Derby Hopefuls Ready to Take the First Step

For some newly turned 3-year-olds, the long, perilous road to the Kentucky Derby begins this weekend with stakes at Santa Anita and Gulfstream Park.

At Santa Anita on Sunday, seven horses, among them Millennium Wind and Turnberry Isle, will run in the $100,000 Santa Catalina Stakes. Today at Gulfstream Park in Florida, eight colts, headed by undefeated Songandaprayer and Master Planner, will run in the $100,000 Holy Bull Stakes.

Both races are 1 1/16 miles, shorter preps for the 1 1/4-mile Derby at Churchill Downs on May 5. The Santa Catalina is a warmup for the Santa Anita Derby on April 7 and the Holy Bull leads to the Florida Derby on March 10. The last two years, the Santa Catalina winners--The Deputy and General Challenge--also won the Santa Anita Derby.

Millennium Wind, a $1.2-million yearling, ran second in the Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 16, but trainer David Hofmans wasn’t disappointed. Coming off his maiden win just a month before, Millennium Wind finished only a length behind Point Given, the second-place finisher to Macho Uno in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and one of the early Kentucky Derby favorites.

Turnberry Isle, trained by Wayne Lukas, will be making his first start since finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup. That was the Irish-bred colt’s first U.S. start. He had three wins and one second in four starts in Europe.

Horse Racing Notes

Others running in the Santa Catalina are Indy Lead, Swordfish, Coke’s Tribute, Palmeiro and Denied. . . . Spain, winner of the La Brea Stakes on Dec. 30, heads Sunday’s five-horse field in the $150,000 El Encino, the second leg of the the Santa Anita series for 4-year-old fillies which concludes with the La Canada on Feb. 11. Others running in the El Encino are Chilukki, Back Seat Babe, Queenie Belle and Excessively Hot. . . . High Wire Act’s upset of Tribunal in Friday’s feature gave Laffit Pincay at least one win for the last nine days he has ridden at Santa Anita.