Santa Anita news: Kentucky Derby preps set for Instagrand, Galilean

Jerry Hollendorfer has firmed up 2019 Kentucky Derby prep plans for his two Triple Crown candidates, Instagrand and Galilean, he said Thursday.

Instagrand will stay home for the Santa Anita Derby (G1) on April 6, and the California-bred Galilean heads back to Oaklawn Park for the Arkansas Derby (G1) a week later on April 13.

Instagrand was third in the Gotham Stakes (G1) at Aqueduct after a layoff and will make his two-turn debut next out, while Galilean was third in the first division of the Rebel Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn on March 16.

Flavien Prat will ride both 3-year-olds, Hollendorfer said.

EXUBERANCE SEEKS FIRST STAKES WIN IN GRADE I BEHOLDER

Exuberance, who finished fourth in two prior Grade 1 races, seeks her first stakes win in Saturday’s Beholder Mile (G1), in which she landed post four in a field of seven fillies and mares age 3 and older.

“We’ve got a great draw and I believe she’s doing as well as she was before her last race, but you don’t know until they go,” said Ian Kruljac, who trains the hard-hitting daughter of Archarcharch for Seltzer Thoroughbreds. “She’s doing great.”

With several of Santa Anita’s top jockeys fulfilling out of town obligations, and with her previous rider, Tyler Baze, opting for Selcourt in the Beholder, Kruljac has engaged Hall of Fame member and Triple Crown winner Victor Espinoza to pilot Exuberance, who won her last start by a widening six lengths despite bobbling at the start from the number one post position.

The Beholder, race nine of 10 with a 1 p.m. first post time: Secret Spice, Geovanni Franco, 6-1; Selcourt, Tyler Baze, 5-1; Paradise Woods, Evin Roman, 6-1; Exuberance, Victor Espinoza, 15-1; Marley’s Freedom, Drayden Van Dyke, 4-5; Just a Smidge, Asa Espinoza, 10-1; and Mopotism, Mario Gutierrez, 6-1.

KILROE MILE PART OF FULL DAY FOR D’AMATO

With eight horses entered Saturday at Santa Anita, Phil D’Amato will be one of the busiest trainers on the grounds, if not the busiest, but his focus will be on the Frank E. Kilroe Mile (G1) on turf and the San Carlos Stakes (G2) at seven furlongs on the main track.

D’Amato sends out Hunt in the Kilroe and Touching Rainbows in the San Carlos.

Hunt, a 7-year-old Irish-bred gelding owned by Michael House, is coming off a seventh-place finish going about 6 ½ furlongs on Santa Anita’s downhill turf course Jan. 27, but stretching out to a mile is well within his wheelhouse, as he won the Shoemaker Mile (G1) on grass last May.

“We would have liked to seen more out of him from his last race, but the course was so fast that day the horses running one-two-three from the gate stayed that way all the way to the finish,” D’Amato said. “Nobody really made up ground.

“But if anything, that race put a little air into him and I think the mile is his best distance. We’re looking to see the old Hunt reappear.”

Touching Rainbows, a 6-year-old California-bred gelding that won California Cup Sprint on Jan. 26, faces open company in the San Carlos.

“He’s been sitting on go for a while,” D’Amato said of the son of the Irish-bred stallion Aragorn. “We’ve been pointing for this race. He was ready three weeks ago and hopefully he’ll be ready Saturday.”

As to having eight entered Saturday, D’Amato said, “We’ve been sitting on these horses for a while, like everyone else, and we’re just excited to get them running.”

The Kilroe Mile, race five: Hunt, Brice Blanc, 8-1; Ohio, Ruben Fuentes, 6-1; Desert Stone, Geovanni Franco, 8-1; Catapult, Drayden Van Dyke, 8-5; Next Shares, Kent Desormeaux, 3-1; and River Boyne, Rafael Bejarano, 5-2.

SAN CARLOS RAIL SHOULDN’T BOTHER KANTHAKA

Even though Kanthaka has won going seven furlongs from the rail before, capturing the San Vicente Stakes (G2) last February, if Jerry Hollendorfer had his druthers, he’d prefer not to be in post position one for Saturday’s San Carlos.

But if there’s one thing the Hall of Fame trainer has coped with in his storied career is how to roll with the punches, and in a game short on ups and long on downs, he looks at the glass as half full for Kanthaka, who is owned by West Point Thoroughbreds.

“Ideally, I don’t think trainers like to draw inside, but I don’t think it will hurt this horse,” Hollendorfer said of the 4-year-old son of Jimmy Creed, who is three for four at the distance, all at Santa Anita.