Corker Gets Call to Run in the Derby

Trainer Charlie Whittingham, who saw Smithfield go down because of an injury that will sideline him for at least six months, will start Corker in his place in the $1-million Santa Anita Derby on Saturday.

A half-brother to Strodes Creek, Corker worked five furlongs in 1:02 2/5 Sunday morning at Santa Anita. The 1 1/8-mile race now has eight probable starters: E.C.’s Dream, Alyrob, Cavonnier, Honour And Glory, Prince Of Thieves, Matty G, Super Mining and Strangelove, who was added Sunday by trainer Wesley Ward.

“He’s a big strong horse, just like Strodes Creek,” Whittingham said of Corker, who has one win in five starts and has been the beaten favorite in his last two races. “He isn’t hard to manage, but you’ve got to push him a little bit. This horse, though, when he gets in the clear, he can run.”

With Chris McCarron riding Cavonnier, Corey Nakatani has picked up the mount on Alyrob for trainer Wally Dollase, the jockey’s father-in-law. Alyrob will be making his first start since he was operated on for an entrapped epiglottis.

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Cobra King, who ran horribly as the favorite in the Florida Derby on March 16, will run in the $150,000 Lexington Stakes on April 21 at Keeneland instead of the $700,000 Blue Grass Stakes eight days earlier.

“We missed a couple of days of training, but he’s back galloping,” said trainer Mike Pupye. The change in plans came because the Farma Way colt pulled up sore after a work at Churchill Downs several days earlier.

Horse Racing Notes

Tychonic, the 9-10 favorite, won his fifth in a row and seventh in his last nine starts, taking the $130,300 El Rincon Handicap Sunday at Santa Anita. Ridden by Gary Stevens for trainer Bobby Frankel and owner Juddmonte Farms, Tychonic beat Debutant Trick, the 2-1 second choice, by a length in 1:35 4/5 for the mile on turf. Savinio was third.