Keith's Dream Walkin Farms Inc. races the son of Menifee. Keith also bred Kirekendahl.
"He's (Keith) the No. 1 country and western singer in the country, I think," said Ted West, father of trainer Ted H. West, who trains the undefeated Kentucky-bred bay colt.
Kirkendahl won his only two races, both sprints, at Hollywood Park late last year. The San Rafael is at a mile, but West doesn't see that as a problem.
"Conformation-wise, he looks like a route horse and he's bred to be a route horse, so we'll see what happens on Saturday," West said. "We missed a little training because of the weather but not a lot, and everybody else missed as much training as we did so we're all going in even."
Spanish Chestnut, impressive three-length winner at 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 27, is doing well despite the recent rains. "He's coming up to the race good," trainer Patrick Biancone said of the Florida-bred colt. "We missed some time because of the weather, but it shouldn't matter much because he ran 19 days ago."
Probables for the San Rafael are: Chips Are Down, Rene Douglas; Dover Dere, Jon Court; Iced Out, Tyler Baze; Going Wild, no rider; Kirkendahl, Kent Desormeaux; and Spanish Chestnut, Gary Stevens.
