Kentucky Derby Road: Feb. 1 Robert B. Lewis Stakes, Holy Bull Stakes, Withers Stakes, Swale Stakes

G3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes, 1 Mile at Santa Anita
Citizen Bull led throughout in this paid workout with splits of 23.27, 47.06 and 1:23.52 before getting home in 1:36.71 for the mile in a hand ride under Martin Garcia at 4-5 odds. Rodriguez, uncomfortable early while inside, rallied from the outside after dropping back to get second. Madaket Road was third after being well of the leaders, completing a Bob Baffert trifecta. Clock Tower and Valentines Candy rounded out the field. Owners are SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Dianne Bashor, Determined Stables, Robert E. Masterson, Tom J. Ryan, Waves Edge Capital and Catherine Donovan. Bred by Robert Low and Lawana Low (KY). Kentucky Derby points 20-10-6-4-2.

Citizen Bull was awarded a 102 Equibase figure. He got a 105 in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Winning trainer Bob Baffert: “You don’t know until their next start. He has been working really well. He is a big strong heavy horse and he handled it well. He wasn’t cranked up totally but he is such a good horse that he just caught another gear. My other horses ran really well. They are learning their styles, and they need a little more racing. We are happy and especially winning the Robert B. Lewis because he was one of my favorite clients of all time. It is so nice. The ‘Bull’ looked good coming down (the stretch). It’s funny you see him and you don’t realize that he has those gears. He won’t show you that in the morning, but he does have gears.”

Winning jockey Martin Garcia: “He was fresh. When I was warming him up, he just wanted to go and you could see that he was ready. When the gates opened it was like the ground broke underneath him. He just broke too fast. Right away he recovered and I just sat, sat, sat and he took me right away. Bob knows when the horses are ready, that’s why he is in the Hall of Fame. He knows when the horse is ready. My horse took the pressure, and he was just so mature and professional. When he made the lead (early on) he kind of pinned his ears forward and he was waiting around for company. He was just messing around; he wasn’t very focused. He had one ear forward and one ear backwards, that means you have plenty of horse left. I feel really lucky because these are hard times and me being on a superstar horse like this it means a lot to me.”

Runner-up jockey Juan Hernandez: “I just let him take the reins because the other horse broke in front of me already. I didn’t want to go and fight him. When I gave him the reins, he relaxed beautifully and responded really well around the bend. When I asked him to pick it up, he picked it up and started making his move.”

 THE NEXT DAY: Citizen Bull earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure. Trainer Baffert said Citizen Bull is doing well after his 3 3/4-length win. He was non-committal about upcoming plans. Prior to the Lewis, Baffert noted Citizen Bull is a “big, heavy colt” that should improve with racing. On Sunday, he said “we’ll just wait and see” how soon Citizen Bull makes another start. “I need to talk it over with (SF Racing's) racing manager (Tom Ryan) and we’ll make a plan,” Baffert said.


G3 Holy Bull Stakes, 1 1/16 Mile at Gulfstream Park
Burnham Square stalked the leaders and made a strong move into the stretch, as did Tappan Street, to finish one-two in the Holy Bull Stakes separated by 1 3/4 lengths. They sat off honest early fractions of 23.42 and 47.60. Tappan Street, favored at 8-5, went wide leaving the far turn and looked like he might roll to victory only to see Burnham Square outrun him to the wire at 4-1. Burning Glory third, second choice Ferocious fourth, He's Not Joking fifth. Early leaders Kinetic Control and Guns Loaded faded badly. Final time was a respectable 1:43.60. Edgard Zayas rode the winner for trainer Ian Wilkes and owner/breeder Whitham Thoroughbreds LLC (KY). Kentucky Derby points 20-10-6-4-2.

In his first start of 2025, Burnham Square topped his Equibase figures from last year with a 95. In 2024 he ascended with each start from 78 to 86 to 92 and continued the trend in the Holy Bull. Burnham Square got a 90 Beyer. Tappan Street was given a 92 Equibase fig in this, his second career start.

