Hot Rod Charlie may not win Santa Anita's Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Jan. 30, but one thing's for sure: he won't be 94-1.
He was dismissed at those boxcar odds in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Nov. 6 at Keeneland but outran them big time when beaten just three-quarters of a length by undefeated Essential Quality, who is expected to be crowned Eclipse Award king as outstanding two-year-old male on Jan. 28.
The Lewis is an early West Coast steppingstone to the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby April 3, and beyond that the Kentucky Derby. Decided at a mile and one-sixteenth, it offers 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner, four to the second-place finisher, two to the third horse and one to the fourth.
Doug O'Neill trains Hot Rod Charlie and another Lewis contender, Wipe the Slate, for principal client J. Paul Reddam who capitalized on the Lewis in 2012 as a successful conduit to victory in the Run for the Roses with I'll Have Another.
Wipe the Slate was an impressive maiden winner by 3 ¼ lengths under Team O'Neill mainstay Mario Gutierrez going seven furlongs in 1:23.42 on Dec. 26. O'Neill also has well-regarded maiden The Great One entered in Saturday's second race for non-winners at one mile.
A bay son of 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, The Great One was second by a nose at 33-1 to Spielberg in the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity last Dec. 19 and gets Lasix for the first time Saturday. He is Jon White's 7-5 morning line favorite in a field of five.
Joel Rosario rides Hot Rod Charlie in the Lewis, while Gutierrez, who won the Kentucky Derby for Reddam and O'Neill with I'll Have Another and Nyquist, returns on Wipe the Slate.
Hot Rod Charlie and Wipe the Slate each worked six furlongs Friday, the former going in 1:16.60 and the latter in a bullet 1:12.60, fastest of 13 drills at the distance.
“Both worked fantastic,” O'Neill said. Amir Cedeno was aboard Hot Rod Charlie while Gutierrez rode Wipe the Slate.
Hot Rod Charlie is listed at 30-1 in Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wagering, while Wipe the Slate is last at 50-1 among individual horses. Unbeaten Bob Baffert trainee Life Is Good is the individual favorite at 6-1, while the category of “All Other 3-Year-Olds” is favored at 9-5.
“You can't win if you're not in, so we're hoping to win with at least one of our horses, and in a dream world, all three,” O'Neill said.
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