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McCarthy: ‘A Lot Of Options’ For Late-Running El Camino Real Derby Winner Rombauer

It wasn't a breathtaking last-to-first stretch run ala Silky Sullivan from days of yore, or even akin to that of Zenyatta from a more recent vintage, but Rombauer's scintillating triumph in Saturday's El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, Calif., certainly stirred memories of those fairytale finishes.

The Twirling Candy colt, owned and bred in Kentucky by John and Diane Fradkin, wasn't beating a Breeders' Cup caliber field, but still stamped himself as a 3-year-old with potential at the classic mile and a quarter of the Kentucky Derby with his stirring victory on the synthetic Tapeta surface.

Making his 3-year-old debut, Rombauer closed from 11 ½ lengths behind at the half-mile pole in the nine-furlong El Camino Real to get up by a neck as the 6-5 favorite under Kyle Frey, going four wide into the stretch to boot.

Rombauer had shown a penchant for making up ground in each of his four previous races, always closer at the finish than he was at the head of the stretch, but he outdid himself winning the El Camino Real Derby, which earned him 10 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby and an all-expenses paid berth to the Preakness Stakes on May 15.

“The horse is still up in San Francisco,” trainer Michael McCarthy said from his Santa Anita headquarters early Sunday morning. “We'll kind of give him a few days to get his feet underneath him and formulate a game plan the next week or two. There are a lot of options out there right now; they're all in play.”

McCarthy did have some reservations with Rombauer's chance of victory when he was still nine lengths behind entering the stretch.

“He was a little farther back than I would have liked,” McCarthy opined, “but I did not want to get hung wide into the first turn and have him run a mile and quarter in February instead of a mile and an eighth.

“The plan was always to try and save ground into the first turn, we did that and may have sacrificed a few lengths in doing so, but the horse seemed to find his stride coming through the lane.

“It was good enough to get up. I knew a mile and an eighth would not be an issue with him.”

Based at Santa Anita with a plethora of other Triple Crown hopefuls that include Life Is Good, Freedom Fighter, Medina Spirit and Concert Tour for Bob Baffert; Dream Shake for Peter Eurton; Hot Rod Charlie and The Great One for Doug O'Neill; and Roman Centurian for Simon Callaghan, Rombauer did not surprise McCarthy, who won the El Camino Real Derby in 2018 with the filly Paved.

Should Rombauer make it to the Kentucky Derby, it would be a first for McCarthy, who experienced racing's most famous race multiple times while an assistant with Todd Pletcher, but never with a horse he trained.

McCarthy has more to look forward to these days than a trek down the Triple Crown trail. The native of Youngstown, Ohio, who celebrated his 50th birthday on Feb. 1, has Independence Hall ticketed for the G1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 6, multiple graded stakes winner Smooth Like Strait on course for the G1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile the same day and Moraz likely for the G3 Santa Ysabel Stakes the next day, March 7.

A diligent and fastidious horseman, McCarthy resides in Altadena, in close proximity to Arcadia, home of Santa Anita. He is just 17 minutes and nine miles from the historic track as the crow flies.

As to Rombauer having a running style similar to the likes of Silky Sullivan and Zenyatta, a realistic McCarthy kept things in perspective.

“I'd be happy if I could be half as good as either of those,” he said.

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Rombauer Wears Down Javanica For Hard-Fought El Camino Real Derby Win

Rombauer made his sophomore seasonal debut a winning one in the feature race at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, Calif., on Saturday, the $100,000 El Camino Real Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles. With the victory, Rombauer earned 10 Kentucky Derby points and an all-expenses paid, free berth into the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, on Saturday, May 15. Jockey Kyle Frey guided the son of Twirling Candy to victory for trainer Michael McCarthy.

Sent off as the 6-5 favorite in the field of eight, Rombauer sat last for the first three quarters of a mile before making an outside move on the far turn. Swinging for home while still in the clear, Rombauer quickly picked off six rivals in midstretch before digging down deep to collar runner-up finisher Javanica in the final 50 yards.

