Ron Wood is off and running with a weekly update featuring all the news, views and analysis ahead of the first Saturday in May – starting with the return of the champion two-year-old
It just got a bit more serious on the Kentucky Derby front. The two-year-old champ was back in action at Santa Anita over the weekend. But did Citizen Bull enhance his Derby claims? And what of the other prep races elsewhere?
With trainers across the US – and beyond – ramping up preparations for their Derby hopefuls, now’s the time to start dialling in on the Triple Crown trail.
In this new weekly diary, I’ll be reviewing the major preps, looking ahead to upcoming races and keeping an eye on other key news. So, let’s get to it, starting with Citizen Bull’s reappearance in Saturday’s G3 Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita.
Bob Baffert’s colt earned his champion two-year-old male title by winning back-to-back G1s, latterly the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. That’s iffy form, frankly, but for my money he emerges from the weekend’s race with his reputation enhanced.
A Beyer speed figure of 98 for this seasonal debut is just okay, but he did the job without too much fuss, quickly overcoming a stumble out of the stalls to dominate his four rivals.
Prior to the race, Baffert noted Citizen Bull is a “big, heavy colt” who should improve with racing. On Sunday, he said “we’ll just wait and see” as to whether Citizen Bull makes another start – potentially the G2 San Felipe at Santa Anita on March 1 – prior to the final round of Kentucky Derby preps, which includes the Santa Anita Derby on April 5.
Citizen Bull already has enough qualifying points to earn a spot in the Derby - he’s leading the way on 60. But even so, it sounds like he’ll get plenty of race conditioning, and he’s a straightforward type who has the speed and stature to look after himself in a full field of 20 at Churchill Downs; plenty to like, even if he's still lacking a 'wow' factor.
On the other hand, while Baffert has won the Robert B. Lewis a record 13 times (including the last seven), only the 2021 winner Medina Spirit went onto pass the post first in the Kentucky Derby – and even he was later disqualified amid much rancour. There were, though, several high-class horses among his previous winners in a race that commemorates one of his longstanding clients, best known for the exploits of Silver Charm.
Baffert, whose barn also houses leading Derby hope Barnes, completed a one-two in Saturday’s race with runner-up Rodriguez. Though he clearly wasn’t good enough here, having lost his position down the back side, he did make a fair move into second on the turn and this was only his third outing, coming off a maiden win.
Rodriguez is a late May foal whose sire Authentic won the delayed Kentucky Derby of 2020 – the race wasn’t run until September that year – so look for this horse to keep progressing, perhaps being one for the Preakness.
From Citizen Bull to the Holy Bull, a G3 event at Gulfstream Park on Saturday that offered 20 Derby points. Recent Pegasus World Cup hero White Abarrio won the Holy Bull in 2022.
Burnham Square: ‘The further they go, the better he gets’
The latest running went to the Ian Wilkes trainee Burnham Square. First the negatives: he will need way more than the 90 Beyer speed figure he posted at the weekend to figure at Churchill Downs.
However, having got worked up and been slowly out of the gates, he was strong at the finish and galloped out well after the line. While his pedigree isn’t exactly loaded with stamina, he shapes as though he’ll get at least a bit further than the 8½ furlongs of the Holy Bull.
Burnham Square could have been claimed for $150,000 on his debut, when he ran second in a six-furlong event at Keeneland, but he’s progressing. The Holy Bull was his fourth start and he was following up a Gulfstream maiden score, taking his record in blinkers to 2-2.
Remember 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Fort Larned? Burnham Square goes for the same connections and it sounds like he’s headed for the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream on March 1.
“He overcame a lot of adversity in the race [Holy Bull],” said Wilkes. “He just keeps getting better, and that’s what you want. You’ve got to get better because the water gets deeper. You’ve got to keep improving. To where he might maximize out at, I don’t know yet. But the further they go the better he gets. The distance is what he likes.”
The Holy Bull runner-up Tappan Street also needs a closer look. The Brad Cox-trained colt came into the race off just a debut maiden success over seven furlongs and his inexperience was evident down the back side but he made a good move to lead out wide heading into the final turn, before being worn down.
Cox remains high on Tappan Street and the horse could go straight to April’s Florida Derby.
Captain Cook: useful effort in Withers
Also on Saturday, it was the Withers Stakes, now just a Listed race at Aqueduct, won by Captain Cook for Rick Dutrow, trainer of 2008 Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown.
Captain Cook earned a 94 Beyer, and this was a useful effort on only his third start coming off a maiden victory over just seven furlongs at the same venue.
“We’re lucky that he is the way he is in a race,” Dutrow said of the colt’s relaxed nature. “He doesn’t have a lot of size to him, and he’s going to need to conserve everything he’s got, but man, he does that. When Manny [Franco, jockey] hopped off of that horse, he said, ‘Rick, I’m starting to dream.’”
Captain Cook will now be aimed at the G2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 5, where he could be joined by the same trainer’s lightly raced McAfee, who worked at Belmont on Saturday.
Note these words from Dutrow on the latter: “Oh, we’re excited about that guy. He’s doing great. After Emily [Ellingwood, exercise rider] would breeze White Abarrio for us in California, I could see her molars because she was smiling so much – that’s what happened yesterday [Feb 1] when she breezed McAfee. She just loved the feeling the horse gave her.”
In other Derby news, the unbeaten Rated By Merit is off the trail owing to reported bone bruising.
There’s just one Derby points race this coming weekend, namely the Sam F. Davis Stakes, a G3 to be run over 8½ furlongs, at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday.
Citizen Bull may have stolen the headlines this time around, but he’s certainly not alone in having shaped promisingly and there will be plenty more clues between now and the first Saturday in May. Stay tuned.
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