Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Bolt d’Oro, McKinzie work toward Santa Anita Derby
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bolt d’Oro and McKinzie, the nation’s two leading 3-year-olds, cannot seem to get away from each other.
McKinzie finished a head in front of Bolt d’Oro in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita on March 10, but was disqualified and placed second for bumping his rival in deep stretch.
Monday, Bolt d’Oro and McKinzie were on the track at Santa Anita at the same time for workouts in preparation for their next meeting in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 7. The $1 million Santa Anita Derby is run at 1 1/8 miles and is a key prep for the Triple Crown.
McKinzie worked five furlongs in 59.40 in company with a stablemate. Bolt d’Oro worked a half-mile in 47 seconds in company with stablemate Midnight Harbour, who was timed in 48.20 seconds.
Monday’s workout was the second for McKinzie since the San Felipe. He worked a half-mile in 47.80 seconds on March 20.
McKinzie, trained by Bob Baffert, was second in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity in December in his stakes debut, but was promoted to first when stablemate Solomini was disqualified and placed third for causing interference in the stretch. McKinzie won his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes at a mile at Santa Anita on Jan. 6.
Bolt d’Oro, who races for trainer Mick Ruis and his wife, Wendy, worked for the first time since the San Felipe on Monday. The San Felipe was Bolt d’Oro’s first start since a third-place finish as the 3-5 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar last November. Bolt d’Oro won two Grade 1 races in California last September.
In a text message, Ruis said Bolt d’Oro’s workout was “very nice” with a “super gallop-out.”
“We’re right on schedule for the Santa Anita Derby,” he said.
Also Monday, Accelerate, the winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 10, worked a half-mile in 48.80 seconds. Trained by John Sadler, Accelerate is expected to start in the Grade 1 Oaklawn Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 14.
Sadler timed Accelerate in 49 seconds.
“He looks very bright,” Sadler said.
Kenjisstorm back in after fire
Kenjisstorm chased home two winners trained by Phil D’Amato in graded stakes at Santa Anita and Del Mar last summer. Shortly after a fourthplace finish in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes last July, Kenjisstorm was turned out.
When Kenjisstorm resumed training last fall, he was transferred from Richard Baltas to D’Amato.
Kenjisstorm will have his first start for D’Amato in an allowance race with a $75,000 claiming option at a mile on turf Thursday at Santa Anita. For a horse unraced since July, Kenjisstorm had an eventful rest period.
D’Amato said last weekend that Kenjisstorm was one of his horses based at the San Luis Rey Downs training center in Bonsall, Calif., when a devastating wildfire struck the property on Dec. 7. Some of the barns were destroyed, resulting in the loss of 46 horses.
Kenjisstorm was briefly loose on the property and was later found on an adjacent farm, D’Amato said.
“We found him across the street,” D’Amato said. “He was all right. We gave him extra time, like all the horses.”
Owned by a partnership that includes Head of Plains Partners and KM Racing Enterprise, Kenjisstorm has won 4 of 28 starts. D’Amato is the 6-yearold’s seventh trainer.
Kenjisstorm won an optional claimer at 1 1/8 miles on turf here last May before finishing sixth to Pee Wee Reese in the Grade 2 American Stakes here July 4 and behind Hunt in the Eddie Read.
“He’s trained well,” D’Amato said. “He hasn’t missed a beat. I’ve never run him before. That’s an X factor. He’s a goodfeeling kind of horse.”
D’Amato has two of the eight runners in Thursday’s optional claimer. The race will be the first start for Isotherm since a last-place finish of seven in the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf Feb. 3.
D’Amato is hopeful the shorter distance Thursday will work in favor of Isotherm, who raced near the front in the last half-mile before fading in the stretch in the San Marcos.
“I think he was taken out of his element in that race,” D’Amato said. “He shot to the front and faded. I adjusted tactics and gave him a break.
“I’ll see if he likes a mile. He trains like a miler. I want to see how he does at the distance.”
The optional claimer is a massive drop in class for Free Rose, who won the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby in 2016 but is winless in his last six starts, all Grade 1 or Grade 2 races. Free Rose was last of eight in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on March 10, his third start since undergoing colic surgery last summer.
“I want to get him back in the winner’s circle,” Baltas said. “Ever since he had colic surgery, it doesn’t seem like he has the fire. In fairness to the horse, I’ve had him in tough spots.”