Anothertwistafate 'showed he belonged' in Kentucky Derby

Anothertwistafate’s narrow runner-up finish to Cutting Humor in the Sunland Derby (G3) left connections with at least three paths moving forward. Trainer Blaine Wright said Monday morning that each of those would ideally lead to a start in a Triple Crown series race after the son of Scat Daddy “showed he belonged” at Sunland Park.

1. It’s possible Anothertwistafate’s 30 qualifying points toward the 2019 Kentucky Derby, good for 12th on the current leaderboard, are already enough.

2. If not, Wright is leaving open the option to run back in either Oaklawn Park’s Arkansas Derby (G1) or Keeneland’s Lexington Stakes (G3) both run April 13.

3. Another possible course would keep the son of Scat Daddy at his Golden Gate Fields base for the April 27 California Derby as a prep for the Preakness Stakes. Anothertwistafate earned a fees-paid trip to Pimlico already by way of his El Camino Real Derby victory last month.

For now, however, “The goal is to get to the Derby,” Wright said. “He answered a lot of questions that we were wondering about. Outside of just not getting the big money, I couldn’t have been more pleased with yesterday’s effort.”

Anothertwistafate entered the Sunland Derby 3-for-4 in his career, with each of those wins consecutively over synthetic surfaces. But he ran as connections hoped in a switch back to dirt.

The colt positioned between horses onto the back stretch, got caught inside when winning jockey John Velazquez made his move aboard Cutting Humor, then re-rallied in the stretch to finish a neck back of his rival.

“I don’t think their horse beat us on the wire,” Wright said. I think their horse beat us when John made his move and kept us in the pocket. Outside of getting his stride broken at the five-sixteenths pole for two, three, four strides, that’s a big difference in the race.

“However, I always knew the horse could rate. We saw him rate, we saw him run at horses, we saw his momentum stopped, and we saw him belly down and go after another horse.”

Peter Redekop’s Anothertwistafate will return to Wright’s base at Golden Gate Fields while connections decide on their course to the first Saturday in May. Ideally, Wright said, he won’t race again before the Kentucky Derby — but may have to.

“I couldn’t be happier this morning to tell you the truth,” the trainer added. “I walked him myself. He pulled me around the barn. He jogged out clean. Good eye, and that’s the main thing right there.

“The rest — it’ll all work itself out somehow.”