2.10.2002	Photo by: Jim Linscott
		Dan Jones' Cojet, shown winning an allowance race at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 10 by 8 1/2 lengths, will try to give trainer Bob Holthus his third consecutive win in the Southwest Stakes on March 2 at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. Cojet and jockey Terry Thompson will break from post three in the second-division of the one-mile Southwest Stakes, a race that was over-subscribed and split in two heats.

Came Home, McCarron To Take Next Step In San Rafael
By John Asher

Kentucky Derby Headlines:

• Came Home Stretches Out In San Rafael
• Clergy, Cojet, Asmussen In Split Southwest
• "Essence" Narrowly Best in Dubai Guineas

WEST (California) -- One of the most exciting 2-year-olds of 2001, Hopeful (Grade I) winner Came Home, faces a critical test along the road to Churchill Downs and Kentucky Derby 128 on Saturday at Santa Anita.

The son of Gone West, an easy winner in the San Vicente (GII) on Feb. 2, will attempt to stretch his speed around two turns when he competes in Saturday's $200,000 San Rafael (GII).

The Paco Gonzalez trained colt will break from post six in the field of nine 3-year-olds and will be the betting favorite under jockey Chris McCarron, a two-time Kentucky Derby-winning rider. Came Home has a career record of 4-0-0 in five races and his only poor outing was a seventh place finish to Irish-based U.S. juvenile champion Johannesburg in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI) at Belmont Park. He has earned $301,440.

Other contenders in the San Rafael include Werblin, who finished third in the San Vicente; Pelirrojo, a narrow winner over the well regarded Raven Power at Santa Anita on Jan. 30; Fonz's, who races for the first time since a runner-up finish to Siphonic in the Dec. 15 Hollywood Futurity (GI); and Cottonwood Cowboy, third to Labamta Babe and Siphonic in the Santa Catalina (GII) before he finished a dull fifth in the Sham Stakes.

Completing the field for the San Rafael are Major Storm, Ocean Sound, and Easy Grades.

MIDWEST (Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, Arkansas) -- The entry box for Saturday's $75,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park overflowed with 16 entries and the one-mile prep for the Arkansas Derby was split into two divisions. Fans looking for late-developing Kentucky Derby contenders can find attractive possibilities in each.

The first division will mark the stakes debut of Claiborne Farm's Clergy, a gelded son of Pulpit who has shipped in from the Fair Grounds in New Orleans. Clergy is unbeaten in two starts for trainer Frank Brothers.

The second division is headed by the speedy Cojet, who will attempt to give veteran trainer Robert Holthus his third consecutive win in the Southwest. Holthus won the past two runnings with Afternoon Affair and Son of Rocket and Cojet enters the race off an 8 1/2-length romp in a six furlong Oaklawn allowance race.

Trainer Steve Asmussen has two horses in each division. He will saddle Richest Half, winner of Oaklawn's Mountain Valley, and Private Emblem in the first. Asmussen's second division runners include Windward Passage and Interminable Gold.

Another second division contender is Bay Monster, a Steve Wren-trained colt who defeated older rivals in a recent Oaklawn allowance.

Request For Parole will face eight rivals in Saturday's $100,000 John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park.

The runner-up to Repent in the Kentucky Jockey Club (GII) and winner of the recent WEBN Frog Stakes at Turfway, the son of Judge T C will be favored in the final major prep for Turfway's March 23 Lane's End Spiral Stakes (GII). Brian Peck will ride Request For Parole, who has a record of 3-3-1 in eight races. His rivals include the 2-3 finishers in the WEBN Frog Stakes, Perfect Drift and Thunder On Land, and Piston, an unbeaten colt owned by Kentucky Speedway auto track president Jerry Carroll and trained by Ken McPeek.

Sandbar Farm's unbeaten Cashel Castle makes his 3-year-old debut Saturday in a 5 1/2-furlong allowance race at Chicago's Sportsman's Park. The Chris Block-trained winner of last fall's $100,000 Hoosier Juvenile at Hoosier Park spent most of the winter in Florida, but a minor injury to his right front ankle knocked him out of his scheduled season debut in the Hutcheson (GII) at Gulfstream Park. Cashel Castle faces 11rivals.

