Dortmund's Connections in SA Derby Afterglow

Kaleem Shah wasn't hiding his allegiance the morning of April 5 at Santa Anita Park, still basking in the afterglow of his Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) victory and sporting the yellow jersey of Borussia Dortmund, the German soccer club and namesake of his undefeated colt.



"When you win, it's always fun," the owner said the morning after Dortmund's win in the $1 million race, "because it's such a humbling sport... You've got to take it one race at a time. You just can't get ahead of yourself."

BALAN: Dortmund Unrelenting in Santa Anita Derby

Trainer Bob Baffert said the son of Big Brown   came out of the race in good order, as did stablemate and second-place finisher One Lucky Dane. The plan is for both to make a trip to Churchill Downs for the first Saturday in May.



"Dortmund—we knew he was going to run and we were hoping for that, the way he was training," Baffert said. "We knew the distance would help him and it helped the other horse, too."



For those who followed the Baffert duo in the Santa Anita Derby, however, the future isn't as clear.



Third-place finisher Bolo and Prospect Park, fourth to cross the wire, sit on the proverbial bubble to gain entry into the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), with 30 points apiece in the "Road to the Kentucky Derby" standings. Bolo has the edge, in 20th place, with more earnings.



Bolo, a Temple City   colt owned by Golden Pegasus Racing and Earle Mack, has options. With turf wins in his past—he broke his maiden on the grass at Del Mar in November and won the Eddie Logan Stakes Dec. 27 at Santa Anita going a mile on turf—trainer Carla Gaines is weighing her future opportunities on both surfaces.



"We weren't going to beat the winner if we went around again," Gaines said of the Santa Anita Derby. "The positive thing is, (Bolo) looks good today. No worse-for-the-wear kind of thing. We are on the bubble and I guess, definitely, we would have to pow wow if he gets in the race... He's arguably a better horse on the grass and perhaps, if I ran against Dortmund on the grass, he'd beat me on the grass."



For Prospect Park, there's also a wait-and-see aspect to future plans for the Tapit   colt.



"We'll see how the horse comes out of the race," owner and breeder Martin Wygod said. "He was a little bit listless yesterday. (Jockey) Kent (Desormeaux) said that he always gallops him out of the post parade and the horse wouldn't lift his head up. We checked his temperature and we'll take blood counts, but he looks normal to us. (Trainer) Cliff (Sise) said he didn't think anything of it, and he slept most of the day yesterday, but it wasn't his day.



"We're playing it day-by-day, to let the horse tell us. We don't want to run if he's not 100%, because he obviously wasn't yesterday."