Brother Derek Returns Today

Even without Barbaro, this year’s crop of 3-year-olds is top notch.

Bernardini was dazzling in the Preakness, Jim Dandy and Travers; Bluegrass Cat was overwhelming in the Haskell before a leg injury ended his career; Showing Up has been a tiger on turf; and Discreet Cat and Henny Hughes have both returned to the track with a vengeance.

Given all that talent, it seems hard to believe that at one point, Brother Derek was considered at the top of his class.

The son of Benchmark won four consecutive graded stakes between Dec. 17 and April 8, including the Hollywood Futurity and Santa Anita Derby, earning top billing, but consecutive fourth-place finishes in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and a subsequent layoff pushed him out of any discussion about the nation’s top 3-year-olds.

A winner of six of 10 and more than $1.3 million for owner Cecil Peacock and trainer Dan Hendricks, Brother Derek will try to show he belongs among the elite in the final months of 2006.

The California-bred will begin his comeback in the $100,000 El Cajon today at Del Mar. The one-mile race attracted only four others, including Bob And John, the Wood Memorial winner but Kentucky Derby and Belmont dud.

Brother Derek will break from the outside and has trained well over the surface.

“We knew what we had going out of the Santa Anita Derby,” Hendricks said. “A really nice 3-year-old, one of the top five in the country all year long. Things have not changed.”

Hendricks said anyone with a top 3-year-old is looking at the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs as a year-end goal.

“We’re no different,” he said. “The only difference now is, we’ve had a little break.”

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Saratoga is offering two Grade I races on the final Saturday of its meet, which ends Monday.

Eleven sprinters will get together in the $250,000 Forego about 30 minutes before 11 older routers run in the $500,000 Woodward.

Sun King, beaten by a nose by Invasor in the Whitney Handicap on Aug. 5, is among the top contenders in the 1 1/8 -mile Woodward, along with Flower Alley, the 2005 Jim Dandy and Travers winner; Funny Cide, and Suave.

The main threats in the seven-furlong Forego are Commentator, War Front and Pomeroy.

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Trainer Christine Janks will saddle three of the six fillies and mares entered in the $150,000 Arlington Matron Handicap today at Arlington Park.

Janks, who is among the leading trainers at the meet, will be represented by For Gillian, Stop A Train and Sunset Kisses in the Grade III at 1 1/8 miles.

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Times staff writer Robyn Norwood contributed to this report.

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bob.mieszerski@latimes.com.