Even-money favorite Practical Move (Practical Joke) solidified his role as California's best GI Kentucky Derby hope as he parlayed a ground-saving trip into a narrow victory in Saturday's GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby over fast-charging Japanese raider Mandarin Hero (Jpn) (Shanghai Bobby).
Seeking his third-straight victory off of clear-cut successes in both the Dec. 17 GII Los Alamitos Futurity and Mar. 4 GII San Felipe S., Practical Move was unhurried early and worked his way down to the fence and into a joint third around the first bend. He tugged his way up a wide-open rail and into second after a :46.30 half, and was quietly handled at that point by Ramon Vazquez as Skinner (Curlin) launched a sweeping move and Mandarin Hero caught the eye in behind Practical Move. Having left a sliver of daylight to his inside while cornering, Practical Move and Vazquez angled back down to the rail in upper stretch, forcing Mandarin Hero to the two path with Skinner keeping that one hemmed in slightly. Mandarin Hero kept grinding away as Practical Move called out for the line, and the former got there just in the time, stopping the clock in 1:48.69. Skinner was another half-length back in third.
San Felipe runner-up and morning line co-second choice Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) was forced to scratch due to a fever.
“I made the move a little early because I saw [Hector] Berrios [on pacesetter One In Vermillion {Army Mule}] look at me from the inside. I knew he wanted to put me inside a little bit tight, so I just moved my horse to the outside take a new position, made him relax a little bit and when I asked him the last quarter he responded really well. The other horse (Mandarin Hero) is a nice horse too and ran really well. I'm feeling amazing. When you ride a good horse like that, that's your dream always to go to the Kentucky Derby.”
While conditioner Tim Yakteen has seen a number of flashy colts enter his barn due to trainer Bob Baffert's current Kentucky Derby ban, Practical Move has been his from the start. The $230,000 OBSAPR acquisition was a well-beaten second by brilliant Baffert trainee and future MGISW Cave Rock (Arrogate) in a Del Mar sprint last August that also produced recent 'TDN Rising Star' Ultimate Gamble (Medaglia d'Oro). He was third to future stablemate National Treasure (Quality Road) next out at the end of that meet, graduated via DQ over a local mile Oct. 10, and was third in Del Mar's seven-furlong GIII Bob Hope S. Nov. 20 before putting it all together at Los Al.
Yakteen won last year's Santa Anita Derby with Taiba (Gun Runner), who was transferred back to Baffert after finishing 12th in the Kentucky Derby.
“It's a great feeling to go back-to-back in this race,” said Yakteen. “The rush you get–that's why you get in the game! You're calling wire when you're on the lead, and you're looking for more when you're closing ground.”
With the victory, Practical Move now owns 160 Kentucky Derby qualifying points and is second in the standings.
“We were a little worried that he didn't get through early enough, but he finally made it through,” Practical Move's co-owner Jean-Pierre Amestoy, Jr. said. “He opened up a little bit, but those are good horses. They came up to him in the end but he was tough enough. Got his head in front and won the race. I think we are confident. I think we will catch the distance and he's proven he's a fighter, he's a winner, so we're going to go to Kentucky with our heads high and hope to bring the trophy back to this side of the country.”
As for the runner-up, trainer Terunobu Fujita said, “We're going to the Kentucky Derby! I'm so proud of him. I thought he would not handle the early pace, but he did. I believed he would have a good acceleration in the final stretch as usual. And he did it. [Jockey] Kazushi Kimura gave a really good ride. He made him accelerate at the final stretch. I thought he was going to win. I'm just so excited right now.”
Saturday, Santa Anita
RUNHAPPY SANTA ANITA DERBY-GI, $751,500, Santa Anita, 4-8, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:48.69, ft.
1–PRACTICAL MOVE, 124, c, 3, by Practical Joke
1st Dam: Ack Naughty (MSP, $310,450), by Afleet Alex
2nd Dam: Dash for Money, by General Meeting
3rd Dam: Hot Lear, by Lear Fan
1ST GRADE I WIN. ($90,000 RNA Ylg '21 KEESEP; $230,000 2yo
'22 OBSAPR). O-Leslie A. & Pierre Jean Amestoy, Jr. and Roger
Beasley; B-Chad Brown & Head of Plains Partners (KY);
T-Tim Yakteen; J-Ramon A. Vazquez. $450,000. Lifetime
Record: 7-4-1-2, $884,200. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Mandarin Hero (Jpn), 124, c, 3, Shanghai Bobby–Namura
Nadeshiko (Jpn), by Fuji Kiseki (Jpn). 1ST BLACK TYPE,
1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-Hiroaki Arai;
B-Hirano Bokujo (JPN); T-Terunobu Fujita. $150,000.
3–Skinner, 124, c, 3, Curlin–Winding Way, by Malibu Moon.
($40,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $510,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR). O-C R K
Stable LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY);
T-John A. Shirreffs. $90,000.
Margins: NO, HF, 2 1/4. Odds: 1.00, 8.10, 3.60.
Also Ran: National Treasure, One in Vermillion, I Don't Get It, Dazzlemesilver, Low Expectations. Scratched: Geaux Rocket Ride.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
Pedigree Notes:
Practical Move, a :10 1/5 OBSAPR breezer, is one of four Northern Hemisphere graded winners for his sire (13 overall). Practical Joke had a solid OBS March sale, led by a $925,000 colt. Practical Move is one of nine worldwide graded/group winners out of a mare by GI Preakness S. and GI Belmont S. hero Afleet Alex. Also among that group is 2019 Belmont winner Sir Winston.
Dam Ack Naughty was just a $20,000 SARAUG RNA, but racked up more than $310,000 in New York turf events for Sol Kumin and partners and trainer Chad Brown, who had Practical Joke in the barn at the same time. Ack Naughty produced a Complexity colt in 2022 before selling to Chester and Mary Broman for $500,000 at this year's Keeneland January sale. The Upstart foal she was carrying at the time was unfortunately stillborn. Ack Naughty hails from the family of champion older horse Vino Rosso.
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