Santa Anita Derby Headlines Weekend Racing
The Santa Anita Derby headlines a big weekend of racing for 3YO Kentucky Derby hopefuls.
Exaggerator who finished second to Nyquist here on February 15th in the San Vicente and Denman’s Call the third place finisher both returned with sub par performances leaving Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby up for grabs.
Denman’s Call drew the rail and gets a new rider in Bejarano on Saturday but hasn’t gone beyond 7/8th’s in his 3 race career.
Santa Anita Derby will be Exaggerator’s 4th try over track
Exaggerator has won 3 of his 8 lifetime starts with earnings of more than $1 million but is 0 for 3 at Santa Anita. He’s faced Nyquist three times and is bred to go the distance but hasn’t managed to build off his most recent win in the G3 Delta Jackpot back in November. In his most recent race he was third in the G2 San Felipe and will face the top two finishers from that race this weekend.
Danzing Candy who has run off three impressive wins in a row including his most recent in the San Felipe will be stretching out another 1/16th of a mile but has the speed and the stamina to carry the 124 pounds under Mike Smith who is 36% when riding for Sise and this will be his biggest test to date.
Mor Spirit has 3 wins and 3 seconds as the favorite in all 6 career starts for Baffert. He was a troubled second in the San Felipe when steadying at the 3/4 pole and should appreciate the added distance on Saturday.
