Rivals Back to Challenge Dortmund in SA Derby

Of the 116 other horses nominated for the $1 million Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) April 4, only five have been entered to take on undefeated Dortmund in the West Coast's final Triple Crown prep—but two figure to be within striking distance again.



Prospect Park and Bolo, second and third, respectively, to Dortmund in the March 7 San Felipe Stakes (gr. II), are both in to take another crack at Kaleem Shah's big chestnut son of Big Brown  , who is the 3-5 favorite on the morning line and will be looking for his sixth win in six races in the Santa Anita Park event.

Dortmund currently ranks sixth on the road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) with 70 points. The Santa Anita Derby is worth 100 points to the winner (170 points overall on a 100-40-20-10 scale to the top four finishers), assuring a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May.



Pam and Martin Wygod's Prospect Park rallied late to finish 1 1/4 lengths behind Dortmund in the San Felipe, but his connections feel the extra distance—the San Felipe was at 1 1/16 miles, while the Santa Anita Derby will be at 1 1/8—and a clean trip will suit the Tapit   colt. He'll break from post five in the field of six under jockey Kent Desormeaux, with second-choice odds of 7-2 on the morning line.



"If you look at his last four jumps, that's when he got running," Prospect Park's trainer, Cliff Sise, said of the San Felipe, where the colt ran into trouble between horses at the quarter pole. "If he gets a clear trip coming home, that's a horse race."



Bolo was closer to the pace set by Dortmund in the San Felipe and was only a half-length behind Prospect Park in his first start on dirt after he began his career with three straight runs on turf. The colt by Temple City  , owned by Golden Pegasus Racing and Earle Mack, will see the return of jockey Mike Smith (Victor Espinoza was aboard in the San Felipe) and break from post 4 at morning line odds of 4-1.



GANTZ: From Turf to Dirt, Bolo Targets SA Derby

A wildcard in the Santa Anita Derby is another Bob Baffert-trained colt, Michael Petersen's One Lucky Dane, who is making his first stakes start since a sixth-place finish in the Sentient Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) Nov. 1. He did impress in his 3-year-old debut, however, with a front-running 9 3/4-length allowance/optional claiming win at a mile March 19.



"Everyone wants to see what they have," Baffert said. "Dortmund's the only one whose really proven it, but that's why they're all in there—to see if they fit."



Also potential pitfalls for the Baffert duo includes their draw—Dortmund will be on the rail for the first time in his career with Martin Garcia aboard and One Lucky Dane will be just to his outside with Rafael Bejarano—and the potential speed duel between the two, although Dortmund has proven he can come off the pace with wins in the Los Alamitos Futurity (gr. I) Dec. 14 and in an optional claiming race Nov. 29 at Churchill Downs.



"I don't like being on the rail and I've never liked being on the rail, but we have to deal with it," Baffert said. "It's a small field, so we should be able to deal with it. It's really not my problem, it's Martin Garcia's problem. I just get them ready."



Beyond One Lucky Dane, who is listed at 5-1 on the morning line, longshots Cross the Line (15-1, post 3) and Bad Read Sanchez (30-1, post 6) complete the field.



Cross the Line was last seen racing to a second-place finish in the El Camino Real Derby (gr. III) on Golden Gate Fields' synthetic track Feb. 14 after a win in the California Derby at the Northern California oval in January. Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, Cross the Line will be making his first start on dirt in the Santa Anita Derby with Juan Hernandez in the irons from post 3.



Bad Read Sanchez has yet to beat winners after breaking his maiden at Santa Anita in June of last year, but was second in the W.L. Proctor Memorial Stakes over the summer at Los Alamitos Race Course and ran third in the Best Pal Stakes (gr. II) at Del Mar Aug. 3. A son of Warrior's Reward  , Bad Read Sanchez has been on a layoff since the Best Pal and will be making his first start at longer than 6 1/2 furlongs in the Santa Anita Derby.