Pair of European Derby Points Races March 6

The European Road to the Kentucky Derby will take shape Wednesday, March 6 with points races in both England and Ireland.

The Road to the Derby conditions stakes has drawn a field of nine 3-year-olds to Kempton Park while the Patton Stakes at Dundalk has been rescheduled to Wednesday after being postponed because of the death of long-time Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board member Willie Buckley March 3 when the race had originally been scheduled.

Both races offer Derby qualifying points to the top four finishers (20-8-4-2). The European Road, separate from the main Road to the Kentucky Derby, will wrap up its series of races with the Cardinal conditions stakes April 11 at Chelmsford City.

In Wednesday's Road to the Derby conditions stakes, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum's Jahbath will put his three-race win streak on the line in the one-mile test on the all-weather surface there. In his seasonal debut the son of Mukhadram posted a seven-length victory going about a mile on the all-weather track at Southwell Racecourse.

Trained by Jim Crowley, Jahbath finished second in his debut last year then registered back-to-back clear victories in the fall on Kempton Park's all-weather surface. He'll return to Kempton Park Wednesday.

In the Patton Stakes, trainer Aidan O'Brien accounts for six of the expected 14 starters in that one-mile race. Western Australia, a son of Australia campaigned by Coolmore-affliated owners Derrick Smith, Michael Tabor, and Susan Magnier, will make his seasonal debut after closing out 2018 with a third-place finish in the Vertem Futurity Trophy Stakes (G1) at Doncaster.