Practical Move will train in California until Ky. Derby week

Practical Move, Mandarin Hero and Skinner, the top three finishers in a thrilling edition of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on Saturday, all were reported to be doing well Sunday morning by their respective trainers.

Practical Move, the even-money favorite for trainer Tim Yakteen, edged Japanese import Mandarin Hero by a nose in a nail-biting finish to the 1 1/8-mile Santa Anita Derby. Both colts earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.

Yakteen said Practical Move “came out of his race in great shape” Sunday morning. It now will be on to Churchill Downs for Practical Joke colt, where he figures to be among the betting favorites for the 149th Kentucky Derby on May 6.

The Santa Anita Derby was Practical Move’s third straight graded-stakes win after previous tallies in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) and San Felipe (G2) at Santa Anita on April 8. All were with jockey Ramon Vazquez in the irons. Yakteen became the eighth trainer to win consecutive runnings of the Santa Anita Derby. Last year, he won his first with Taiba.

Yakteen said he celebrated the victory Saturday night with dinner at a Pasadena steakhouse.

“Winning one is special. Obviously winning two is even twice as nice,” Yakteen said.

The plan now is for Practical Move to complete his major training at Santa Anita before shipping to Kentucky the week of the race.

“If everything works out, we’d like to stay here and get all our foundation then go in later,” said Yakteen, who also plans to run Reincarnate in the Kentucky Derby.

Practical Move is owned by Leslie A. Amestoy, Jean Pierre Amestoy Jr. and Roger K. Beasley.

As for the immediate future of Mandarin Hero and Skinner, things are a bit more cloudy. Both are short on points to qualify for the Kentucky Derby, which is limited to 20 starters. Mandarin Hero earned 40 points for the Kentucky Derby with the runner-up finish. That currently ranks 24th on the leaderboard. Skinner earned 30 additional points to give him 45 in all, which ranks 21st.

History says there likely will be a defection or two from the top 20 between now and the first Saturday in May. Given that, Skinner’s trainer John Shirreffs and a representative from Mandarin Hero’s camp both said their colts will be trained as though they’ll run in the Kentucky Derby.

“Everyone with Mandarin Hero is still very interested in the Kentucky Derby,” said Sean Toriumi of U.S. Equine, who has served as a liaison for the Mandarin Hero camp. “If we don’t get in, we’ll look at the Preakness. We’re not sure what our schedule will be yet as far as how long he’ll stay at Santa Anita. But we had a flight booked back to Japan for Tuesday. That’s been canceled.”

Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby card attracted an on-track crowd 31,289. Total handle was $21,674,564.