Unbeaten 'TDN Rising Star' Dortmund (Big Brown) will face five rivals in Saturday's GI Santa Anita Derby while a field of seven are slated to line up for that same day's GI TwinSpires.com Wood Memorial S. at Aqueduct.
The Kaleem Shah colorbearer, last seen wiring the GII San Felipe S., will re-oppose Prospect Park (Tapit) and Bolo (Temple City), the second- and third-place finishers from that Mar. 7 heat, respectively. Dortmund, hero of last December's GI Los Alamitos Futurity and the Feb. 7 GII Robert B. Lewis S., has been assigned post one. Regular rider Martin Garcia will be aboard the 3-5 morning-line favorite.
Hall of Famer Bob Baffert will also saddle fellow 'TDN Rising Star' One Lucky Dane (Lookin At Lucky), who will break one to the outside of Dortmund. The $490,000 KEESEP yearling purchase rolled to a 9 3/4-length win while making his sophomore debut in a one-mile optional claimer in Arcadia Mar. 19.
Let's Go Stable, WinStar Farm LLC and China Horse Club's Daredevil (More Than Ready), meanwhile, has been tabbed as the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the Wood Memorial. A head-scratching 11th in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Nov. 1, the handsome chestnut returned with a strong second in the seven-furlong GII Fasig-Tipton Swale S. at Gulfstream Mar. 7. The Todd Pletcher trainee will break from post six with Javier Castellano aboard. Let's Go and Pletcher, of course, also teamed up for a win with Verrazano (More Than Ready) in the 2013 Wood.
'TDN Rising Star' El Kabeir (Scat Daddy), an impressive come-from-behind winner in the GIII Gotham S. Mar. 7, will break one to his inside. C C Lopez remains aboard the Zayat Stables colorbearer. Frosted (Tapit), second-best in last November's GII Remsen S. at the Big A, returns to New York after a disappointing fourth in the GII Besilu Stables Fountain of Youth S. Feb. 21.
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