Kentucky Derby 134 Update: Feb. 29

TOP STORIES:

• UNBEATEN EL GATO MALO FACES SIX IN SHAM 
• BATTAGLIA ATTRACTS FIELD OF 11 AT TURFWAY PARK 
• FOUR STAKES WINNERS IN LAUREL'S MIRACLE WOOD 
• PYRO TOPS ROSTER OF LOUISIANA DERBY NOMINEES

WEST/EL GATO MALO DRAWS RAIL FOR SHAM - West Point Thoroughbreds' undefeated El Gato Malo drew the rail and will carry top weight of 120 pounds Saturday when he faces six foes in the $200,000 Sham Stakes (Grade III) at a mile and an eighth at Santa Anita.

David Flores, who rode El Gato Malo to a 6 1/4-length victory in the San Rafael Stakes (GIII) on Jan. 12 at Santa Anita, retains the mount for trainer Craig Dollase. A perfect three-for-three, El Gato Malo closed at odds of 16-1 in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

WinStar Farm's Colonel John, winner of the Real Quiet Stakes and runner-up in the CashCall Futurity (GI) at Hollywood Park in his final two starts of 2007, will break from post six under Garrett Gomez with a 118-pound impost. Colonel John is trained by Eoin Harty. Colonel John was a 19-1 proposition in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

The field for the Sham, from the rail out, is as follows: El Gato Malo, J. Paul Reddam's Success Fee, Amerman Racing Stables' Coast Guard, Oak West Farm's Trevor's Clever, Ellen and Peter Johnson's Victory Pete, Colonel John and Maeda Koji's Reflect Times. All are Triple Crown nominees except for Trevor's Clever.

The remainder of the field will carry 116 pounds each. Coast Guard and Reflect Times exit the Feb. 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes (GII) in which they ran second and third, respectively, behind Crown of Thorns. Victory Pete ran third, beaten a length by the undefeated Yankee Bravo, in the California Derby at Golden Gate on Jan. 27 in his most recent start.

Into Mischief To Miss San Felipe - B. Wayne Hughes' Into Mischief, who closed at 26-1 in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, is nursing an ailment to his left hind foot and won't make the March 15 San Felipe Stakes (GII) according to trainer Richard Mandella.

"He's still fighting the foot problems, so there's no San Felipe," Mandella said Thursday. "He won't be ready for that. I don't really know (what might be next) after that."

Into Mischief has a record of 4-2-2-0 for earnings of $478,800 with his major victory coming in the CashCall Futurity (GI) in December. He ran second to Georgie Boy in his 2008 debut in the San Vicente (GII) on Feb. 10.

Four Triple Crown Nominees In Sunday's Baldwin - Sea of Pleasure, winner of the Sophomore Sprint Stakes at Bay Meadows in his most recent start on Feb. 16, is one of four Triple Crown nominees in a field of nine entered for Sunday's $100,000 Baldwin Stakes (GIII) at 6 1/2 furlongs on the grass at Santa Anita.

Owned by Steve Burnett, Terry Burnett, Bruno De Julio, Bill Leutzinger and Sergio Bohan, Sea of Pleasure has a record of 4-3-1-0 with earnings of $98,440. The Baldwin will mark his grass debut.

Other Triple Crown nominees in the Baldwin are Joseph Duffel's Nevada Worrier, Wertheimer and Frere's Returning, and Blue, Taub and Visionairy Racing's Sky Cape.

MIDWEST/TOP THREE IN WEBN RETURN FOR BATTAGLIA MEMORIAL - The top three finishers from the Feb. 2 WEBN Stakes at Turfway Park return Saturday in the $100,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at a mile and a sixteenth at the Florence, Ky., track.

The Battaglia serves as the final local prep for the $500,000 Lane's End Stakes (GII) at a mile and an eighth on March 22.

WEBN winner Big Glen, owned by John T.L. Jones Jr. and Bill Jones, will carry top weight of 121 pounds, an impost also carried by Sharon Morgan's Instill and Skychai Racing and Sand Dollar Racing Stables' Cherokee Triangle. Instill won the Illinois Futurity at Hawthorne in December and Cherokee Triangle, who has made all six of his starts on grass, won the Sunday Silence by 10 3/4 lengths at Louisiana Downs in September.
Big Glen is not a Triple Crown nominee, but Katierich Stable's Your Round and Bobby Persad's Mr. Henry, the 2-3 finishers respectively in the WEBN, are. Other Triple Crown nominees include Preston Madden's Beneficiary and Woodford Racing's Briarwood Circle.

EAST/CAVE'S VALLEY SEEKS REBOUND IN MIRACLE WOOD - Harry and Tom Meyerhoff's Cave's Valley will seek to rebound from a disappointing 2008 debut when he faces eight rivals, including three other Triple Crown nominees, in Saturday's $70,000 Miracle Wood Stakes at seven furlongs at Laurel Park.

Trained by Mike Trombetta, Cave's Valley is one of four stakes winners in the field and he will share top weight of 122 pounds with the stakes winners. Cave's Valley won his first three starts as a 2-year-old in 2007 before closing the year with a seventh-place finish in the Delta Jackpot (GIII). He ran sixth as the favorite in his 2008 debut in the Whirlaway at Aqueduct on Feb. 2.

Other stakes winners in the field are Morgan W. Wayson Jr.'s Apple Special, winner of the 2007 Maryland Juvenile Championship, Bowman Thoroughbreds' Vanderkaay, winner of the Dancing Count at Laurel on Feb. 2, and E. Allen Murray Jr.'s Regal Solo, winner of last year's Maryland Million Nursery. Apple Special is the lone Triple Crown nominee of the three.

The other Triple Crown nominees in the Miracle Wood are Circle Z Stables, Joseph Massone and Albert Petrillo's Cudjo and Germania Farms' Gattopardo.

SOUTH/PYRO TOP NAME AMONG LOUISIANA DERBY NOMINEES - Winchell Thoroughbreds' Pyro, who closed as the 5-1 second choice in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager that closed on Feb. 10 a day after his victory in the Risen Star Stakes (GIII), heads a list of 105 nominations for the $600,000 Louisiana Derby (GII) to be run March 8.
Among the nominees are the 2-5 finishers from the Risen Star: Zayat Stables' Z Fortune, Team Valor and Vision Racing's Visionaire, James Tafel's Unbridled Vicar and Dogwood Stable's Blackberry Road. Z Fortune, who is expected to bypass the Louisiana Derby for the Rebel Stakes (GII) a week later at Oaklawn Park, closed at 37-1 in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager and Blackberry Road was 47-1. Team Valor's Barry Irwin said Visionaire would pass the Louisiana Derby and make his next start in the Gotham (GIII) on March 8 at Aqueduct. The colt is trained by Michael Matz, who saddled Barbaro to win the 2006 Kentucky Derby.

Three other Future Wager individual horses are expected to make the trip to New Orleans led by Kinsman Stable, Derrick Smith, Michael Tabor and John Magnier's Majestic Warrior (18-1) and Charles Fipke's Tale of Ekati (33-1). Harlequin Ranches, David Bienstock, Richard Duggan and Charles Winner's undefeated Yankee Bravo (48-1) is expected to travel to the New Orleans track from his Southern California base for his first race over a conventional dirt surface.