3-year-olds lock up spots coast to coast

ARCADIA, Calif. — Gormley won the Grade I Santa Anita Derby on Saturday to take a 100-point step toward a probable start in the May 6 Kentucky Derby.

He wasn’t the only 3-year to lock up a spot in Louisville, Ky.

Irap (Blue Grass Stakes) and Irish War Cry (Wood Me- morial) won the day’s other key prep races, leaving next Saturday’s Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs as the final piece to the Derby qualifying puzzle.

Gormley (125) moved to second on the Road to the Derby leaderboard by win- ning the west coast’s major prep for the Kentucky Derby by one-half length.

Gormley, ridden by Victor Espinoza, ran 11/8 miles in 1:51.16 and paid $14.40 to win at 6-1 odds.

Battle of Midway was second, followed by Royal Mo (eighth-place finisher in Oaklawn Park’s Rebel Stakes) and Reach the World in fourth.

Illiad, the 3-1 favorite, finished fifth in the 13-horse field.

John Shirreffs trains Gormley and Royal Mo for owners Jerry and Ann Moss, who teamed to win the 2005 Kentucky Derby with 50-1 shot Giacomo.

He pulled away from 7-2 third choice Practical Joke in the stretch to win by three-quarters of a length, not only becoming the first to earn his maiden victory in the Blue Grass but earn 100 Kentucky Derby in the process.

McCraken, who entered the race undefeated in four starts, finished third as the 8-5 favorite.

Trainer Doug O’Neill left no doubt that Churchill Downs is Irap’s next stop and said, “That’s the plan. As long as he stays injury free, that will be our next move.”

McCraken was in midpack for most of the race the hunt and found room in the stretch, but making up so much ground proved to be too much and he faded. He won the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis on Feb. 11 before an ankle injury kept him out of the Tampa Bay Derby, but his Blue Grass workouts were strong.

“He ran his race, and it was a good third today,” jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. said.