Javanica, a filly racing against boys for Godolphin, finished a neck off of Rombauer at the finish. 99-1 shot Govenor's Party completed the trifecta and It's My House, who set the pace before fading in the final furlong, held on for fourth place. Waspirant, Petruchio, Tesoro and Play Chicken completed the order of finish. Rombauer covered nine furlongs on Tapeta in 1:51.64 seconds.

With the El Camino Real Derby victory in the bag, Rombauer improved his overall record to two wins and one second-place finish from five lifetime starts, with career earnings of $210,500. Rombauer is a homebred colt bred by owners John and Diane Fradkin. McCarthy picked up his second El Camino Real Derby victory with the score, having finished first with Paved in 2018.

This is the second El Camino Real Derby win for Jockey Kyle Frey, who won the race in 2017 aboard Zakaroff.

Live racing at Golden Gate Fields resumes Sunday afternoon, with first post set at 12:45 PM. PT.

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Mandaloun Strengthens Cox’s Derby Hand With Risen Star Triumph

Racing with blinkers for the first time in his fourth career start, Juddmonte Farms Inc.'s Mandaloun – a homebred colt by Into Mischief – overtook Midnight Bourbon in mid-stretch, then held off a late charge from Proxy to win Saturday's Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La.

Ridden by Florent Geroux, Mandaloun is trained by Brad Cox, who now has three strong prospects for the Kentucky Derby, including last year's G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and 2-year-old champion, Essential Quality and Caddo River, who won the Smarty Jones Stakes on opening day of the Oaklawn meet in Arkansas.

Mandaloun ran the 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.39 and paid $6.20 as the favorite. Proxy, a Tapit colt owned and bred by Godolphin, finished second, a half length ahead of Winchell Thoroughbreds' Midnight Bourbon in third. O Besos was 5 3/4 lengths back in fourth and 5-2 second choice Senor Busador fifth in the field of 11 3-year-olds. Defeater and Keepmeinmind were scratched. All starters carried 122 pounds and all competed without the race-day anti-bleeder medication Lasix, a requirement for horses to earn Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

The first four finishers received 50-20-10-5 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby.

Updated Kentucky Derby leaderboard

Rightandjust, breaking from the outside post position, rushed up to take the early lead from Midnight Bourbon, who was coming a front-running victory over Proxy and Mandaloun last out in the G3 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds. Rightandjust set fractions of :23.65, :48.45 and 1:12.74 for the opening six furlongs.

Midnight Bourbon was just to the outside of Rightandjust's flank heading into the far turn, Mandaloun just behind that pair, and Proxy to his inside.

Midnight Bourbon edged to the lead inside the quarter pole and was confronted by Mandaloun at the furlong grounds after a mile in 1:37.50. Under aggressive handling by Geroux, Mandaloun put away Midnight Bourbon in the final sixteenth of a mile and had enough to withstand a late charge from Proxy.

“Blinkers on was a difference-maker today for sure,” said Geroux. “We knew he needed it racing, but he's been winning without them. He's always been a little funny down the lane. He's never given me his full potential. Today we had the same kind of trip we had in the Lecomte, but when I pushed on the gas today, he responded right away. Last time I feel like he wasn't giving me his best. He was a little more focused. No problem with the distance. We always thought he had the attitude and the pedigree to go further. It's not like I was saving ground all the way around and he got a little bit short at the end. I was pretty much three-wide all the way around there. I think the longer distance is definitely not going to be a problem for him.”

“More than anything, it was just the experience of having the race going two turns under his belt,” Cox said of Mandaloun. “He's had two great works since so we expected him to move forward, the way he was training. I think the blinkers did help out. Florent immediately made a comment after the race. Much more focused in the post parade, more focused on his job. We didn't put a bunch of cup on him, just like a one-inch cup, but it seems to have done the trick to get him mentally over the top, mentally getting him where he needs to be. It (the Louisiana Derby) is definitely going to be in play. We will talk it over with Garrett O'Rourke and the Juddmonte team and come up with a game plan. I'm very proud of the colt. He stepped up and ran a big race today. That (nine furlongs) is a big ask at any time for a Thoroughbred, and then to do it in February of your 3-year-old year. Garrett has made the comment several times that he thinks he's a mile-and-a-quarter-horse and he trains like one. He's got enough speed to be close and he stays on. He's got the physical make-up of a mile-and-a-quarter horse so we're optimistic he'll get better with more ground.”

