Horse racing heats up following the $3 million Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying races for 3-year-olds and significant graded stakes races.
That includes this weekend, on Saturday, Jan. 30.
- $200,00 Holy Bull (Grade 3): Gulfstream Park – 1 1/16 miles
- $100,000 Robert B. Lewis (Grade 3): Santa Anita Park – 1 1/16 miles
Both races offer Kentucky Derby qualifying points for the top four finishers (10-4-2-1).
The nine-horse field scheduled for the Holy Bull Stakes in Race 11 appears to lack true star power. That could set up a wild card to emerge if they can get by projected favorite Prime Factor. He won his 6-furlong debut last month by nearly 9 lengths in a sparkling performance, his only race thus far. Prime Factor is trained by Todd Pletcher and was a $900,000 purchase. The Holy Bull is televised on TVG and has a scheduled post time of 4:50 p.m. EST.
Last year, Tiz the Law won the Holy Bull and followed with three more wins, including victories in the Belmont Stakes and Travers. Tiz the Law went on to finish second in the rescheduled 2020 Kentucky Derby.
The Robert B. Lewis at Santa Anita drew a field of eight, and Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert has the two bookends and prohibitive favorite. Medina Spirit finished a close second to the heavy favorite in the Sham Stakes earlier this month. That earned him four Kentucky Derby qualifying points, and a similar effort will send him to the winner’s circle and add 10 more Derby points to his ledger.
Stablemate Spielberg has two wins and two runner-up finishes in six starts. He won his last race in the Los Alamitos Futurity (Grade 2) by a nose over The Great One, the namesake of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. Last year, Bob Baffert-trained Thousand Words won both the Los Alamitos Futurity and Robert B. Lewis Stakes. The Robert B. Lewis is Race 7 with post time at 6:30 p.m. EST.
