Kentucky Derby 2019 Radar: Two target El Camino Real Derby

“With a little luck,” trainer Doug O’Neill says, Magnificent McCool “could be our Derby horse.”

The Phoenix Thoroughbreds runner made five starts on dirt before switching to turf for the sixth, an easy 3 1/4-length win Dec. 28 at Santa Anita Park. From here, O’Neill sees 2019 Kentucky Derby preps in the Giant’s Causeway colt’s future starting with the Feb. 16 El Camino Real Derby.

“Although he ran a huge race on the grass, I don’t see him as a grass-only horse,” O’Neill said. “I’d love to point him to the Derby prep stakes at Golden Gate Fields in a month or so. It’s on the synthetic surface and will earn us some Derby points as well as keeping the race from being too tough off his impressive maiden win.”

There does appear a stiff local challenge waiting in Anothertwistafate, a Scat Daddy colt who won by a widening five lengths in a Golden Gate Fields allowance flight last Friday. The $360,000 purchase also broke his maiden over the Tapeta in San Francisco after finishing ninth in his Nov. 3 debut at Santa Anita Park.

“He got some dirt in his face and didn’t like it,” trainer Blaine Wright said of the first start. “[Jockey] Juan [Hernandez] came back after the race and said [Anothertwistafate] hated the dirt in his face.

“But if you watch the replay, Juan was able to get him in the clear down the stretch and once he did, he made up a good amount of ground, and the gallop out was terrific.”

Wright has worked Anothertwistafate against older horses, saying from the start that “it was clear that he had a ton of ability.” He called the El Camino Real Derby “a long-term goal,” but that was before the colt ran on to the radar last week at third asking.

Next, Anothertwistafate and Magnificent McCool figure to match up  in the El Camino Real Derby going 1 1/8 miles. In addition to offering Derby qualifying points on a 10-4-2-1 basis to the Top 4 finishers, the race this year includes a “Win and You’re In” incentive for the Preakness Stakes.

O’Neill’s barn saddled Blended Citizen for a third-place finish in the 2018 El Camino Real Derby. That colt went on to win Turfway Park’s Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3), also over the synthetic, and eventually ran in the Belmont Stakes rather than the Kentucky Derby.

Phoenix Thoroughbreds purchased Magnificent McCool for $625,000 as a 2-year-old.

“I’m super excited about the horse,” O’Neill said. “He ran monstrous, and he’s beginning to show his true ability. He looks to be improving all the time.”