BackTrack: Pioneerof the Nile Takes Santa Anita Derby

Watch out, Kentucky. Bob Baffert is headed your way with another California tiger. Remember Silver Charm, Real Quiet, War Emblem? Now comes Pioneerof the Nile, whose April 4 Santa Anita Derby (G1) victory made it four in a row with Baffert and jockey Garrett Gomez.


On the same day that I Want Revenge bulled his way to possible favoritism in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) with a spectacular Wood Memorial (G1) win, Pioneerof the Nile demonstrated to a crowd of 50,915 that he will be a formidable foe. And Pioneerof the Nile has already beaten I Want Revenge twice on the West Coast, in the 2008 CashCall Futurity (G1) and Feb. 7 Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G2).


"This horse when he came here, I can assure you, was nowhere close to what he is today," said Ahmed Zayat, breeder and owner of Pioneerof the Nile. "Bob taught him how to run. He taught him how to be fast. He taught him how to relax."


"The Nile," as Zayat calls him, required versatility as well to win the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby. The complexion of the race turned upside down on race morning because a vet check took front-runner and morning-line favorite The Pamplemousse out of the event.


In her pre-race examination of the starters, track veterinarian Dr. Jill Bailey noticed a potential soft-tissue problem with The Pamplemousse. Trainer Julio Canani asked his vet, Dr. Helmuth von Bluecher, to look at the colt. Co-owner Alex Solis II later confirmed the colt's left front tendon needed further scrutiny. 


"The tendon had a little heat, and as a result, Julio decided to scratch him," Solis said the morning of the race. After further tests, Solis the next day announced that The Pamplemousse would miss the Kentucky Derby and be sidelined at least six months due to a small lesion in the tendon.


Prior to the scratch, the Santa Anita Derby shaped up as a classic showdown between The Pamplemousse and Pioneerof the Nile, the two colts who had captured Santa Anita's four major preps for 3-year-olds. Zayat was so concerned that The Pamplemousse had no competition on the front end that he entered a rabbit, Z Day.

Zayat said the idea to enter Z Day was his alone. The owner explained that trainer Todd Pletcher and Coolmore Stud had contacted him to buy Z Day as a rabbit for Dunkirk. Zayat declined the offer but began thinking that perhaps, given Pioneerof the Nile's stalking style, Z Day would make a good rabbit for his own horse.


"I'm very competitive," Zayat said. "I told Bob, and he said, 'Listen, I don't believe in that. It's not the greatest karma in the world. But he's your horse, you're the boss. It's your decision.'"


Zayat moved Z Day from Richard Dutrow's Eastern stable to Mike Mitchell in California and entered the colt in the Santa Anita Derby. Once The Pamplemousse came out, Zayat scratched Z Day.


The Pamplemousse's exit also concerned Jerry Hollendorfer, trainer of Chocolate Candy.


"Everybody was figuring this race to be The Pamplemousse on the front end and the Mike Mitchell horse to be there to prompt the pace," Hollendorfer said. "Then everything changed in a few hours this morning. We would have liked to have had more pace in front of us, but we weren't likely to get it today."


Pioneerof the Nile and Chocolate Candy both prefer targets in front of them in order to turn in their best efforts. Gomez said Baffert regularly gives Pioneerof the Nile a horse to catch when they work the colt in the mornings.


"From the time I first started working him, he didn't really want to gallop out much as soon as he went past the last horse," the jockey said. "But he's progressed throughout the year."


Of the seven 3-year-old colts that faced the starter in the Santa Anita Derby, Feisty Suances had the most speed. Accordingly, he took the lead when the gates opened in the 1 1/8-mile race. Pioneerof the Nile showed an eagerness to get in gear early. While covered up directly behind second-place Take the Points, Pioneerof the Nile clipped that rival's heels going into the first turn, according to Gomez.

Heading into the backstretch as Victor Espinoza slowed the pace on Feisty Suances, Pioneerof the Nile angled outside of Take the Points, saw he had clear sailing, and pulled Gomez to the lead.


"He's such a big-striding horse; he's in a comfortable rhythm if he's able to stretch his legs," Gomez said. "The bad part about him is that when he gets up there, he just kind of lollygags on me."


Gomez was able to take hold of Pioneerof the Nile, allowing Feisty Suances to come back up the rail into the lead. That target lasted until the top of the stretch. Pioneerof the Nile grabbed the advantage back, and Gomez kept him focused until the wire, withstanding a late challenge from Chocolate Candy by a length in 1:49.17. Mr. Hot Stuff, a length behind Chocolate Candy, finished three-quarters of a length ahead of Take the Points for third.


"Our horse ran very well today on a fairly slow pace and had to go wide coming for home," said Hollendorfer. "Those are excuses, and I don't want to make excuses." The trainer indicated Chocolate Candy would likely go on to the Kentucky Derby.


Barring any setbacks, Chocolate Candy will meet Pioneerof the Nile again in Louisville, Ky. It will be the first time either colt has raced over dirt, having only competed on California's synthetic surfaces and, in the case of Pioneerof the Nile, on turf.


"We already had our ticket punched to the (Kentucky) Derby," said Baffert, "but when you win the Santa Anita Derby, you know that you've got a contender."

Baffert should know, because with Pioneerof the Nile he broke his tie with D. Wayne Lukas and became the leading trainer of Santa Anita Derby winners with five. His three Kentucky Derby winners didn't win the Santa Anita Derby—Silver Charm and Real Quiet finished second while War Emblem didn't run in the race—but his winners hardly disgraced themselves.


Cavonnier came within a nose of winning the 1996 Kentucky Derby. Point Given, fifth in 2001, won the Preakness and Belmont Stakes (both grade 1). Indian Charlie finished third to Real Quiet in 1998. General Challenge, 11th in the 1999 Kentucky Derby, won that year's Pacific Classic (G1) and the 2000 Santa Anita Handicap (G1).


This time Baffert brings a young horse who is improving with every start. A May foal, the son of Empire Maker—Star of Goshen, by Lord At War, was trying to lose two baby teeth the night before the Santa Anita Derby. Baffert left Pioneerof the Nile's teeth in place until after the race, quipping, "I'm going to put them on eBay."