A trio of 3-year-olds in top form will take to the Santa Anita Park grass Oct. 28 in the $200,000 Twilight Derby (G2T).
All three are riding winning streaks into the 1 1/8-mile grass test, but they're all coming from different directions.
Heading up the home team is Red Baron's Barn, Rancho Temescal, and Mark Glatt's Sharp Samurai, who has won three straight stakes races in Southern California. Trained by Glatt, the First Samurai gelding broke through in the Rainbow Stakes at Santa Anita in June, stepped up to graded competition for the first time Aug. 6 at Del Mar to take the La Jolla Handicap (G3T), and continued his ascent with a score in the Sept. 3 Del Mar Derby (G2T).
BALAN: Sharp Samurai Continues to Roll in Del Mar Derby
From the East Coast comes Skeedattle Associates' Just Howard, who has won four straight grass races in Maryland. The Maryland-bred English Channel colt trained by Graham Motion broke his maiden at Pimlico Race Course May 29 and hasn't misfired since. He took the state-bred Caveat Stakes and Find Stakes over the summer at Laurel Park, then earned his first graded victory in the Sept. 30 Commonwealth Derby presented by the Virginia Equine Alliance and the Virginia HBPA (G3T).
Representing the Midwest (although he trains in Kentucky) is Head of Plains Partners and Cheyenne Stables' Cowboy Culture, who dominated the May 27 Arlington Classic (G3T), then returned from a more than three-month layoff to win the Sept. 6 Centaur Stakes at Indiana Grand Race Course.
Those three may have the best recent form, but the field of 11 also features plenty more classy sophomores. The second- and third-place finishers from the Del Mar Derby—grade 3 winner Big Score and multiple stakes winner Bowies Hero—are back to challenge Sharp Samurai again. Two more contenders from the East—multiple stakes winner Channel Maker and grade 3-placed Profiteer—are also shipping in.
Graded stakes-placed locals Cistron, Dangerfield, and Ann Arbor Eddie round out the field, along with recent allowance winner Troublewithatee.
Santa Anita Park, Saturday, October 28, 2017, Race 9Entries: Twilight Derby (G2T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Cistron (KY) Tyler Baze 120 John W. Sadler 20/1 2 2Cowboy Culture (KY) Florent Geroux 124 Brad H. Cox 6/1 3 3Big Score (KY) Flavien Prat 122 Tim Yakteen 4/1 4 4Bowies Hero (KY) Kent J. Desormeaux 120 Philip D'Amato 5/1 5 5Just Howard (MD) Fergal Lynch 124 H. Graham Motion 4/1 6 6Sharp Samurai (KY) Gary L. Stevens 124 Mark Glatt 7/2 7 7Troublewithatee (KY) Corey S. Nakatani 120 Philip D'Amato 20/1 8 8Channel Maker (ON) Drayden Van Dyke 120 William I. Mott 10/1 9 9Profiteer (KY) Mike E. Smith 120 Claude R. McGaughey III 6/1 10 10Dangerfield (KY) Kyle Frey 120 Doug F. O'Neill 50/1 11 11Ann Arbor Eddie (CA) Mario Gutierrez 120 Doug F. O'Neill 20/1
