Forbidden Kingdom Handles Unexpected Company in Blowout

A bit of unexpected company did nothing to derail a scheduled three-furlong blowout April 6 for Forbidden Kingdom , the 6-5 second choice to Messier  on the morning line for the April 9 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1).

After turning in his final major work with a seven-furlong move March 31 for the West Coast's major steppingstone to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), the American Pharoah   colt drilled three furlongs in :37 Wednesday at Santa Anita Park as planned by Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella.

"This has turned into a little bit of a routine with Richard and this horse in particular as we've started to extend the distance of his races," said Joe Moran, West Coast racing manager for MyRacehorse, which owns the colt in partnership with Spendthrift Farm.

What was not routine was the presence of another worker—but according to Moran, Forbidden Kingdom remained in hand and focused under exercise rider Nestor Capitaine, completing his work without issue.

"This week in the blowout we did catch some company; he left from the quarter pole and a horse snuck inside of us," Moran said. "It did worry me for a second because he is aggressive and will lock onto another horse. When that company came along the inside I was afraid he was going to take off, but Nestor was able to keep him relaxed.

"Nestor has been a huge part of this horse's development ... the horse responds to him really well."

Forbidden Kingdom comes off a 5 3/4-length gate-to-wire romp in the March 5 San Felipe Stakes (G2) going 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita, and took the Jan. 29 San Vicente Stakes (G2) in similar fashion but by 2 1/4 lengths sprinting seven furlongs. He is currently tied for 10th on the Kentucky Derby Derby Leaderboard with 50 points.

At 1 1/8 miles, the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby offers points on a 100-40-20-10 scale to the top four finishers toward a place in the Kentucky Derby starting gate.