Medina Spirit | Horse Racing Free Tips

Santa Anita Derby Still Goes Through Baffert Barn

Even after the defection of unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good (Into Mischief) due to an ankle chip, Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby will still go through Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert's barn.

Medina Spirit (Protonico), just a $35,000 OBS July 2-year-old pick-up by Zedan Racing Stables last year, was a game-as-can-be narrow winner of the GIII Robert B. Lewis S. two starts back over 'TDN Rising Star' Roman Centurian (Empire Maker) and subsequent GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby winner Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow).

Medina Spirit was also second-best behind his aforementioned sidelined stablemate twice, including eight lengths adrift most recently in the GII San Felipe S. Mar. 6.

Baffert, also represented by second-out, come-from-behind six-furlong maiden winner Defunded (Dialed In) Mar. 6, has won a record nine Runhappy Santa Anita Derbies.

Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}) switches to dirt after opening his career with a pair of visually impressive victories on turf, including the one-mile Pasadena S. last time Feb. 27. Rock Your World, a $650,000 KEESEP yearling graduate, fired a five-furlong warning shot for John Sadler in :59 1/5 (1/82) at Santa Anita Mar. 28. The dark bay is out of the Empire Maker mare Charm the Maker, heroine of the Sharp Cat S. and placegetter in the GI Hollywood Starlet S. and GI Oak Leaf S.

'TDN Rising Star' Dream Shake (Twirling Candy), a flashy debut winner sprinting for Peter Eurton Feb. 7, was a distant third while making his two-turn debut in the San Felipe, 3 1/4 lengths ahead of fourth-place finisher Roman Centurian. The latter is expected to scratch and could resurface in either the GI Arkansas Derby or GIII Lexington S., according to a report in Daily Racing Form.

Law Professor (Constitution), eighth in the Dream Shake maiden, followed up with a promising graduation going a two-turn mile over this course Mar. 5.

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This Side Up: Still Amending the Derby Agenda

We should have known better. The moment we deceived ourselves that we had a crossroads of perfect symmetry, with four standout colts converging inexorably on the first Saturday in May, one promptly limped off the trail and then last weekend another was beaten at odds-on. Nobody, then, will be making any assumptions when the other two complete their GI Kentucky Derby preparations, Concert Tour (Street Sense) in the GI Arkansas Derby next week and Essential Quality (Tapit) as the geographical and narrative pivot of three rehearsals staged coast to coast Saturday.

That said, the juvenile champion gets a home game, round a circuit where he has already won two Grade Is. It will be on the margins of East and West, then, that we seem more likely to see a breakout after the manner of Known Agenda (Curlin) last week. Not that anyone in the Greatest Honour (Tapit) camp is too downbeat after he had to settle for third behind that old rival in the GI Florida Derby. I was heartened by the fidelity of colleague T.D. Thornton to Greatest Honour, who retained the No. 1 spot in his Derby Top 12 this week. Because these adolescent horses seldom crown a curve of relentless improvement under the Twin Spires: very often, they will need to have soaked up some adversity on the way, to have absorbed a tough lesson or two before regrouping. Greatest Honour has been on the punchbag all winter and was entitled to drop a glove this once, especially with such a messy trip. We know that his trainer will always have been working back from one date, and one date only.

With that date now looming so large, however, there's a kind of exquisite tension for all these horsemen, trying to achieve an equilibrium between their own restraint, and the fitness and seasoning of their charges. Remember that's exactly what they do every day, with horses at every level. It's just that the whole process is so much more visible here, because of the extremity of the test and the depth of the associated lore.

Many of us profess a sentimental attachment to the old school, with an emphasis on grounding, but modern trainers make their own rules. Obviously last year's race was an outlier, its postponement as ruinous to other horses as it was helpful to the raw Authentic (Into Mischief). But in 2018 we had a Triple Crown winner unraced before February 18; and the following year the first past the post had started off in midwinter under a $16,000 tag, and his works might have been as usefully clocked with a sundial as a stopwatch.

Medina Spirit has only been beaten by Life Is Good | Benoit

Bob Baffert's mastery of the definitive challenge of his calling now puts him within reach of a seventh Derby, and an outright record, even after losing the services of Life Is Good (Into Mischief). In that colt's lamentable absence from the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby, we have a twist in the astonishing tale of Medina Spirit (Protonico), the $1,000 short yearling who somehow found his way into the most lavishly stocked barn in the land. But nothing should surprise us with the genius of his trainer. Remember that Medina Spirit, having been pinhooked to a giddy $35,000, was actually twice as expensive as Real Quiet (Quiet American)!

