Midnight Hawk – in full-flight last time out for the win in the GIII Sham Stakes at Santa Anita Park!
The 2014 Derby trail season winds its way out to sunny Southern California this Saturday for the $200,000, GII Robert B. Lewis Stakes, for 3yos, at 1 1/16 mile over this usually fast Santa Anita main track this weekend!
Free Past Performances,
A nicely sized field of “7″, 3yo’s is coming out for next leg of the Santa Anita Derby Trail season here on Saturday as this one too, is another 10-4-2-1 Derby Points race!
Midnight Hawk, by Midnight Lute, is the wire to wire, 1 3/4 length winner of the GIII Sham Stakes here last month, at a mile, run in nice 1:36.2 , is Bob Baffert trained and will be the probable post time fav! Likes it up front early, too but he may find himself dueling on the early lead with stable mate Chitu, here as he goes looking for his 2nd straight graded win of the season here!
Candy Boy, by Candy Ride, was 2nd last out in the GI CashCall Futurity Stakes over at BHP back in Dec. where he held for 2nd but back more than 5 lengths behind early Derby hopeful Shared Billing. He did have the 2nd call lead in that race so perhaps we have another early speed in him here this Saturday!
Diamond Bachelor, by War Front, finished 9th last out in the GI B/C Juvenile. He was 2nd however, in the $100k Zuma Beach Stakes turfer here 2 back and 3 back he won the Oak Tree Juvenile Turf Stakes down at Del Mar last Summer! He seems to prefer front running on the turf and with good success, too. So, a bit of a head scratcher here as to why run him again over this Santa Anita dirt where he did so poorly last time out? He might be an early speed here on Saturday or not!
Cool Samurai, by First Samurai, is the winner of a Dec. 27th Msw here at a mile in 1:36.2 rallying 3w late for the win! Looks like he’ll be a closer type as he goes out for the Moss’s and John Sherriffs of Zenyatta connections fame!
Chitu , by Henny Hughes, is the 2nd Bob Baffert 3yo in this race is coming off a 6f, $80k 1x Oc win here last out where he covered that 6f’s in a steamy 1:08.4. He came on strong in the stretch after sitting 2nd early on, which was mostly due to a bobbled start! This one loves it up front early so that ”Old Croc”Bob Baffert might be setting the table early for his prized 3yo Derby prospect here in Midnight Hawk,.
Home Run Kitten , by you guess it Kitten’s Joy, comes off two lifetime turf starts for the Ramsey’s to try the Santa Anita dirt for the first time! Broke his maiden coming down the hill here on Jan 11th with a 1/2 length win covering that turf slide at 6 1/2 f’s in a solid 1:12.3. This one not an early front-runner but tends to come late which just might work out Ok for him here on Saturday if there’s a big pace collapse in front of him as he also stretches to 2 turns for the first time here! Anyone think a Kitten’s Joy can’t go 2-turns and come late for at least a piece?
El Nino Terrible , by Malibu Moon out of a Giant’s Causeway mare, went wire to wire here at S/A on Jan 17th in a $56k Mdn in a 1 1/16 mile tussle winning by 1/2 length as he was quite game in holding on for the win that was run in 1:44.4 time. Just 2 lifetime starts for this one, so it’s hard to say whether he’s an early speed yet, but if he does he’ll have plenty of company on the front end here this Saturday!
Race #8 – Post Time – 4:00 pm Pst
PP.
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
1.
Candy Boy
G L Stevens
118
J W Sadler
2.
Diamond Bachelor
J R Leparoux
118
P L Biancone
3.
Midnight Hawk
M E Smith
120
B Baffert
4.
Home Run Kitten
J Talamo
118
D E Hofmans
5.
Cool Samurai
C S Nakatani
118
J A Shirreffs
6.
El Nino Terrible
E A Maldonado
118
P Miller
7.
Chitu
M Garcia
118
B Baffert
Picks are – 1,3,5,4 boxed exacta with the 7 or 2 in the back-end of a super play!
Filed under: Horse Racing News, Thoroughbred Racing Information, Thoroughbred Racing News Tagged: $200k purse, 1 1/16 mile, 2014, 3yo's, contenders, entries, Free Past Performances, free PP's, GII Robert B. Lewis Stakes, M/L odds, odds, picks, post positions, Santa Anita Park, Selections