. He paid $4.00 as the even-money favorite. The son of the Into Mischief sire Practical Joke from the Afleet Alex mare, Ack Naughty, races for Leslie Amestoy, Pierre Amestoy Jr., and Roger K. Beasley. He was bred in Kentucky by Chad Brown and Head of Plains Partners and sold for $230,000 at the OBS April Sale of 2-year-olds in training where he was consigned by Eisaman Equine.
Breaking just a tad slowly, Practical Move found a good spot on the rail as longshots One in Vermillion and Low Expectations sped to the front. One in Vermillion won that race, going the opening quarter miler in a zippy :22.30 and opening up in the run down the backstretch, the half in :46.30. When the field reached the far turn after six furlongs in 1:11.25, Vazquez guided Practical Move toward the lead as the front-runners began to retreat. Mandarin Hero and Kimura followed the eventual winner down the backstretch and around the turn, then came off the rail at the top of the stretch to challenge. Skinner made it three horses across the track after rallying wide on the turn, and they raced to the wire as a team, with Practical Move narrowly prevailing.
“I made the move a little early because I saw Berrios (Hector Berrios, aboard One in Vermillion) look at me from the inside,” said Vazquez. “I knew he wanted to put me inside a little bit tight, so I just moved my horse to the outside take a new position., made him relax a little bit and when I asked him the last quarter he responded really well. The other horse (Mandarin Hero) is a nice horse too and ran really well. I'm feeling amazing. When you ride a good horse like that, that's your dream always to go to the Kentucky Derby.”
Practical Move came off a 2 1/2-length win in the San Felipe March 4, his 2023 debut. The Yakteen runner concluded his 2-year-old campaign with a 3 1/4-length win in the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity.
“It's a great feeling to go back-to-back in this race,” said Yakteen, who won the 2022 Santa Anita Derby with Taiba – a horse transferred to his care from Bob Baffert after Churchill Downs banned Baffert from its races through this year's Derby. “The rush you get — that's why you get in the game! You're calling wire when you're on the lead, and you're looking for more when you're closing ground.”
Mandarin Hero, by Shanghai Bobby, came to Santa Anita from Japan's National Association of Racing circuit – considered inferior to the Japan Racing Association tracks. He won four of five races – all at Tokyo Ooi – with his most race his only defeat.
Mandarin Hero is trained by Terunobu Fujita, who said after the race: “We're going to the Kentucky Derby! I'm so proud of him. I thought he would not handle the early pace, but he did. I believed he would have a good acceleration in the final stretch as usual. And he did it. Kazushi Kimura gave a really good ride. He made him accelerate at the final stretch. I thought he was going to win. I'm just so excited right now.”
Kimura added: “I thought we got him (Practical Move) at the wire. I was on this horse since he got here and he was very comfortable. Today he was a totally different horse. He was very aggressive in company. It looks like we'll be headed to the Kentucky Derby. I've never been in the race, so I'm really looking forward to this opportunity.”
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