{"id":129246,"date":"2020-03-07T09:43:40","date_gmt":"2020-03-07T17:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=129246"},"modified":"2020-03-08T10:36:34","modified_gmt":"2020-03-08T17:36:34","slug":"road-to-ky-derby-2020-makes-stops-at-tampa-aqueduct-and-santa-anita","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/road-to-ky-derby-2020-makes-stops-at-tampa-aqueduct-and-santa-anita\/","title":{"rendered":"Road to Kentucky Derby 2020 Makes Stops at Tampa Bay Downs, Aqueduct and Santa Anita on Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re now less than two months away from the Kentucky Derby, and Saturday serves as a big day in deciding the field, as three more horses will likely earn their way into the first leg of horse racing\u2019s Triple Crown.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Authentic, seen here winning the Sham Stakes at Santa Anita in January, is the morning-line favorite in San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita. It’s one of three Kentucky Derby prep races running on Saturday. (Image: Santa Anita)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The winners of the Grade III Gotham Stakes at New York\u2019s Aqueduct, the Grade II Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs, and the Grade II San Felipe Stakes will all earn 50 points toward qualifying for the Kentucky Derby, enough to essentially ensure their eligibility for the May 2 Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs in Louisville.<\/p>\n

The three races may also affect odds on the latest round of Kentucky Derby futures betting. Churchill Downs is offering the latest round this weekend, with Tiz the Law<\/a> the current favorite. I’ll have more on the current round after Saturday’s races wrap-up.<\/p>\n

Sole Volante Faces Chance It in Tampa Bay<\/h2>\n

The Tampa Bay Derby will go first, with a post time of 5:32 pm ET. The mile-and-a-sixteenth race features a field of 12, but the focus will likely be on a pair of horses, as only three have morning-line odds of less than 10-1.<\/p>\n

Sole Volante, who won the Sam F. Davis Stakes a month ago at Tampa, is the 2-1 favorite. Trained by Patrick Biancone, he\u2019s finished in the money in all four career starts, with three wins.<\/p>\n

In the Sam F. Davis, he rallied down the stretch to overtake favorite Independence Hall and win going away.<\/p>\n

Ridden by Florent Geroux, Sole Volante will break from the seventh gate.<\/p>\n

His main opposition appears to be Chance It. Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., the horse was a late scratch from last week\u2019s Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The trainer admitted pulling his horse after he drew the outside gate in what was initially a 12-horse race.<\/p>\n

Chance It breaks from the fourth gate Saturday.<\/p>\n

He has tactical speed, which makes him easy to ride because you can put him in the right spot, and he has stamina,\u201d Joseph said. \u201cTo have his class, stamina and speed, it\u2019s a package that\u2019s hard to find. He\u2019s special, and hopefully he can show it.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ridden by Paco Lopez, Chance It, who has four wins and two second place finishes in six starts, has 5-2 odds in his graded stakes debut.<\/p>\n

The full field and odds can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mischevious Alex Leads Field in Aqueduct’s Gotham<\/h2>\n

Up at Aqueduct, the Gotham Stakes will have 11 horses going a mile.<\/p>\n

Mischevious Alex dominated the Grade III Swale Stakes last month at Gulfstream, winning the seven-furlong race by seven lengths in his graded stakes debut. Trainer John Servis will ask his colt to go an extra furlong Saturday.<\/p>\n

Mischevious Alex has run a mile or longer before, but has not won at that distance.<\/p>\n

A couple of other horses from the Swale also make their way to New York Saturday, including Untitled. The Mark Casse-trained colt was the betting favorite in the Swale, but he got bumped at the start and found himself stuck in traffic as he managed to finish fourth.<\/p>\n

Mischevious Alex will break sixth Saturday and is the morning-line favorite at 3-1. Untitled breaks from the 10th gate and is a 4-1 choice<\/p>\n

\n

Another horse to keep an eye on is Attachment Rate. Trainer Dale Romans suffered some disappointment last week in the Fountain of Youth after race-time favorite Dennis\u2019 Moment finished last. But the Virginia-bred he has entered in the Gotham could get him a spot in the Derby on his hometown track.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In a Feb. 15 maiden race at Gulfstream, Attachment Rate won going away by 6-1\/4 lengths on a sloppy, sealed track.<\/p>\n

Ridden by Luis Saez, Attachment Rate will start from the fourth gate and had odds of 9-2.<\/p>\n

The full field for the Gotham, which has a post time of 5:42 pm ET, and odds can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Baffert’s Pair Favorites at Santa Anita<\/h2>\n

Out at Santa Anita, a pair of Bob Baffert-trained colts will lead a field of seven in the mile-and-a-sixteenth San Felipe.<\/p>\n

Authentic will look to go 3-for-3 in his young career. His most recent race came two months ago at the Southern California track when he won by almost eight lengths in the Grade III Sham, a one-mile race.<\/p>\n

Baffert\u2019s other entry, Thousand Words<\/a>, is also perfect in his career. He got his third win last month in the Grade III Robert B. Lewis Stakes and already has two graded stakes wins to his name.<\/p>\n

In the Robert B. Lewis, which was also a mile-and-a-sixteenth, Thousand Words came from behind to finally take the lead late and win by three-quarters of a length.<\/p>\n

Both my horses are coming into the race really well,\u201d said Baffert, who has won the stakes race a record six times. \u201cThere are no excuses.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Authentic, with Drayden Van Dyke getting the mount, will break from the fourth gate and has 6-5 morning-line odds. Thousand Words will break next to him in fifth. Flavien Prat will take the reins on the horse with 9-5 morning-line odds.<\/p>\n

While the San Felipe features the smallest field, it might have the deepest of the three for actual Kentucky Derby contenders.<\/p>\n

Besides the Baffert entries, the field includes Honor A. P. The John Shirreffs-trained ridgling hasn\u2019t raced since October, when he broke his maiden in a mile race by 5-1\/4 lengths. Still, his trainer has kept him busy over the past few months.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been training very well,\u201d Shirreffs said. \u201cI think he\u2019s ready to run and I\u2019m optimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rounding out the contenders is the Breeders\u2019 Cup Juvenile champion Storm the Court. Despite the Grade I win at Santa Anita last November, he\u2019s won just twice in five starts. In his last race, Santa Anita\u2019s Grade II San Vicente last month, he finished just outside the money in fourth.<\/p>\n

Honor A.P., with Mike Smith aboard, will break second with morning-line odds of 4-1. Joel Rosario will ride Storm the Court, who will race from the sixth gate at odds of 5-1.<\/p>\n

Post time is 6:01 pm ET. The full field and odds can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re now less than two months away from the Kentucky Derby, and Saturday serves as a big day in deciding the field, as three more horses will likely earn their way into the first leg of horse racing\u2019s Triple Crown. The winners of the Grade III Gotham Stakes at New York\u2019s Aqueduct, the Grade II […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":129247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14577,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRoad to Ky Derby 2020 Makes Stops at Tampa, Aqueduct and Santa Anita<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The winners of Aqueduct's Gotham Stakes, the Tampa Bay Derby, and the San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita will earn 50 points toward the May 2 Kentucky Derby.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Road to Ky Derby 2020 Makes Stops at Tampa, Aqueduct and Santa Anita\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The winners of Aqueduct's Gotham Stakes, the Tampa 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