Kentucky Derby watch: Canaletto debut + Holy Bull, Southwest

This is the eighth installment of a weekly feature on Horse Racing Nation that tracks Kentucky Derby horses all the way through the first Saturday of May at Churchill Downs.

January 25 might be a bit late to unveil a serious Kentucky Derby contender, but Justify proved it can be done with an even later debut eight years ago.

From the same connections who campaigned the recently retired Sierra Leone comes a strapping son of Into Mischief named Canaletto, and this colt can run.

A handsome half-brother to the Grade 1 winner Sandman, the $1 million yearling purchase was sent off as the 7-5 favorite in a Sunday afternoon maiden race at Gulfstream Park. Another well-liked first-time starter, Spartacus, also was in the field. 

Showing good early speed from his outside post, Canaletto was involved from the start in the one-mile affair and was challenged through solid early fractions.

Taking over coming out of the far turn, the athletic bay showed greenness down the lane but romped home to an eight-length victory under rider Flavien Prat.

Trained by Chad Brown, Canaletto finished the flat mile in a good time of 1:36.28. The debut victory was impressive enough to immediately begin thinking about the run for the roses, and the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby on March 7  could be the next step.

Gulfstream Park also will host one of three Kentucky Derby qualifying points races on Saturday. The Holy Bull (G3) drew a field of nine but is likely to be scratched down to seven. Three promising colts should receive most of the betting attention in the 1 1/16-mile affair. 

An impressive winner of two straight over the Gulfstream main track, Nearly could go favored. The Todd Pletcher-trained son of Not This Time has yet to run past seven furlongs but is bred to handle the increase in distance. 

Off a big maiden win last fall at Churchill Downs, Cannoneer also should garner plenty of support Saturday. Trained by Brad Cox, the well-bred son of Into Mischief also has yet to run beyond seven panels. 

The lone graded-stakes winner of the field comes from Riley Mott's barn. After a promising debut, Incredibolt strung together two nice wins in a row at Churchill Downs, including the 8 1/2-furlong Street Sense Stakes (G3) three months ago. 

The unbeaten New York-bred Bravaro, who was a recent workmate for the Pegasus World Cup (G1) hero Skippylongstocking, could be the sleeper in the Holy Bull field for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. 

With a $1 million purse, it’s no real surprise that Oaklawn’s Southwest Stakes (G3) drew a large field of Kentucky Derby hopefuls. Graded-stakes winners Litmus Test and Strategic Risk will headline an intriguing field of 14 entered in the 8 1/2-furlong feature.

Litmus Test, one of two entered by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, ran a bang-up race in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and finished a good fourth behind the champion Ted Noffey. Beaten less than two lengths that afternoon, the son of Nyquist came back to win the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) in his most recent start. 

The Mark Casse-trained Strategic Risk will look to make it three wins in a row after romping home in stakes tallies at Gulfstream and Oaklawn since stretching out to two turns on the dirt. The Noble Bird colt has won three of six overall.

Although he has made only one career start, D’code is another interesting prospect in the Southwest. The Speightstown colt toyed with his opposition last month at Oaklawn in a six-furlong maiden race and has worked well since over the track. 

Most recently third in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) last fall at Churchill Downs, Soldier N Diplomat could be another colt to watch in the big field. Trained by Steve Asmussen, the son of Army Mule has good tactical speed but will need to work out a good trip under Jose Ortiz, breaking from the 13 hole.

The third Kentucky Derby trail race on Saturday is the Withers Stakes at Aqueduct and will be drawn Tuesday. The Kentucky Derby points race affords an early opportunity at nine furlongs and likely will be topped by Chad Brown’s promising Ottinho. The Quality Road colt broke his maiden locally at the distance on New Year’s Eve. 

Finally, it was Six Speed taking the field gate to wire Friday to easily win the one-mile UAE Guineas (G3) at Meydan. It was the third straight win in Dubai for the Kentucky-bred son of Not This Time. He earned 20 qualifying points with the victory, which sets him up well for a run in the rich UAE Derby (G2) on the Dubai World Cup undercard in late March.