2015 San Felipe Stakes Preview
The final Road to the Kentucky Derby prep race on Saturday, March 7 will take place at Santa Anita. A quality field of 10 three-year olds will run in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at one mile and one sixteenth on the main track.
The San Felipe carries a purse of $400,000 and 50 points towards the Kentucky Derby points leaderboard for the winner of the race. Second place will receive 20 points, third place will receive 10 points, and fourth place will receive 5 points.
Post time for the San Felipe is 6 PM Eastern Time and is the seventh race on the program. Free past performances for the race can be found here.
1. Lord Nelson (4-1 Morning Line) – He started his career at Del Mar with a half length victory before finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Front Runner. A turn back to a sprint resulted in a six and three-quarters lengths victory in the Speakeasy Stakes. Another try around 2 turns resulted in another off the board finish. Last time out he ran in the Grade 2 San Vincente winning by a neck going 7 furlongs. He has not hit the board in both of his route races and appears to be a sprinter.
2. Ocho Ocho Ocho (4-1 ML) – He started his career with a one length win before winning the off the turf Juvenile Turf Sprint again at Santa Anita. His last race was the Grade 3 Delta Jackpot where he fought to the wire with Mr. Z, winning by a nose. He certainly has a chance to rate and pounce in the stretch.
3. Dortmund (8-5 ML) – We come to the heavy morning line favorite who enters this race 4-4 in his career. He won the first two races easily before taking the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity by a head over firing. The same duo came to the same result in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis. He will undoubtedly be there at the finish.
4. The Gomper (15-1 ML) – This three year old son of Sky Mesa broke his maiden first time out. He followed that up with a second place finish by 2 1/4 lengths. Last time out he finished fourth by 6 3/4 lengths in a loss to fellow entrant Prospect Park. The competition gets far more difficult in this spot.
5. Kenjisstorm (50-1 ML) – By far the longest shot in the race, he has yet to break his maiden. Further more, he has yet to hit the board in any of his 5 races. He is changing trainers from Tim Yakteen to George Papaprodromou, but that will not help his chances much.
6. Prospect Park (4-1 ML) – It took him four starts to break his maiden, but he did so by a neck going a mile and a sixteenth. He followed that maiden win up with a dominating 5 1/4 length win in an optional claimer $80,000. He is another horse that has a chance to win here.
7. Bolo (6-1 ML) – He has run in three consecutive turf races to start his career. He was fifth by 2 1/4 lengths in this first start before breaking his maiden in his second start by 2 3/4 lengths. In his last effort, he won the Eddie Logan by 4 1/2 lengths, but has been off for over two months. He is an intriguing horse given that he never has run on dirt.
8. Pulmarack (20-1 ML) – This California bred son of Lucky Pulpit has faced only fellow California bred horses in his 5 career starts. He broke his maiden in his third start, which was his first on traditional dirt and first around 2 turns. That was a win by 4 1/4 lengths before back-to-back state bred California races. He finished second in both of those, which led him to being placed here. He will need to be even better than his previous races if he is to contend.
9. Sir Samson (12-1 ML) – His career started off with a thud when he was pulled up and walked off in his debut. He finished 75 lengths behind Dortmund, while the two return to meet again today. His second start was much better, a win by half a length before running in the Grade 2 San Vicente. In that race he held the lead in the stretch, but was run down by Lord Nelson. The blinkers are coming off for this race, but he will need to step up to compete here.
10. Pain and Misery (15-1 ML) – He started at Del Mar with a third place finish by a length and a quarter. He then went to Zia Park for his next 2 races with back-to-back wins including in the Governors’ Cup. After a 4 month break, he came to Santa Anita and tried turf for the first time. It was a success, as he finished second by a neck in a listed stakes race. He has never raced at a route distance, but he improve second time off the 4 month layoff.
Selections
This race runs through #3 Dortmund, who is the horse to beat here. He will have stiff competition from #2 Ocho Ocho Ocho and #6 Prospect Park. Long shot possibilities underneath include #7 Bolo, #9 Sir Samson, and #10 Pain and Misery.
1. Dortmund
2. Ocho Ocho Ocho
3. Prospect Park
4. Pain and Misery
Check back on Saturday evening to see the recap of the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes.