Louisville, KY (SportsNetwork.com) – El Kabeir, trained by John Terranova,
finished second in Saturday’s Withers Stakes at Aqueduct and picked up four
points to move into sole possession of first-place in the “Road to the
Kentucky Derby” points system.
El Kabeir has 25 points after finishing second to Far From Over after winning
Aqueduct’s Jerome Stakes last month.
“I thought it was a good effort,” said Terranova. “We were second best, but
(El Kabeir) put in a good, solid effort. He’s an ultra-consistent horse,
hopefully we can take that next jump forward in his next race.”
According to Terranova, El Kabeir’s next race is likely to come in the
$400,000 Gotham on March 7 at Aqueduct.
Lecomte Stakes winner International Star is second with 21 points. Dortmund
won Saturday’s Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita, good for 10 points to
put the colt, trained by Bob Baffert, in the third spot with 20 points.
“Dortmund looked really good at the barn afterwards,” Baffert said Sunday
morning. “I was surprised, because after the Los Alamitos race (Los Alamitos
Derby on Dec. 20), he was tired. After this race he was a pretty happy dude.
“It was a good race for him. We’ll look at the Santa Anita Derby (April 4) or
we could go out of town.”
In fourth is Upstart (16) followed by Carpe Diem (14), Texas Red (12), Mr. Z
(12), Far Right (12), Ocho Ocho Ocho (10), American Pharoah (10), Daredevil
(10), Far From Over (10) and Lucky Player (10).
Saturday will be the 1 1/8-mile El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields.
Monday’s President’s Day feature will be the Southwest Stakes at 1 1/16 miles
at Oaklawn Park. Both races offer 10 points to the winning horse.
