Kentucky Derby 2019 Daily: San Felipe a ‘unique situation’

Welcome to Horse Racing Nation’s Kentucky Derby Daily, which will each day leading up to the May 4 race at Churchill Downs detail all the news and notes related to contenders in one convenient space.

Terry Finley, president and CEO of West Point Thoroughbreds, considers news of Santa Anita Park’s shutdown for further evaluation of the track a potential “turning point” for racing in California.

“You have to put trust in people in control of this matter and have confidence they’ll make the right decisions,” he said.

In the meantime, the move has horsemen weighing their options for a race with reach extending far beyond California: the 2019 Kentucky Derby.

Champion Game Winner, unbeaten Grade 1-winning stablemate Improbable and Gunmetal Gray, a Grade 3 winner for West Point, were among the top horses targeting the San Felipe Stakes (G3) originally scheduled for Saturday. The race will run, according to a statement from Santa Anita, but when remains an unknown.

Jennifer Hoyt, media relations manager at Oaklawn Park, said track officials there are considering splitting the March 16 Rebel Stakes (G2) into two divisions to accommodate more horses looking to accumulate Derby points at a key time.

“It’s an idea being discussed, but nothing’s firmed up,” Hoyt said. “There’s a lot of logistics in play.”

For instance, what if Santa Anita opens next week and cards the San Felipe on the same day as the Rebel?

“We’d need to have 100 percent commitment from the horsemen to come,” Hoyt said.

Ron Anderson, agent for jockey Joel Rosario, is planning to have his rider at Oaklawn on Game Winner in the Rebel. Jack Wolf, whose Starlight Racing owns a share of Improbable, said a trip to Arkansas is now possible for Improbable’s 3-year-old debut. Finley says it’s an option to ship Gunmetal Gray with Galilean, another 3-year-old campaigned by the partnership and already Rebel-bound.

There is one other major consideration: Precedent was set last year when Oaklawn Park looked at splitting the Southwest Stakes (G3) when faced with a prospective overflow field.

It was decided that should the original race purse halve, so too would the points awarded. But if Oaklawn offered the entire purse in both flights, full points would go to the Top 4.

The Rebel is a $1 million race this year, meaning it would take $2 million in purse money to pay out Derby qualifying points to the Top 4 finishers on a 50-20-10-5 basis. A pair of $500,000 races would be worth half.

Oaklawn, according to a Wednesday afternoon announcement, has settled on a number in between.

“For example, if they ran $750,000 divisions, we would do 75 percent of points,” said Churchill Downs spokesman Darren Rogers, with 37 to the winner.

“This is such a unique situation,” Finley said “I’d say to Churchill: Don’t penalize the owners and trainers who have been dreaming about this. Don’t penalize us because of this situation. I’d just say that in a very respectful way. There’s a lot riding on these races.”

Rogers said the paperwork, however, is done for 2019.

“Believe me, we’ve considered a lot of things,” Rogers said. “A lot of it is already based off the legalese. It’s approved in the nomination blanks and the forms. It’s something we can revisit down the road.”

Derby links

• Plus Que Parfait, who dropped two straight to open his 3-year-old campaign, has “perked up” since relocating to Florida, says trainer Brendan Walsh, who’s considering an overseas trip as a final prep. More on the Derby Radar.

• Trainer Mark Hennig is like many fans and handicappers in the sense that he sees Bourbon War poised to move forward after a closing second in the Fountain of Youth. Hennig talked with us about what’s next.

• The Pressbox’s Gene McLean shares commentary on Bourbon War, Fountain of Youth winner Code of Honor and more in his latest Kentucky Derby rankings.

In case you missed it…

Tuesday’s Derby Daily report featured expert opinion on Hidden Scroll and his status on the trail coming out of the Fountain of Youth.