He would be unbeaten but for Life Is Good and he's been working the house down since a minor throat procedure. Baffert plus Medina Spirit is like Goliath teaming up with David, but this race does offer romantics the option of Rock Your World (Candy Ride {Arg}), bred by Hall of Famer Ron McAnally.

Undefeated Rock Your World switches to dirt | Benoit

You imagine John Sadler has not been short of humorous counsel on the backside, especially as the veteran McAnally, who nowadays supervises just with a handful of animals, managed a graded stakes placing for Rock Your World's older sister She's Our Charm during the winter. McAnally trained both the parents, namely Candy Ride (Arg) and dual Grade I-placed juvenile Charm the Maker (Empire Maker); and actually McAnally and wife Deborah bred the first three dams. But Sadler is certainly rewriting Derby rules with this colt, switching from turf after teaching him about dirt with some pretty heavy duty drills.

The last four runnings have been divided between Baffert and John Shirreffs, who intriguingly perseveres with Parnelli (Quality Road) as though he has more ability than we've been seeing of late. Recent works suggest that the blinkers are helping, much as they did Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) when Parnelli ran the GII Louisiana Derby winner to a neck in the fall.

Interesting to see a Californian shipper taking on Essential Quality, in Rombauer (Twirling Candy), though the most feasible GII Toyota Blue Grass S. wildcard is surely Known Agenda's raw but devastating barnmate Untreated (Nyquist). In the GII Wood Memorial (presented by Resorts World Casino), meanwhile, a similarly late play from Prevalance (Medaglia d'Oro) will help Godolphin decide whether he's progressing fast enough to join their champion in Louisville. If not, then they will hope that at least Risk Taking (Medaglia d'Oro) can go forward on behalf of their big stallion, who joins Tapit and Curlin in craving the Derby as a seal on all their other success.

A playful Weyburn last month at Belmont | Susie Raisher

Pioneerof the Nile beat those big hitters to that distinction before his premature loss, which would be felt all the more keenly if Weyburn were to emerge as a new Derby force from this race. I can definitely see that happening, the Chiefswood homebred being born for this second turn with first three dams by A.P. Indy, Sunday Silence and Nijinsky. The third dam, indeed, is Maplejinsky, dam of Sky Beauty (Blushing Groom {Fr})–so seeing the name Jerkens on the card gives us that warm glow, too. This is an April 21 foal, paradoxically just the kind of thing we like for the Derby, and I love the gutsy way this horse carried his speed through a demanding mile after a lay-off.

So forget that neat and orderly crossroads. On the day itself, we know it will be chaos out there; and the same applies to the four weeks in between. Some engines stalling, others suddenly roaring into life; lights turning red, lights turning green. And with horsemen like Jerkens, Shirreffs and Sadler trying to weave into the traffic, with all their skill and experience, for now it still feels like we don't even know which way round to hold the Derby map.

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Zedan Lands Gun Runner Colt at Fasig

Agent Gary Young, acting on behalf of Zedan Racing Stables, went all the way to $1.7 million late in Wednesday's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale to land a colt from the first crop of Horse of the Year Gun Runner. Consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds, agent as hip 181, the son of young Ohio-bred MSW Needmore Flattery (Flatter) was $140,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling. He breezed in :10 1/5. Amr Zedan has made a big splash in the racing world in a short amount of time–he campaigned last year's $1.35-million OBSAPR topper and subsequent GISW Princess Noor (Not This Time), and will be represented in Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby by $35,000 OBSJUN value buy Medina Spirit (Protonico).

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Baffert Chasing Record 10th Santa Anita Derby Win With Medina Spirit

A truly dominant force in American racing, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will send out likely favorite Medina Spirit in Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby, a race that he's won a record nine times. Baffert will also saddle longshot Defunded as 10 sophomores go a mile and one eighth in the race that has produced a total of 19 Kentucky Derby winners.

First run in 1935, Saturday will mark the 84th running of the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby, which will be broadcast live on NBCSN. With 170 Kentucky Derby qualifying points at stakes, 100 go to the winner, with 40, 20 and 10 points awarded to the next three finishers.

Medina Spirit, who was second, beaten eight lengths by his recently sidelined stablemate Life is Good in the Grade II San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles, was a gate to wire winner of the Grade III Robert B. Lewis Stakes two starts back on Jan. 30 and is regarded as a hard-trying over-achiever.

A Florida-bred colt by the Giant's Causeway stallion Protonico, Medina Spirit was purchased for a bargain $35,000 out of 2-year-old in training sale last year and has done nothing wrong in four starts. A first-out maiden winner going 5 ½ furlongs at Los Alamitos Dec. 11, he then flew to be second, beaten three quarters of a length by Life Is Good going a flat mile in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes here on Jan. 2.

