Pair of European Derby Points Races Take Place March 6

The European Road to the Kentucky Derby will take shape 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 rescheduled Patton Stakes at Dundalk will also run Wednesday after being postponed. The event was rescheduled after racing at Dundalk was cancelled suddenly March 3 because of the death of long-time Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board member Willie Buckley.

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. 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.

Ridden by Jim Crowley and trained by William Haggas, 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.

Both races offer Derby qualifying points to the top four finishers on a scale of 20-8-4-2. The European series, separate from the North American Road to the Kentucky Derby, will wrap up with the April 11 Cardinal Conditions Stakes at Chelmsford City.