Michael Stidham, who trains runner-up Proxy, said he was pleased with the colt's race.

“We all know that we're all hoping that we can be as good as we can be on a certain day (for the Kentucky Derby),” Stidham said. “He's inching in the right direction. I talked to Johnny (Velazquez) and his first impression was maybe blinkers. You can see going into the turn he dropped back like he was out and done. And then Johnny had to get after him, and when he did, he engaged again, then it looked like we might even get to the winner. He said if he just holds his position on the turn, he thinks we would have won. So again, I think it's a little bit of greenness and running a little spotty. The main thing is you want them to come out of these races healthy, you have something to work with, and you can inch forward and culminate for the big day in May. We'll experiment with the blinkers in the morning and if we feel like it's an added improvement, we'll try. The (March 20) Louisiana Derby would be the obvious next spot if he's healthy and ready to go. I asked Johnny and he thought the added distance was going to continue to help him, rather than hurt him, and that's huge at this stage.”

“He made a solid run. He faced a little more pace pressure this time than he did in the Lecomte. But I think you see the top-3 there are extremely tough horses and are going to be heard from again.”

Midnight Bourbon's jockey, Joe Talamo, was impressed with the fight his mount showed down the stretch. “I was smiling the whole way,” Talamo said. “He still has some upside. Obviously the winner got to me and went by, but what impressed me the most was he was still fighting the whole way. A lot of horses, when they get passed, they cave in, but he was still fighting. I still believe the further the better with him. You're never going to get everything your own way but the other horse (sixth-place finisher Rightandjust) was going pretty hard, and that didn't help us. I would have liked to have sat a little off, but that first eighth (of a mile) didn't help but I was proud of him.”

Produced from the Empire Maker broodmare, Brooch, a Group 2 winner in Ireland, Mandaloun was winning for the third time in four starts. He won on debut at Keeneland last October going six furlongs, then added a seven-furlong allowance victory at Churchill Downs the following month. The Lecome on Jan. 16 was his initial two-turn test and 2021 debut.

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Will The Great One Help O’Neill Score A Kentucky Derby Hat Trick?

Doug O'Neill hopes to win his third Kentucky Derby–all in the past nine years–come the first Saturday in May.

The 52-year-old Michigander won the 2012 Run for the Roses with I'll Have Another and in 2016 with 2020's leading freshman sire Nyquist.

O'Neill currently has two sophomores listed in Pool 3 of the 24 Kentucky Derby Future Wager categories, Hot Rod Charlie and The Great One, each offered at 20-1 on the morning line.

The Great One, a Kentucky-bred colt by Nyquist who is owned in-part by Colorado Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson's ERJ Racing Stable, comes off a smashing 14-length one mile maiden score here on Jan. 23 and is being pointed to the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., on March 6.

Second, beaten a nose in the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity Dec. 19, The Great One earned a 92 Beyer Speed figure in his maiden triumph.

The Great One worked six furlongs at Santa Anita on Saturday morning in 1:15.80, while Hot Rod Charlie went four furlongs in :51.20.

Of the 24 categories listed for Pool 3 in the KDFW, horses in eight of them (better than 33 percent) call Santa Anita home.

They are Concert Tour, Freedom Fighter and Medina Spirit, each at 20-1, and Life Is Good, 8-1, all trained by Bob Baffert; Dream Shake, 20-1, Peter Eurton; Hot Rod Charlie and The Great One, each 20-1, O'Neill; and Roman Centurian, 30-1, Simon Callaghan.

Six of the last nine Kentucky Derby winners have been based in Southern California, five at Santa Anita: Authentic, 2020; Justify, 2018; Nyquist, 2016; American Pharoah, 2015; and I'll Have Another, 2012.

California Chrome, winner of the Run for the Roses in 2014, was headquartered at Los Alamitos.

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