Dortmund dominates the Santa Anita Derby

Beware the undefeated horse. In a thoroughly dominating performance in today’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, Kaleem Shah’s Dortmund remained a picture of perfection in his final race before the 2015 Kentucky Derby.

Turning California’s most important three-year-old event into little more than a Sunday stroll, Dortmund dominated the million dollar race from start to finish. Breaking from the rail, under his regular pilot, Martin Garcia, the heavy favorite when right to the early lead as the field raced into the first turn. From there, never a stride went by when the sizable colt did not look to be in complete control of the 1 ? mile race.

Carving out solid fractions of :22.46, :46.36, and 1:10.57, Dortmund kept a small working margin over his stablemate, One Lucky Dane and longshot, Cross the Line. Garcia asked for a little bit more as the field came spinning out of the Santa Anita far turn, and if there was any doubt as to who would win this one, it was quickly eliminated.

Cruising down the stretch to the roar of the crowd, Dortmund opened up his advantage, seemingly at will, and hit the wire an easy 4 ¼ -lengths ahead of the second place finisher for his sixth victory in as many starts. One Lucky Dane held that position, clear of the third and second favorites in the race respectively, Bolo and Prospect Park.

“This is my first win in the Santa Anita Derby, said Garcia” “There are a lot of ‘firsts’ with him for me. He was really comfortable. The main thing for me today was to break well and put him in a good position. Even though he’s won all his races, he’s still learning. He can play around a bit but when someone comes to him, or I ask him to go, he becomes push-button and he just takes off.

Dortmund’s conditioner, Bob Baffert, also trained the runner-up, One Lucky Dane. It was not the first time Baffert trained horses ran 1-2 in the Santa Anita Derby, but more importantly, the victory was a record seventh in the prestigious race for the successful trainer.

A $140,000 2-year-old in training purchase of last May, Dortmund completed the nine furlongs over the fast Santa Anita main track in a solid 1:48.73. As the overwhelming favorite in the field of six, Dortmund returned $3.20 for a two dollar win bet.

With 170 Kentucky Derby qualifying points on the line, Dortmund raised his total to 170 points, which is only one behind the point leader International Star. Thanks to his second place finish, One Lucky Dane earned his first 40 points, while Bolo and Prospect Park each moved to 30 points total with their third and fourth place finishes. All three would likely qualify for the Kentucky Derby, but after today’s beatdown courtesy of Dortmund, you have to wonder if they want any more of that.

The winning rider went on to compare Dortmund with Baffert’s other big horse. “I never had the chance to ride American Pharoah except in his first time out,” said Garcia. “But American Pharoah just drags me in the morning; wherever you want to go, however far you want to go, he drags you there. Dortmund, just gallops along, but he isn’t aggressive about it. They’re different in that way but they’re both very good horses.”

Dortmund came into today’s million dollar race off a 1 ¼-length win in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 7. Before that facile victory, the chestnut son of the 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown showed true grit while twice coming out on top in two consecutive battles to the wire with his rival Firing Line. Those head victories in both the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity and the Robert B. Lewis Stakes proved Dortmund’s courage, today in the Santa Anita Derby, he demonstrated his brilliance.

Next, Dortmund will take that brilliance, every bit of his 17-plus hands, and a perfect record, to Churchill Downs, as one of the horses to beat in this year’s Run for the Roses.