Kentucky Derby futures favorite Barnes leads San Felipe

Barnes, the shortest-priced horse in both Las Vegas futures and the most recent Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool, leads a field of six entered in the Grade 2, $300,000 San Felipe on Saturday at Santa Anita.

Despite all the interest in the futures books, Barnes vies for Kentucky Derby points for the first time ever in the San Felipe. The Bob Baffert trainee will also try two turns for the first time in the race. He won a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight on debut and then won the San Vicente (G2) at a distance of seven furlongs.

Including Barnes, three of the six entrants hail from the barn of Bob Baffert. Rodriguez, entered for his fourth career start, most recently finished second behind Citizen Bull in the Robert B. Lewis (G3) on Feb. 1. Mellencamp, entered for his fifth career start, is still a maiden. He ran fifth and last in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) last year, and most recently finished second behind highly-regarded stablemate Baeza in a maiden special weight Feb. 14 at Santa Anita.

The only horse in the field who is a graded-stakes winner at two turns is is Journalism, trained by Michael McCarthy. He makes his 3-year-old debut in the San Felipe. In his most recent start on Dec. 14 he won the Los Alamitos Futurity, beating a field that not only included Mellencamp but also Getaway Car and Gaming from the Baffert barn.

Smooth Cruisein and Berlin Wall complete the field. Smooth Cruisein, who makes his third career start, was most recently fourth behind Barnes in the San Vicente. Berlin Wall won by disqualification in a California-bred maiden special weight Feb. 1, and faces both winners and open company for the first time in the San Felipe.

Under the base allotment San Felipe offers 50-25-15-10-5 points to its top five finishers. However, under new rules reducing points for Kentucky Derby prep races with fields smaller than six horses, any scratch from the race will lower that value. Points are only worth three quarters of the base value if there is a field of five, so one scratch would mean the finishers receive 37 1/2, 18 3/4, 11 1/4, 7 1/2 and 3 3/4 points. A field of four or fewer offers only half points, meaning 25, 12 1/2, 10 and five points would be available.