 Winning trainer Ian Wilkes: “The key is the blinkers. I had to put the blinkers on because he wasn’t helping me at all. I had to help him. He wouldn’t help the jockey. He wouldn’t start running in the race. He’d run away from horses, wouldn’t run into the dirt. He did everything wrong. This horse doesn’t get tired, and that’s an asset you saw today. He overcame a lot of adversity today and still won. (The Fountain of Youth is) a strong possibility. First, I’m going to enjoy the night. I’ll talk to Mrs. Whitham and [her son and racing manager] Clay after this.”

Winning jockey Edgard Zayas: "Last time he broke a little sharp, so I really thought he’d break a little sharp and be close to the pace, but I feel like he was a little worked up before the race, a little nervous, so he broke out of there a little slow and I had to go to Plan B. I dropped to the rail and let him do his thing. He’s a horse that doesn’t get tired, has a really good stride, steady. Once I was closing in on the quarter pole, I knew I had a really good shot of winning.”

Runner-up trainer Brad Cox: “I thought he ran really big/. He was wide throughout. Young horse, still learning, second start of his life. He’s going to really move forward off this, I believe.”

Assistant trainer Gustavo Delgado Jr., Ferocious: “He seemed more focused (with the blinkers), right on the bridle from the beginning the whole time. He was going good until the quarter pole and then he got a little tired. You have to start running. This horse seemed to be fit, and you have to carry on and keep going. We were expecting to be a little closer. We’ll regroup and look forward.”

Javier Castello, aboard Ferocious, who was first-time blinkers: “I had a great trip. I liked the way he settled behind horses on the first turn. I saved all the ground, and on the backside I gave him a little break. I stepped up outside and let him keep track of those pacemaker horses and he traveled good. He hadn’t run since the Breeders’ Cup and we tried to put a couple works together to make him fit for this race, but it seemed to me like he got tired a little bit.”


Withers Stakes, 1 1/8 Mile at Aqueduct
Captain Cook bided his time behind early leaders Uncle Jim and Mo Quality and moderate fractions before bounding to the lead and winning by 2 1/4 lengths as the 7-5 favorite. Second was 33-1 longshot Surfside Moon, followed by a tardy Omaha Ohama after that one broke very slowly. Mo Quality and Uncle Jim faded to fourth and fifth. The winning time was 1:51.83 for the nine furlongs. Winning connections are jockey Manny Franco, trainer Rick Dutrow, owner St Elias Stable, breeder Marylou Whitney Stables LLC (KY). Kentucky Derby points 20-10-6-4-2.

Captain Cook earned a 97 Equibase after getting an 81 and a 90 in his first two starts.

Winning trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr.: “It feels good that we can head him towards another big race for his next start. I love that. I’m not thinking about the Derby right now, but he did get the job done the right way and he went three-wide around both turns here, didn’t break so sharp. First time around two turns, mile and an eighth – he ran big. Since we’ve seen him run the first time, we began to get more confidence and got to know him better – I got to see him come out of a race, stuff like that, and it’s all been good since he’s run. I hope that continues on.

“When he switched his leads, he kind of took off again. It was a tough race for him, he goes from seven-eighths to a mile and an eighth, only his third start. He didn’t break good.... You see we have a very relaxed horse – he doesn’t need the lead, anybody could see that from his first start with us and today. We’re very excited about running him back in the Wood, and I think that’s the next reasonable spot – a mile and an eighth, plenty of time, which he likes."

Winning jockey Manny Franco: "It was his first time two turns, and I was a little bit worried about that, but at the same time confident because I've been working him in the mornings, and I got to know him well. I knew he had stamina, but you never know. He proved he's a runner. He can do anything you want. He can stalk. He can be on the pace. He's a versatile horse."

James Lawrence II, trainer of runner-up Surfside Moon: "We gave him a layoff for 30 days and brought him back. He had three real nice works and his last work; he couldn't blow out a match. I expected him to run well. I really like this horse and hopefully we can map out a good plan for him. We'll look at (the Wood Memorial) and the Virginia Derby."

Runner-up jockey Sahin Civaci: "I sat off the speed in mid-pack and I was happy with my position. The horse relaxed really well and came with a good run. The winner just had more horse than I did. I was very impressed with my horse."

