With this weekend’s four major prep races for the Kentucky Derby having attracted a combined 35 entries, there will be no shortage of top-quality horses in action across the nation. But the most talented 3-year-old in the country might not be found in the Florida Derby, the Tampa Bay Derby, the Swale or the San Felipe, but in a race for fillies.
The Santa Anita Oaks on Saturday will mark the 3-year-old debut of the sensational Halfbridled, whose dominance during her 2-year-old campaign has her connections mulling a start in the Kentucky Derby.
Richard Mandella, the trainer for Halfbridled, has not made any firm plans for her beyond the Santa Anita Oaks and another race for fillies, the Ashland Stakes on April 3 at Keeneland. That leaves open the enticing possibility that the best filly in the country will race in the Kentucky Derby with the best female jockey on her back. Julie Krone is her regular rider, although Gary Stevens will be aboard on Saturday.
Mandella still has about six weeks to figure out if Halfbridled deserves a shot in the Kentucky Derby, but he will have a better idea of what he will do after Saturday’s race.
“If she is as dominant in her next two races as she was at the end of last year, it will be a very serious question whether we give her a try against colts or not,” Mandella said. “If she’s not that dominant, we won’t. We won’t be that aggressive.”
The idea of starting Halfbridled in the Kentucky Derby arose last year, when she overcame a terrible post position (14) and a wide trip to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies by 2 1/2 lengths, keeping her record perfect at 4-for-4. When the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile went a full second slower than the Juvenile Fillies, there was little doubt that Halfbridled was the best 2-year-old overall to perform that day.
Since then, not a lot has gone right. Mandella was not happy with Halfbridled’s training and scratched a planned start Feb. 15 in the Las Virgenes Stakes. Some two months earlier, Krone fractured her ribs in a spill at Hollywood Park and is still sidelined because of the lingering effects. But Halfbridled began to bounce back and Mandella has said she will be near her best for Saturday’s race.
Krone’s return is imminent and Mandella has promised her the mount back when she is ready.
At Gulfstream Park, the $1 million Florida Derby highlights a card that also includes the $150,000 Swale Stakes. Read the Footnotes, who won the Fountain of Youth Stakes last month after a long stretch battle with Second of June, will attempt to maintain his position as the East’s top hope for the Kentucky Derby in the Florida Derby.
Eurosilver will be heavily favored in the seven-furlong Swale Stakes. He is one of three top colts from the Nick Zito stable aiming for the Kentucky Derby.
Action This Day, a stablemate of Halfbridled and the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last year, will be racing in the San Felipe on Sunday at Santa Anita.
The Tampa Bay Derby, also run on Sunday, looks like a two-horse race between Todd Pletcher’s Limehouse and Rick Violette Jr.’s Swingforthefences.
