Kentucky Derby, Oaks dreams start with Labor Day stakes

Saratoga and Del Mar are always the tracks where we look for trainers to unveil their most promising juveniles — at least those ready by this time of year — and 2018 has proven no different.

So far, the colts Instagrand and Roadster have emerged on the West Coast, with Nitrous and Mucho beginning to blossom in the East. The barns of Jerry Hollendorfer and Bob Baffert are also loaded with fillies, among them Brill, Mother Mother and Chasing Yesterday, the half sister to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.

Almost all of those talented 2-year-olds will converge on Labor Day weekend in four Grade 1 races for juveniles, after which connections can begin dreaming about even bigger things in 2019, particularly the Breeders’ Cup, before the Kentucky Derby and Oaks.

Historically, the winners of Saratoga’s Spinaway and the Del Mar Debutante — which kick things off Saturday — haven’t gone on to accomplish much the first Friday in May. But the races have had a big bearing on main contenders for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Hollendorfer, who’s represented by the debut winner Brill (short for brilliant), saddled perhaps the most impactful recent filly in either Grade 1 race. Songbird won the 2015 Debutante before taking the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile fillies and a handful of other Grade 1 races during her career. After Brill’s first start, connections were drawing comparisons.

Baffert elected to keep first out winner Mother Mother at home in California, while Chasing Yesterday ships to Saratoga for the Spinaway. She’s the morning line favorite in a field of 12 on the East Coast.

"She doesn't look like Pharoah,” Baffert said of Chasing Yesterday. “She probably looks more like her mother, but I see a lot of Tapit in her too. Her disposition is like Pharoah's though. She's a sweetheart, very loveable, like Abel Tasman in that way. When she gets on the track though, she's like Pharaoh — all racehorse. She just turns it on."

The boys will get the spotlight on the holiday Monday in Saratoga’s Hopeful Stakes and the Del Mar Futurity, won in 2014 by American Pharoah and 2015 by Nyquist, who both went on to take the Derby. The Hopeful is a logical steppingstone to Belmont Park’s Grade 1 Champagne, while the Futurity leads to Santa Anita’s Grade 1 American Pharoah, formerly known as the FrontRunner

As with the Debutante, Hollendorfer (with Instagrand) and Baffert (with Roadster) were supposed to square off. News Friday that Instagrand won't be entered watered down expectations, though Hollendorfer will send another promising maiden winner, Rowayton, in his place. Roadster will make his stakes debut after a strong first out victory on July 29.

The Hopeful won’t have a star runner until it crowns a new Grade 1 winner Monday. Sombeyay enters having won the Grade 3 Best Pal but hasn’t garnered the same buzz as his West Coast counterparts. Look for breakout efforts by either the Steve Asmussen-trained Nitrous or Mucho, from Bill Mott’s barn. As for a hunch play: Maybe D. Wayne Lukas’ Derby Date will live up to that name later in his career. For now, he’s still a maiden

So, yes, it’s unknown how much if any these races will have a bearing on the Breeders’ Cup or spring classics. But I have a feeling that this group is a strong one, with both Baffert and Hollendorfer trainers who have defied historical trends with other gifted individuals. Should their horses prevail, let the dreaming begin.