Pivotal Weekend for Derby Hopefuls

It pays for trainers to have depth in the barn when they undertake a Kentucky Derby campaign.

Ron Ellis began the year with Declan’s Moon, an Eclipse Award winner in 2004, but he has been sidelined by knee surgery until the fall and Ellis will turn to Don’t Get Mad in Saturday’s $750,000 Santa Anita Derby.

Although Don’t Get Mad is winless in his only two stakes starts, he’s 7-2 on the morning line and Ellis said: “He’s a nice horse. We don’t consider him as our backup plan.”

In Florida, Shug McGaughey had high hopes for the well-bred Defer this winter.

“He trained like a champion, but both of his races down there were sub-par,” McGaughey said.

So McGaughey has turned to another son of the late Danzig -- Survivalist, who also races for Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps’ stable. Survivalist, winner of the roughly run Gotham in his last start, is the 5-1 third choice in Saturday’s $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. The favorites in the Kentucky Derby prep are Bellamy Road and Going Wild, both at 2-1.

Bellamy Road, part of trainer Nick Zito’s five-horse Derby juggernaut, is owned by New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner. After three starts last year for Michael Dickinson, Steinbrenner turned Bellamy Road over to Zito. In his only start since the switch, Bellamy Road won an allowance by 15 3/4 lengths.

Zito’s other contenders for the Derby, which will be run at Churchill Downs on May 7, are High Fly and Noble Causeway, 1-2 finishers in the Florida Derby; Sun King, the likely favorite in the Blue Grass Stakes on April 16; and Andromeda’s Hero, a possibility for the Arkansas Derby the same day as the Blue Grass.

While Zito seems confident that most of his contenders should have the stamina to run in the grueling 1 1/4 -mile Kentucky Derby, McGaughey isn’t so sure about Survivalist.

“Some of the other trainers thought they had excuses in the Gotham, but my horse finished fast no matter what happened to the others,” McGaughey said. “But I still don’t know if my horse wants a mile and an eighth [the Wood distance]. There are a lot of places to run down the road if he isn’t good enough to make the top flight of 3-year-olds.”

The Santa Anita Derby absorbed a double blow when Consolidator and Going Wild were shipped out of town by trainer Wayne Lukas. After being based at Santa Anita all winter, Lukas shifted his operation to Churchill Downs. Consolidator, winner of the San Felipe Stakes, is scheduled to run in the Blue Grass and Going Wild will try to add to his credentials in New York. The colt won two stakes at Santa Anita and finished second to Declan’s Moon in his last start.

It was the timing of the races that appealed to Lukas, who has won the Kentucky Derby four times. Rather than running Consolidator in the Santa Anita Derby, he gets an extra week between races by going in the Blue Grass. Lukas has also won the Santa Anita Derby four times, but not since the filly Winning Colors in 1988. Lukas has started 15 horses since then and finished second three times.

A third Kentucky Derby prep on Saturday is the $500,000 Illinois Derby at Hawthorne in suburban Chicago. The 7-2 favorite, Kansas City Boy, drew the outside post in a nine-horse field.

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There have been industry reports that the Breeders’ Cup, televised by NBC since its inception in 1984, might be headed to ESPN after this year.

Asked about this, Mike McCarley, a spokesman for NBC, said: “It’s likely that our people and the Breeders’ Cup will meet soon to discuss whether they’ll go forward.”

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Four of last year’s Breeders’ Cup winners will be running Saturday. Besides Sweet Catomine and Wilko in the Santa Anita Derby, Singletary is running in the Arcadia Handicap at Santa Anita and Ashado is set to make her 2005 debut in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. ... Also in Arkansas, the $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap drew only five horses. Eddington, with 117 pounds, is the high weight.... Sharp Lisa is the only Grade I winner in the field for Saturday’s Ashland at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky. Also running is Memorette, second to Sweet Catomine in the Santa Anita Oaks.... Twenty-five years ago Thursday, Jon Court won his first race, at the old Centennial track outside Denver. Riding a 10-1 shot, Brite Lorelei, in Santa Anita’s last race Thursday, the 44-year-old Court racked up his 3,000th win.