The Lynn Whiting-trained Rylstone is out of Kentucky Derby consideration following the discovery of a chipped bone in his left knee. Whiting said the son of Mecke will undergo surgery on Tuesday and is expected to miss six-to-eight weeks of training. Rylstone had been scheduled to run in Saturday's Southwest at Oaklawn Park.

DUBAI -- Essence of Dubai placed himself at the forefront of Godolphin's Kentucky Derby contenders with a narrow victory over stablemate Firebreak in the UAE 2000 Guineas at Nad al Sheba racecourse on Thursday.

The son of Pulpit, winner of the Norfolk (GII) last year at Santa Anita when he was trained by Eoin Harty, slugged it out with Firebreak through the final furlong of the one-mile race before he prevailed by a nose in 1:36.60. Frankie Dettori rode the winner, who is now trained by Saeed bin Suroor and improved his career record to 3-1-0 in five races. Godolphin's Simon Crisford said Essence of Dubai would run next in the $2 million UAE Derby on March 23. Firebreak, who was making his debut on dirt after racing last year in England, is not yet nominated to the Kentucky Derby and Visa Triple Crown.

Six of the eight horses in the UAE 2000 Guineas were owned by Godolphin. Other Godolphin notables in the race included Janadel (fifth) and Dubai Tiger (sixth).

SOUTHEAST (Florida) -- Two weeks ago, jockey Tony D'Amico was the rider of Repent and Harlan's Holiday, the major Kentucky Derby contenders in the barn of trainer Ken McPeek, and prospects appeared good that the Kentucky-based 46-year-old would ride in his first Kentucky Derby.

But that dream came crashing down this week when D'Amico lost both mounts in the space of just four days. After conferring with his owners, McPeek gave the mount on Starlight Stable's Fountain of Youth (GI) runner-up Harlan's Holiday to Edgar Prado and three-time Kentucky Derby-winner Jerry Bailey was named to ride Select Stable's Repent. D'Amico lost the ride on the latter although he had ridden the colt to back-to-back wins in the Kentucky Jockey Club (GII) at Churchill Downs and the Risen Star (GIII) at the Fair Grounds.

Prado and Bailey got acquainted with their new mounts in Wednesday workouts at Gulfstream Park.

"It's at that stage; we've got to make some tough decisions," McPeek told the Courier-Journal. "It's like the last game of the World Series. You've got to get somebody who's tried and tested in those spots, that's been there, done that and has no fear of them."

McPeek said the decision was difficult on a personal level, but on a business level it "had to be done."

"I'm disappointed, but it's the same old thing," D'Amico told the Courier-Journal. "They felt they wanted someone who'd been there before."

McPeek said D'Amico would retain the mount aboard Kentucky Oaks (GI) contender Take Charge Lady, an easy winner in the recent Silverbulletday (GIII) at the Fair Grounds.

A 1 1/16-mile Gulfstream allowance race on Saturday has attracted several promising 3-year-olds, including the Nick Zito-trained Quest, the Elliott Walden-trained Quest Star, and the Bill Mott-trained Spinning Tales.

EAST (New York, Maryland) -- Magic Weisner, owned and trained by Nancy Alberts, and the Tony Dutrow-trained entry of Touch Love and Radio One head a field of seven horses in Saturday's $75,000 Deputed Testamony Stakes at Maryland's Laurel Park.

Also in the 1 1/16-mile race for Maryland-breds is Broom, a recent Laurel allowance winner. The son of Broad Brush is trained by Grover "Bud" Delp, who trained Spectacular Bid to win the 1979 Kentucky Derby.

Kentucky Oaks Update -- A field of six 3-year-old fillies has been entered in Saturday's $75,000 Busher Stakes at Aqueduct. Heading the field for the 1 1/16-mile race are Cobblestone Road and Bema.

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