Medina Spirit out to give Baffert 10th win in Santa Anita Derby kentuckyderby.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kentuckyderby.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Concert Tour passes two-turn test comfortably in Rebel Mar 14, 2021 Vance Hanson/Brisnet.com CONCERT TOUR (Benoit Photos)
Concert Tour ran his rivals in Saturday s $1 million Rebel S. (G2) off
their feet while giving trainer Bob Baffert his eighth win in the 1 1/16-mile
Oaklawn Park fixture since 2010.
Breaking sharp under Joel Rosario, Concert Tour outran 6-5 favorite Caddo
River to the lead heading into the first turn, led that rival by no more than a
length to the stretch, and then kicked clear in the final quarter-mile to score
in a dominating effort. A homebred racing for Gary and Mary West, Concert Tour
Concert Tour looking to give Baffert an eighth win in the Rebel Mar 9, 2021 Vance Hanson/Brisnet.com SP RAC CONCERT TOUR JOEL ROSARIO
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, conventionally loaded this year with top
Kentucky Derby (G1) prospects, will look to win Saturday s $1 million Rebel S.
(G2) at Oaklawn Park for the eighth time in 12 years. Baffert s leading
representative this time will be
Concert Tour, who enters the 1 1/16-mile
test unbeaten from two starts but untested around two turns.
A son of 2007 Derby winner Street Sense, Concert Tour has always been highly
regarded. However, the Gary and Mary West homebred did not debut until Jan. 15,
Kalypso, Moraz top small field in Santa Ysabel Mar 5, 2021 Vance Hanson/Brisnet.com SP RAC KALYPSO JOEL ROSARIO
Southern California lost arguably its best Kentucky Oaks (G1) prospect when
Moonlight d Oro exited a scintillating win in the last month s Las Virgenes (G3)
with an injury. Who will replace her as leader of the local class of
three-year-old fillies will be decided on Sunday when five will vie for top
honors in the $100,000 Santa Ysabel S. (G3) at Santa Anita.
The most obvious candidates to fill the shoes are
Kalypso and
Moraz,
who rounded out the placings in the Las Virgenes. Kalypso led that one-mile test
Pedigree fun facts: Medina Spirit Feb 6, 2021 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com
When
Medina Spirit dug in gamely to withstand all comers in the Jan. 30 Robert B. Lewis (G3), he was expressing tenacity reminiscent of grandsire Giant’s Causeway – and a more distant ancestor, Wild Again.
Medina Spirit’s pedigree isn’t fashionable up front, as implied by the bidding in both of his sales appearances. Sold for a paltry $1,000 as a yearling, he brought $35,000 as a two-year-old in training.
That’s because his first-crop sire,
Protonico, wasn’t very commercial. The four-time graded stakes winner scored his marquee victory in the 2015 Alysheba (G2), where he channeled the fighting spirit of his sire Giant’s Causeway, and left Honor Code back in fifth. Protonico earned just shy of $1 million, but didn’t win a Grade 1, although he was runner-up in the 2014 Clark H. (G1) (with Constitution third) and also placed in the 2016 Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) in his final start. In t