Columnist Ralph Siraco: Drama continues to build in Kentucky Derby preps

Ralph Siraco

Monday, April 4, 2005 | 9:29 a.m.

Ralph Siraco's horse racing column appears Monday and his Southern California selections run Tuesday-Sunday.

Although the NCAA basketball tournament comes to an end tonight with its championship game, its Final Four competition on Saturday and the Elite Eight games will be hard to top in pure excitement.

If there is a comparison to be made with the road to the Kentucky Derby, its that while the NCAA tournament bracket games' many dramatic moments might make the championship game prove anticlimactic, the Derby prep races get better as they get bigger and closer to the main event. The Kentucky Derby will not be overshadowed, but rather fed by the drama of the prep races throughout the country.

Saturday's Florida Derby was a prime example. Although some are cautious in the time spanning a major Kentucky Derby prep race five weeks out from the main event, trainer Nick Zito relishes the challenge of keeping the winner and second-place finisher in top form while waiting for the May 7 Run for the Roses.

High Fly had won both Florida Derby series races leading up to the top Sunshine State Kentucky Derby prep, the Aventura Stakes and Fountain Of Youth, before taking the series finale.

By contrast, stablemate Noble Causeway made his first stakes appearance after winning an allowance race leading up to the $1 million race. High Fly, under confident handling by jockey Jerry Bailey, held Noble Causeway safe in the final furlong of the 1 1/8-mile race while pace-setter B.B. Best held third.

Zito now puts the pair on hold until the first Saturday in May.

This weekend, the competition heads into final regional brackets. Saturday will feature a trio of top Derby preps.

While the Illinois Derby may lack a marquee name in the Grade II race, one need only to go back a few years to find War Emblem using the Chicago race to parlay a Kentucky Derby victory in 2002.

The Wood Memorial, a race that was moved up a week on the calendar, will showcase Consolidator.

Currently fifth on the Daily Racing Form Derby Watch top 25 list, Consolidator is coming into the Grade I Wood off of a smashing victory in the March 19 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita. The D. Wayne Lukas trainee takes on what may be an inferior field of wannabes in the 1 1/8-mile Big Apple Derby prep.

The most anticipated Derby prep this weekend will be the Grade I Santa Anita Derby, where a good old "boys vs. girl" confrontation is brewing. Eclipse Award-winner Sweet Catomine is taking on the boys after winning the March 13 Santa Anita Oaks in her last race.

The Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner has been perfect in a pair of starts this year -- both against outclassed fields of fillies. So, her connections, along with many experts, feel she has earned a chance at taking on the boys in the Derby.

These boys, however, won't exactly be holding the door open for her, nor are they shy about running against her.

One of the largest fields in recent Santa Anita Derby history is assembling for a chance at Sweet Catomine. Although the bulk of the competition is trying to make a sudden name with an upset in mind, a trio of solid males stand in her way.

The threesome just finished in the wake of Consolidator in the March 19 San Felipe Stakes. Runner-up Giacomo, third-place finisher Don't Get Mad and 4th-place finisher Wilko will line up against Sweet Catomine.

Don't Get Mad is a stretch-runner that will need a lively pace to set up his closing kick.

Giacomo has been the most famous bride's maid of the sophomores this year. After finishing a close second to Juvenile Eclipse Award-winner Declan's Moon in the Dec. 18 Hollywood Futurity, he finished a close third to Going Wild in the Sham Stakes before his effort in the San Felipe.

Wilko will reunite with the rider who shared his finest stateside victory. Jockey Frankie Dettori will venture from Europe to ride Wilko in the Santa Anita Derby. When last they teamed, Wilko won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Lone Star Park on Oct. 30. Since then, he finished third -- behind Giacomo and Declan's Moon -- in the Hollywood Futurity before his San Felipe effort.

Although Wilko has been plagued by recurring quarter cracks, the son of 1998 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Awesome Again has been training up a storm since his last start. For the others, a Santa Anita Derby win would finance a reason to go to Louisville.

Since 1952, there have been eight Santa Anita Derby winners who went on to win the Kentucky Derby, while Silver Charm in 1997, Real Quiet in 1998 and Charismatic in 1999 all prepped in the Santa Anita Derby on their way to Kentucky Derby victories.