THE NEXT DAY: Trainer Dutrow said, “I don’t care about Beyers (he got a 94). He’s a very relaxed horse, and we’re very lucky to have him. He’s a pleasant surprise. He was running against better horses and when he broke his maiden with us, he liked the track well enough, but we don’t really know if he beat anything that day. Facing these guys yesterday, there were horses that had the credentials to run big. Our horse just ran a big race, man.

“He didn’t break so well, and Manny said that he could have went to the lead with him any time he wanted to/ He said he knew the horses that were in front of him were the two main players, but he said, ‘Rick, I had them any time. I could have passed them at the five-eighths pole if I wanted to.’ But there wasn’t any reason to – they had their thing, and they were battling, and he [Captain Cook] was just sitting outside as comfortable as a horse could be.

“We’re lucky that he is the way he is in a race,” Dutrow, Jr. added of the colt’s relaxed nature. “He doesn’t have a lot of size to him, and he’s going to need to conserve everything he’s got, but man, he does that. When Manny hopped off of that horse, he said, ‘Rick, I’m starting to dream.’ He’s got a big step forward next time when we run him back in the Wood, but he’s got plenty of time and we love that – so does he. He’ll be running back over a track he’s won two races over, and it seems like he’s all lined up to run big again, as long as he stays the way he is now.”

Dutrow also trains McAfee, who had his first work in almost one month when covering a half-mile in 52 seconds flat Feb. 1 over the Belmont dirt training track in a move that was met with rave reviews by exercise rider Emily Ellingwood, who frequently exercised multiple Grade 1-winner White Abarrio during his tenure with Dutrow, Jr.

“Oh, we’re excited about that guy,” Dutrow, Jr. said. “He’s doing great. After Emily would breeze White Abarrio for us in California, I could see her molars because she was smiling so much – that’s what happened yesterday when she breezed McAfee. She just loved the feeling the horse gave her.”

Dutrow, Jr. did not commit to a firm plan in the coming weeks for McAfee, but did say the colt could also be on his way to lucrative stakes like the Wood Memorial should he continue to train and race as expected.

“We have a hopeful plan that if he stays the way he is, it could set him up for the Wood and we could have two horses – two live horses – for that race,” Dutrow, Jr. said. “That’s never happened to me before, and I like to dream, too.”

Swale Stakes, 7 Furlongs at Gulfstream Park
There are no Kentucky Derby points for this one, but sometimes the best runners will hit the Trail. Gate to Wire went off at 13-1 for trainer Todd Pletcher and was much the best in the Swale. He did not go gate to wire, instead followed blazing fractions (21.93, 43.92) set by early battlers Grayscale, Gunmetal and Macho Music, was in striking distance rounding the turn and drew off in the lane to hit the finish line in 1:22.51. Gunmetal hung on for second, Macho Music third and Fire Pit fourth. Grayscale was done in the turn. Donut God was scratched. In addition to Pletcher, winning connections are jockey Dylan Davis, owner Donegal Racing, breeder Moyglare Stud Farm Ltd (KY).

In this, his second start of the year, Gate to Wire was given a 98 Equibase figure. His next-best in five starts was an 87 when 10th in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint. He got a 93 Beyer.

Winning trainer Todd Pletcher: “He won his debut on the grass, and we thought at that point he was training a little better on the grass. He was second in the Futurity and then we ran him in the Breeders’ Cup. Looking to get a race into him here, and five furlongs was just too short. Actually, the original plan was to run him back on relatively short rest in an allowance race and that didn’t fill, so we figured let’s take a shot while he’s doing good. It seems like these Munnings run on anything. I’ll talk to [Donegal Racing’s] Jerry [Crawford] and come up with a game plan. I liked the way he finished today. Who knows, maybe he’ll stretch out a little bit.”

Winning rider Dylan Davis after his first time on Gate to Wire: “There was a lot of speed in the race. Todd said try to keep his face clean but I broke as aggressive as I could. I was able to get in a great tracking spot with the three speed pressing each other. It was a matter of my horse handling the dirt and fighting for me. He never had kickback in his face, he handled it well.He was traveling really good. I wanted to sit behind just a little bit longer, but he felt so strong I just said I have to turn him out and get to work on him. He was determined to win. He ran a great race.”