ARCADIA — Despite everything, the western road to the Triple Crown series still runs still goes through Bob Baffert’s stable.
Sunday at Santa Anita, it didn’t matter that his best young horse had been scratched from $300,000 San Felipe Stakes and that his two remaining horses in the race are officially not Kentucky Derby material.
Baffert-trained Imagination and Baffert-trained Wine Me Up ran first and second after a bumpy clubhouse turn before Imagination and jockey Frankie Dettori won a stretch battle by a head in the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe.
Mc Vay finished 6 3/4 lengths back in third, and it was another 31 lengths to Scatify in the race reduced to four horses when Baffert announced the scratch of top-ranked North American 3-year-old Nysos the day before.
For Baffert, the only concerning moments came as the field entered the first turn, when Scatify shifted off the rail and knocked Imagination “sideways,” as the Equibase chart footnotes put it.
“The one horse came (out) on Imagination, it scared him, and he took off with (Dettori),” Baffert said in the winner’s circle.
Said Dettori: “My horse, and I took him back to get him wide to get him to relax and get him back into the race. He fought a great duel. He was full of heart.”
A stewards’ inquiry into the first-turn drama resulted in no change.
For the horses vying for Kentucky Derby qualifying points, John Shirreffs-trained Mc Vay picked up 15 for finishing third and John Sadler-trained Scatify 10 for finishing fourth. Mc Vay now has 19 for the season, placing him in a tie for 17th in the scramble for 20 starting spots in the May 4 Derby. Scatify has 16, which puts him 21st.
If either continues on the Derby trail, he’ll need a good run in the April 6 Santa Anita Derby or another of the major preps(worth 100, 50, 25, 15 and 10 points to top-five finishers. It usually takes 40 or more points to get into the Derby.
On a surface rated fast — but dulled by the rain that forced this…
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