A day after Brother Derek squared his record with Stevie Wonderboy at one win apiece with a gate-to-wire victory in Saturday's San Rafael Stakes (gr. II), the 3-year-old colts were on course to meet once more in the Santa Catalina Stakes (gr. II) at Santa Anita on March 4.Trainers Dan Hendricks (Brother Derek) and Doug O'Neill (Stevie Wonderboy) both said Sunday that they expect their colts to return in the Santa Catalina."Everything looked good (after the victory), and it looks like a good time to take a few extra weeks to bring him back so he'll be fresh for March, April, May," Hendricks said of Brother Derek. The California-bred Brother Derek lost to Stevie Wonderboy by 8 ½ lengths while finishing fourth in the Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) Oct. 29 at Belmont Park.
In addition to the 1 1/16-mile Santa Catalina, Hendricks said he would like to have Brother Derek make the 1 1/8-mile Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) his final major West Coast race before hopefully moving on to the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) on May 6. "He likes it here, I don't have to ship," he said. "But I'm going to watch every single 3-year-old race in the country (to see) if there's a race with real big money to ship to, if we can pick something up."O'Neill also has ticketed the Santa Anita Derby for Stevie Wonderboy on April 8."Stevie came out of the (San Rafael) in great shape and ate up well," said trainer Doug O'Neill of his BC Juvenile (gr. I) winner. In his first start since that race and in his initial try around two turns, Stevie Wonderboy could not overtake Brother Derek through the stretch in the one-mile San Rafael Stakes, failing by 1 1/2 lengths.
"Speed kills in any sport, and Brother Derek has speed that's hard to beat. We're looking forward to the rematch in the Santa Catalina."