Kentucky Derby prep: Getaway Car wins by a nose at Sunland

Getaway Car led for most of the race but went back and forth with Caldera in the homestretch before getting the bob at the finish Sunday to win the listed, $400,000 Sunland Derby, a 1 1/16-mile points prep for Kentucky Derby 2025.

Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Juan Hernández, the $700,000 Curlin colt owned by the SF Racing partnership set the pace through early fractions of 23.31 and 46.93 seconds. Getaway Car (6-5), the post-time favorite in the field of eight, was met in the second turn by Caldera (4-1), a D. Wayne Lukas-trained colt ridden by Rafael Bejarano.

Click here for Sunland Park entries and results.

After they clicked through three-quarters of a mile in 1:10.99, Caldera took the lead moving just outside Getaway Car. But neither horse relented as they got a mile in 1:36.23. Getaway Car dug in, and after the two colts took turns getting their heads in front of one another, he prevailed by a nose in the win photo with a time of 1:42.64 on the fast main track.

Touchy (2-1) finished third, Take Charge Tom (10-1) fourth and Itsmybirthday (24-1) fifth. The top five finishers earned 20-10-6-4-2 points toward qualifying for the Kentucky Derby on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

Getaway Car returned $4.40, $3.00 and $2.20; Caldera $4.00 and $2.60; and Touchy $2.40.

The win was the first for Getaway Car since he began his career during the Del Mar summer with victories on debut and in the six-furlong Best Pal (G3). He then finished fourth in the Del Mar Futurity (G1), second in the American Pharoah (G1), fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and second in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) to finish his 2-year-old campaign.