Santa Anita Derby

Dinard rallied in the stretch to win the $500,000 Santa Anita Derby by a half-length over Best Pal in Arcadia, Calif., yesterday and establish himself as a leading contender for next month's Kentucky Derby. Ridden by Chris McCarron, who earned his first Santa Anita Derby victory, Dinard covered 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1 minute, 48 seconds, and, as the second betting choice of the crowd of 46,000, paid $6.40, $3.40 and $2.60. The victory was the fourth in five career starts for Dinard, a son of Strawberry Road, and was worth $275,000, raising the gelding's career earnings to $452,750.

Mister Frisky took the lead in the middle of the turn for home and won the Santa Anita Derby going away yesterday, tying the fabled Citation for the longest modern winning streak in North America. The victory was the 16th for the unbeaten Mister Frisky, trained by Laz Barrera and campaigned in Puerto Rico during his 2-year-old season. Mister Frisky went off the 3-5 favorite and became the first unbeaten 3-year-old since Majestic Prince in 1969 to win the Santa Anita Derby. "He's a little machine," Barrera had said of the horse, which will probably take Barrera to his first Kentucky Derby since 1983 with a real chance to win. Video Ranger, who went off a 35-1 shot, rallied for second, 4 1/2 lengths behind Mister Frisky.

Dinard, the winner of the Santa Anita Derby and one of the top contenders for the Kentucky Derby, will miss the May 4 race because of a ligament injury. "He has a torn suspensory in back of the left front knee," Alex Hassinger, an assistant to Dinard's trainer Dick Lundy, said yesterday. Hassinger was unsure when the gelding suffered the injury and did not know how long the 3-year-old would be sidelined. "It's hard to determine when he might have sustained the injury," Hassinger said.

Personal Hope, ridden by Gary Stevens, won the Santa Anita Derby in Arcadia, Calif., Saturday by less than a length over the filly champion, Eliza. The win makes Personal Hope one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby May 1. Eliza, with Patrick Valenzuela on board, led going into the home stretch, but faded and place third. Union City, trained by D. Wayne Lukas and ridden by Chris McCarron, finished second. In other Derby preps Saturday, Marked Tree took the lead in the late stretch and held off Brother Brown to win the $300,000 Remington Park Derby by a head and As Indicated kept his Derby hopes alive by winning the $200,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.

Personal Hope lost the lead to the filly Eliza going into the final turn, took it back coming out of the turn and ran to victory in the Santa Anita Derby yesterday. The victory sends Personal Hope, ridden by Gary Stevens, to Louisville as one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby on May 1. It also sends him to Kentucky under a cloud. The last two winners of the Santa Anita Derby, Dinard and A.P. Indy, arrived at Churchill Downs only to sustain injuries that kept them out of the Run for the Roses.

This year's Kentucky Derby winner will come out of today's Santa Anita Derby. At least that's all one hears on the backside at Santa Anita Park. This is the race. The talent in the $500,000, 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds is so rich that some of California's top colts have skipped town looking for softer spots. Irgun flew to Aqueduct, where he won the Gotham Stakes and will run next week in New York's biggest Derby prep, the Wood Memorial. Powis Castle went to Turfway Park in Kentucky, where he was second by a neck in the $600,000 Jim Beam Stakes, the richest prep of them all. Argolid traveled to New Orleans and placed third in the Louisiana Derby.

Bob Baffert's Arkansas Shuttle keeps rolling, likely carrying a couple of his 3-year-old colts to the Kentucky Derby in less than seven weeks. The Hall of Fame trainer had another successful weekend at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., with Secret Circle winning the $500,000 Rebel Stakes by three-quarters of a length over fast-closing Optimizer on Saturday. The bay colt will return to California this week but is scheduled to be shuttled back for the $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 7 and shoot for an Oaklawn sweep.

The first "Super Saturday" of races leading up to the 113th Kentucky Derby was supposed to clear up many of the questions about this year's crop of 3-year-olds. Today, less than four weeks before the May 2 Run for the Roses, the situation is as clear as the slop that splattered the face of juvenile champion Capote as he struggled through Aqueduct Racetrack's stretch. Four favorites went down to defeat in Saturday's races - Masterful Advocate in the Santa Anita Derby, Bet Twice in the Florida Derby, Capote in the Gotham Stakes and High Brite in Garden State Park's Cherry Hill Mile.

Strike Accelerator, the Wood Memorial runner-up. Strike George Steinbrenner's Acceptable. Strike Anet and Ordway. Also strike Smokin Mel, Stolen Gold and Traitor. And strike dynamic trainer D. Wayne Lukas. (Well, maybe.) As of yesterday, the names of only 11 horses, none trained by Lukas, were in the bottle for Wednesday's post-position draw for the 123d Kentucky Derby. That would make the field for Saturday's Derby the smallest since Spectacular Bid beat nine opponents in 1979.

