Baffert phenom Life Is Good headlines trio of Kentucky Derby preps this weekend

Bob Baffert’s Life Is Good is the 4-5 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s $300,000, Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

If a lightly raced Baffert-trained 3-year-old soaking up the hype sounds like a familiar story line, it’s not only because we’ve read this book many times before but it came to pass just last year.

Eventual 2020 Kentucky Derby winner Authentic won his maiden race as a 2-year-old, then won the Sham Stakes in January and the San Felipe in March last year.

That’s the exact route Life Is Good is poised to duplicate.

Baffert even compared the horses’ raw talent after Life Is Good’s victory in this year’s Sham.

“It reminded me a lot of Authentic last year, when he did the same thing. He looked like a drunk out there coming down (the stretch). He almost hit the rail and stuff.”

Life Is Good, ridden by Hall of Famer Mike Smith, will face a field of six challengers Saturday, led by Medina Spirit, the 7-2 second choice — also trained by Baffert — who finished second in the Sham by three-fourths of a length on Jan. 2 then won the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis on Jan. 30.

Doug O’Neill’s The Great One is third choice at 4-1, followed by Peter Eurton’s Dream Shake at 5-1. The 1 1/16-mile San Felipe is the headliner on a Saturday that features three Kentucky Derby prep races, all of which award qualifying points on a 50-20-10-5 scale.

Gotham Stakes

Baffert sent another of his charges east to try his luck in the $300,000, Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct. Baffert’s Freedom Fighter is the 5-2 second choice on the morning line behind 8-5 favorite Highly Motivated, who is trained by Chad Brown.

Freedom Fighter finished second by a half-length in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes in his most recent outing on Feb. 6.

Highly Motivated, who will be ridden by Javier Castellano, is making his first start since winning the Nyquist Stakes at Keeneland on Breeders’ Cup weekend last November.

The eight-horse field for the 1-mile Gotham also includes Brown-trained Crowded Trade, the third choice at 9-2. Crowded Trade won his career debut at Aqueduct on Jan. 28.

Tampa Bay Derby

The Hall of Fame trainer Baffert won’t be muddying the waters at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday where several contenders have a shot at Derby points in the $400,000, Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby.

Candy Man Rocket, winner of the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 6 for trainer Bill Mott, is the 2-1 favorite in a field of 12 going 1 1/16 miles.

Hidden Stash (4-1), Helium (6-1), Promise Keeper (8-1) and Super Strong (8-1) also curried favor on the morning line.

Hidden Stash, who finished third in the Sam F. Davis, will already be making his sixth career start. Helium is unbeaten in two non-graded starts. Promise Keeper (two starts) and Super Strong (one) are also lightly raced.

Honeybee Stakes

Louisville native Brad Cox, one of the sports hottest trainers in the past year, runs 5-2 morning-line favorite Sun Path in Saturday’s $300,000, Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn Park. The 1 1/16-mile event offers 50 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points to the victor.

Cox will also send out 4-1 shot Coach in a field of eight 3-year-old fillies.

Cox won last year’s Honeybee with Shedaresthedevil, who went on to capture the Kentucky Oaks.

Lexington native Kenny McPeek also has two contenders: Oliviaofthedesert at 7-2 and Tabor Hall at 10-1. Dallas Stewart-trained Will’s Secret also is 7-2 on the morning line.

Saturday

Kentucky Derby and Oaks preps on TV

5:07 p.m.: $300,000, Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct (FS2)

5:25 p.m.: $400,000, Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs (FS2, TVG)

5:45 p.m.: $300,000, Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita (FS2, TVG)

6:10 p.m.: $300,000, Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn Park (TVG)

This story was originally published March 5, 2021 at 7:42 AM.