What we learned: Lessons from Saturday's Ky. Derby preps

Arabian Lion and Giant Mischief disappointed their backers Saturday with losses in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) and Remington Springboard Mile. Nevertheless, Giant Mischief turned in a big losing effort at Remington, but Arabian Lion faded badly in his graded-stakes and route debut at Los Alamitos.

Here is what happened in each race.

Los Alamitos Futurity

Arabian Lion started well enough from Post 5 and settled into a beautiful tracking position in second as Carmel Road secured the lead and rattled off fractions of 23.61 and 46.66 seconds. Practical Move traveled right behind in third.

When it came time to move though on the far turn, Arabian Lion offered nothing. Instead, Practical Move rallied on the inside to take the lead.  

Then in the long stretch, Practical Move and Carmel Road opened up on the field by a significant margin. Practical Move outdueled the resilient Carmel Road and pulled clear to win by 3 1/4 lengths over the pacesetter.

Meanwhile, Arabian Lion floundered toward the rear and finished last by 12 lengths in the first bad race of his career after a fast maiden win at Santa Anita and an excellent runner-up finish to Giant Mischief at Keeneland.

Practical Move completed the 1 1/16-mile race in 1:41.65, which earned him an 88 Beyer Speed Figure. After flattening out to third in the seven-furlong Bob Hope Stakes (G3) at Del Mar and crossing the wire second in a maiden race at Santa Anita, Practical Move took the next step.

With more improvement from maturity and growth as a 3-year-old, Practical Move should continue to contend in the West Coast prep races and find his way to the Kentucky Derby in May. Trainer Tim Yakteen might find himself with other Derby contenders in April if Bob Baffert-trained hopefuls must transfer from his barn.

As for Arabian Lion, perhaps the distance proved too far, even with impressive dam line tracing back to Personal Ensign. At the same time, Arabian Lion did not resemble the strong horse working in the mornings. For some reason, Arabian Lion gave up with no fight on the far turn. 

Arabian Lion could rebound from this poor effort. But as for whether he makes a good bet on the trail in his next try, the answer is no. Off the last-place finish, Arabian Lion needs to prove definitively that he can route.

Remington Springboard Mile

Giant Mischief hopped at the start and seemed to lose most of his chances to win at that point. He lagged in last through the first half as the pacesetter and morning-line favorite Echo Again set mild fractions of 23.89 and 47.14 seconds.

Not long after the half-mile fraction, Giant Mischief made a big move on the outside and passed several horses in a short time. But when Giant Mischief reached the far turn and moved right behind Echo Again, he hit a wall. As Giant Mischief dealt with his invisible wall, Wildatlanticstorm rallied.

Wildatlanticstorm led Echo Again and Giant Mischief into the stretch run and held a small lead before crossing the wire 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Giant Mischief to win. Echo Again stayed in the picture to complete the trifecta.

With a final one-mile time of 1:38.24, Wildatlanticstorm earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure for his winning effort. In other words, Beyer rated the Springboard Mile a faster race than the Los Alamitos Futurity.

The fact that Giant Mischief could not sustain his move is forgivable because of where he began the race after the start. Remember, he missed the break and trailed. However, Giant Mischief might turn out to not want longer distances as the trail goes on, considering his pedigree. The dam line on the bottom half of his family does not favor longer routes.

With that said, Giant Mischief deserves to move onto another prep race, while Echo Again’s connections would do well to leave the trail with this colt.

Can the winner Wildatlanticstorm find more success on the Derby path? Like Giant Mischief, he deserves another chance to find out. But Wildatlanticstorm did get a perfect trip, and the waters become deeper soon.

The old saying of making the wedding and missing the funeral comes to mind. In other words, he won as the 15-1 long shot and betting him next time might feel like chasing to recover from missing him last time.