MARCIE HEACOX 2006 TRIPLE CROWN NOTEBOOK

Brother Derek wins Santa Anita Derby as Projected     

April 8, 2006

Santa Anita Park - Arcadia, CA

by Marcie Heacox

Brother Derek retained his perfect two-turn record at Santa Anita with a win in Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby (gr. I).

After the defection of sprinter Fast Parade, Brother Derek

Brother Derek wins The Santa Anita Derby

©2006 Marcie Heacox

had only to contend with himself for the lead. His post-time odds of 1-2 showed it. At the start Sacred Light stumbled badly, his nose to the ground, leaving one less horse for him to worry about. He then outran A.P. Warrior to the first turn, and led through a quarter in 23 3/5 in a relaxed gallop.

Brother Derek spurted to a lead of four lengths on the backstretch for a breather on the final turn. A.P. Warrior became a victim of chasing the leader’s time of a half in 47 2/5 and six furlongs 1:11 1/5, and came under a ride from jockey Corey Nakatani on the final turn. Second-choice Point Determined gathered second place from him in the stretch after a third-place stalking trip. Sacred Light managed to hold onto fourth place ahead of longshot Wildfang, who received $15,000 for finishing last. Brother Derek won by 3 1/4 lengths in a time of 1:48 flat, running the final 3/8 in 36 4/5 seconds. Jockey Alex Solis began pulling him up before the finish line to stand up and pump his fist in celebration. Brother Derek was only whipped once.

“This horse is a monster. Just incredible. He keeps impressing me more and more each race he runs. We’ve just got to keep him together,” said Solis.

The bay son of Benchmark out of Miss Soft Sell went over the $1 million mark in earnings for his owner, Cecil Peacock, a Calgary oilman. Brother Derek is the most successful horse ever trained by Dan Hendricks, and will become the first Triple Crown starter he will saddle. This marks a remarkable comeback from paralysis in a motocross accident for the former assistant of Richard Mandella. Hendricks was beaming ear to ear after his colt’s big win.

Asked if he could rate off the pace in the Kentucky Derby, Hendricks said, “I think he can sit off the pace. We’ll just have to see. The Derby is what the Derby is, 20 horses, it’s THE horse race and we’re heading there and we’re going to have fun with it.”

While returning to the Santa Anita winners’ circle, the crowd’s cheers got progressively louder the closer Brother Derek came. Solis stopped him past the winners’ circle and stroked his neck while letting him take in the crowd of 54,189's  fond salute. You can bet there will be many of those same people screaming for him in their living room come the first Saturday in May.

In Other Triple Crown News:

Wood Memorial

Aqueduct - Ozone Park, NY

Southern California-shipper Bob And John fulfilled trainer Bob Baffert’s prediction that the bay colt would enjoy a larger track and slower early pace. He won the Wood Memorial (gr. I) after disposing of a tough early pacesetter in Keyed Entry in late stretch. Jazil closed a huge gap to just get up for second over Keyed Entry and finish just 1 ½ lengths behind the winner on the sloppy track. The 1 1/8 mile race was completed in 1:51:54. Bob and John is owned by Stonerside Stable and ridden by Garrett Gomez, who has committed to ride him in the Kentucky Derby. The top three finishers are all aimed at the Kentucky Derby on May 6^th.

Illinois Derby

Hawthorne Race Course - Cicero, IL

Sweetnorthernsaint tasted sweet victory in winning the Illinois Derby (gr. I) by a widening 9 1/4 lengths. Southern California-shipper Mister Triester finished second. Second choice Cause To Believe finished a well-beaten third after shipping from Northern California. 1 1/8 miles were completed in 1:49:82. The winner is ridden by Kent Desormeaux, trained by Michael Trombetta, and owned by Joseph Balsamo and Ted Theos. The dark bay/brown gelding out of Sweetsouthernsaint is pointed towards the Kentucky Derby next month.