With plenty of natural speed and two wins from four starts, Medina Spirit, who will be ridden by John Velazquez, looms the horse to beat as tries a mile and one eighth for the first time. Owned by Zedan Racing Stables, Inc., Medina Spirit has earnings of $165,200.

The biggest question mark in the Runhappy Derby field is John Sadler's Rock Your World. Unbeaten in two starts, both on grass, this $650,000 Keeneland September Yearling comes off a rousing win in the one mile Pasadena Stakes Feb. 27. If he can act on dirt like he has on turf, Rock Your World, who was bred in Kentucky by Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally and his wife Debbie, rates a huge chance with Umberto Rispoli up.

Owned by Hronis Racing, LLC and Talla Racing, LLC, Rock Your World is out of the multiple graded stakes producing Charm the Maker, who is by Empire Maker. With four works since his Pasadena win, Rock Your World's most recent drill came on Sunday, when he smoked a bullet five eighths on the main track in 59.20, best of 82 at the distance.

Bred in Kentucky by Don Alberto Corporation and owned by Don Alberto and Qatar Racing, LLC, Roman Centurian was never a factor when beaten 13 ½ lengths by Life Is Good in the Grade 2 San Felipe March 6, but it was a race in which everyone seemingly conceded the lead to the winner early and the race was for all intents and purposes, over when the field turned up the backstretch. An impressive second, beaten a neck by Medina Spirit two starts back in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Jan. 30, Roman Centurian broke his maiden at a mile and one sixteenth by 3 ¾ lengths on Jan. 3 and appears poised to bring his best for trainer Simon Callaghan on Saturday.

Out of the Bernardini mare Spare Change, Roman Centurian would certainly benefit from a fast early pace and will hope to be finishing as he was in the Lewis.

Second, beaten a nose by Derby hopeful Speilberg three starts back as a maiden in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity Dec. 19, the Doug O'Neill-trained The Great One was subsequently a smashing 14 length maiden going a flat mile here on Jan. 23, earning a career-top 92 Beyer Speed figure.

Fifth, beaten 16 ¾ lengths by Life Is Good in the San Felipe, The Great One need only run back to his maiden win to be a major force on Saturday. Owned in-part by Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson's ERJ Racing, LLC, Train Wreck Al Racing Stables, Niall Brennan, Tom Fritz and William Strauss, The Great One is well seasoned, with six starts to his credit, four of them dirt routes.

While passively handled in the San Felipe, look for The Great One to again utilize his considerable speed and press or make the early lead on Saturday with regular rider Abel Cedillo up. Bred in Louisiana, The Great One, named for NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, is by O'Neill's 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist.

A lights-out first time maiden winner going 6 ½ furlongs on Feb. 7, trainer Peter Eurton's Dream Shake was subsequently third, beaten 10 ¼ lengths by Life Is Good in the San Felipe March 6. Dismissed at 20-1 in his debut, Dream Shake earned a lofty 96 Beyer and was suddenly in the Derby conversation. A $75,000 2-year-old in training sale purchase last April, Dream Shake has trained well since the San Felipe, with a bullet five furlongs in 58.20 on March 20 (best of 75) and another five eighths in 59.80 on March 27.

With the San Felipe behind him, Dream Shake will be making his second route start and be ridden for the first time by Flavien Prat. By Twirling Candy out of the Street Cry mare Even Song, Dream Shake, according to Eurton has done everything right since he first arrived and could improve by many lengths in what will be his third start.

Like Dream Shake, Baffert's Defunded will also be making his third start, but he'll be trying two turns for the first time. In his second start here on March 6, Defunded acted like a colt that will relish a route, as he rallied from far back into splits of 21.60, 44.80 and 57.40 en route to an impressive 2 ½ length win. Owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman, Defunded looms a dangerous commodity as “The Other Baffert.” By Dialed In out of the Touch Gold mare Wind Caper, Defunded was purchased for $210,000 as a Keeneland September Yearling.

THE GRADE 1 RUNHAPPY SANTA ANITA DERBY WITH JOCKEYS AND WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 8 of 12 Approximate post time 4:15 p.m. PT

Roman Centurian—Juan Hernandez—124
Dream Shake—Flavien Prat—124
Rock Your World—Umberto Rispoli—124
Parnelli—Edwin Maldonado—124
Back Ring Luck—Tyler Baze—124
Ottothelegend—Mario Gutierrez—124
Medina Spirit—John Velazquez–124
Law Professor—Kent Desormeaux—124
The Great One—Abel Cedillo—124
Defunded—Mike Smith–124

Special early first post time on Saturday is at 12 noon. For additional information, please visit santaanita.com or call (626) 574-RACE.

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