Early Derby favorite Barnes gets first route test in San Felipe
Feb 25, 2025
Barnes wins the San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita. (Photo by Benoit Photo)
Barnes, the favored individual entry in recent Kentucky Derby Future Wager pools, will get his first two-turn test in advance of the Run for the Roses in the $300,000 San Felipe (G2) at Santa Anita on Saturday.
A field of six was entered in the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe, which offers Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points of 50-25-15-10-5 to the top five finishers. Post time is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET.
Barnes enters the San Felipe 2-for-2. A $3.2 million yearling purchase by Into Mischief, he debuted last fall at Churchill Downs, just getting up to take his debut by a head in green fashion over a too-short 5 1/2-furlong distance.
The Bob Baffert trainee reappeared in the Jan. 4 San Vicente (G2) at Santa Anita over seven furlongs, and it was that performance that catapulted him to Derby favoritism as he coasted to a 5 1/2-length victory under Juan Hernandez.
Baffert starts two others in the San Felipe, most notably Rodriguez. The son of Baffert's 2020 Derby winner Authentic crushed maiden rivals, including next-out winner Baeza, by seven lengths in a Jan. 4 maiden going one mile. He followed up with a second in the Robert B. Lewis (G3) to stablemate Citizen Bull, last season's two-year-old champion.
The logical San Felipe contender not trained by Baffert is Journalism, a son of Curlin trained by Michael McCarthy. Although beaten by Smooth Cruisein and Mellencamp in his debut in late October, Journalism benefited from a step-up in trip to take a one-mile maiden at Del Mar. He then followed that with a 3 1/2-length victory in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) over Getaway Car, subsequent winner of the Sunland Park Derby.
Smooth Cruisein subsequently finished a distant fourth in the San Vicente, while the Baffert-trained Mellencamp remains a maiden through four previous starts. The field is rounded out Berlin Wall, who has only run against California-bred maidens until now.
The San Felipe can be watched and wagered on at TwinSpires.com.
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