Download our bettors' guide and in-depth look at the Kentucky Derby here : LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The best way to understand a race is to envision how it will be run. I have decided that Goldencents is fast enough to clear Saturday's Kentucky Derby field in the first few hundred yards, set moderate fractions and be in front from start to finish. Whenever you can find a quality horse that possesses an attribute that is different from the other logical contenders, you have a live play.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When the Kentucky Derby was first run in 1875, black jockeys were dominating the sport, as they had done since horses first started racing in fields all over America before and after the Revolution. In that first Derby, 13 of the 15 horses were ridden by African-American jockeys. Exactly 15 of the first 28 Derbies were won by black jockeys, former slaves and sons of former slaves. Isaac Murphy was the first rider to win the Derby three times. Judging by his statistics, he may have been the greatest jockey who ever lived.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Bob Baffert won't be saddling a horse in the Kentucky Derby, for the first time since 2008. The Hall of Fame trainer said Monday that Govenor Charlie would not run in Saturday's Run for the Roses. His other possibility, Code West, also won't compete in the Derby at Churchill Downs. Sunland Derby winner Govenor Charlie was 11th on the points leaderboard that determines the 20-horse field for the 11/4-mile race. Code West was ranked 21st. Baffert hasn't been on the Derby sidelines since 2007 and 2008.

Verrazano crossed his final bridge on the road to the Kentucky Derby with a narrow victory in the $1 million Wood Memorial that likely sends the colt to Churchill Downs as the horse to beat on the first Saturday in May. Sweeping into the lead around the far turn, Verrazano held off the challenges of Vyjack and Normandy Invasion and improved his record to 4-0. The 3-year-old trained by Todd Pletcher won by three-quarters of a length over Normandy Invasion,...

Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs said Thursday the school is reviewing allegations of rules violations in the football program during its 2010 national championship season but doesn't believe they are credible. In a report by Selena Roberts posted on roopstigo.com, former Auburn players Mike McNeil and Darvin Adams were quoted saying they received or were offered money from coaches. McNeil said he had a grade changed to stay eligible. Former Auburn coach Gene Chizik denied the allegations.

BALTIMORE - On the first Saturday of February, I'll Have Another was not on any list of Kentucky Derby contenders. On the second Saturday of June, I'll Have Another will be going for the elusive Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby winner needed just about every yard of the Pimlico stretch Saturday to run down Bodemeister and win the Preakness by a neck. It was nearly nine lengths back to the third horse, Creative Cause, as the top two staged a near copy of their Derby duel. The Preakness, at a mile and three- sixteenths, is 110 yards shorter than the Derby.

BALTIMORE - On the first Saturday of February, I'll Have Another was not on any list of Kentucky Derby contenders. On the second Saturday of June, I'll Have Another will be going for the elusive Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby winner needed just about every yard of the Pimlico stretch Saturday to run down Bodemeister and win the Preakness by a neck. It was nearly 9 lengths back to the third horse, Creative Cause, as the top two staged a near copy of their Derby stretch duel. The Preakness, at a mile and three sixteenths, is 110 yards shorter than the Derby.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Last May, jockey Mario Gutierrez was the leading rider at Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the Kentucky Derby was a faraway event that he watched on television in the jockey's room. He migrated to Southern California in the winter, going from horse racing's minors to the majors, hoping to get better mounts. Prominent owner J. Paul Reddam noticed the 25-year-old from Mexico and told his trainer, Doug O'Neill, to give the virtual unknown a chance.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Last May, jockey Mario Gutierrez was the leading rider at Hastings Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, the Kentucky Derby a faraway event that he watched on television in the jockey's room. He migrated to Southern California this winter, going from horse racing's minors to the majors, hoping to get better mounts. Prominent owner J. Paul Reddam noticed the 25-year-old from Mexico and told his trainer Doug O'Neill to give the virtual unknown a chance. "He just really looked good in the irons to me," Reddam said.

LOUISVILLE, KY. - Trainer Larry Jones had little time to celebrate the last time he won the Kentucky Oaks with Proud Spell in 2008. One day later, Eight Belles, his other top filly, broke down and was euthanized after the Kentucky Derby. Jones' focus this week is on Believe You Can in Friday's $1 million Kentucky Oaks after he pulled Mark Valeski out of contention for the Derby. He's hoping for success he can finally savor for a while four years after the tragedy. Grace Hall is the early 5-2 favorite and most recently rolled to a 61/2-length victory in the Gulfstream Park Oaks.