by Myra Lewyn

Grade 3 winner El Gato Malo is the marquee horse among 13 entered for the $400,000 Lone Star Derby (G3) on Saturday after his connections decided earlier this week to bypass the Preakness Stakes (G1).

Trainer Craig Dollase said that a potential meeting with powerful Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Big Brown had everything to do with the decision to send El Gato Malo to the Lone Star Derby.

The El Corredor gelding won the San Rafael Stakes (G3) in his three-year-old debut and was among the early favorites for the Kentucky Derby. El Gato Malo had insufficient graded stakes earnings to make the field after his fifth-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) on April 5.

The winner of three of five career starts for owner West Point Thoroughbreds and Dollase, El Gato Malo will race outside of California for the first time for the Lone Star Derby. He also will make his first start on a conventional dirt track in the 1 1/16-mile race.

Dollase is pleased with how El Gato Malo has been training.

“He's been training in blinkers since his fifth-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby, and he's been working well,” Dollase said of El Gato Malo, who is tabbed at 2-to-1 on the morning line. “He'll be making his first start over a dirt surface on Saturday, but we're optimistic that he'll be up to the challenge."

Samba Rooster, the morning-line favorite at 9-to-5, takes aim on his first stakes victory after finishing second, one length behind Behindatthebar, in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (G2) on April 19 at Keeneland Race Course.

The Songandaprayer colt sprinted to a clear lead early in the Lexington, set a swift pace under Garrett Gomez, and appeared poised to earn an easy win before Behindatthebar overhauled him in the final furlong.

Trainer Bob Baffert said Samba Rooster also will get blinkers for the Lone Star Derby.

“Garrett looked like he was skiing on him in the Lexington, so we've been trying to slow him down a bit in his training," Baffert said of the colt, who is owned by the Lanni Family Trust, Mercedes Stable, and Bernard Schiappa. "He's a tough one to reign in from the gate, but he seems to be a little more focused wearing blinkers.”  

Other entrants include Texas Wildcatter, runner-up in the Gotham Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct, and stakes winner Leonides, runner-up in the 2007 Hollywood Juvenile Championship Stakes (G3), who enters off a second-place finish in the San Miguel Stakes at Santa Anita Park on March 29.

Myra Lewyn is daily news editor for Thoroughbred Times

  1. Limestone Edge (Cat Thief), Corey J. Lanerie, 122, Robert B. Hess, Jr.;
 
  2. El Gato Malo (El Corredor), Rafael Bejarano, 122, Craig Dollase;

  3. Golden Yank (Yankee Gentleman), M. Clifton Berry, 122, Gary A. Thomas;

  4. Poni Colada (Volponi), Quincy Hamilton, 122, Steven M. Asmussen;

  5. King's Silver Son (Mizzen Mast), Luis S. Quinonez, 122, Steven M. Asmussen;

  6. Texas Wildcatter (Monarchos), Robby Albarado, 122, Todd A. Pletcher;

  7. Ide Like a Double (Ide), Kerwin D. Clark, 122, Bryon J. Gilbert;

  8. Isabull (Holy Bull), Timothy T. Doocy, 122, Steve Hobby;

  9. Samba Rooster (Songandaprayer), Garrett K. Gomez, 122, Bob Baffert;

10. Leonides (Richter Scale), Richard Migliore, 122, Vladimir Cerin;

11. My Pal Charlie (Indian Charlie), Jamie Theriot, 122, Albert M. Stall, Jr.;

12. Fort Apache (Mineshaft), Eddie M. Martin, Jr., 122, W. Bret Calhoun; and

13. Real Appeal (Successful Appeal), James Graham, 122, Thomas M. Amoss.