This Week in Horse Racing

With the Kentucky Derby one month away, things are really heating up! This is going to be a good year. :D

There's no other way to say it: Sidney's Candy is a BEAST. He's like a front-runner version of Afleet Alex. Sidney's Candy won the Santa Anita Derby by 4 1/2 lengths going away yesterday. Sidney stumbled hard out of the gate, but got up quick to take the lead and never looked back, going wire-to-wire in a very impressive fashion. It was Sidney's third consecutive graded race win. Sidney's Candy was sent off as the 7-2 second choice for the 1 1/8 mile test. Only time will tell if Sidney has the power to withstand challenges over an extra eighth of a mile, on an Eastern dirt track. Late-running, Setsuko charged home and began to cut into Sidney's lead, but didn't have enough track to the winner. Lookin At Lucky finished third. The favorite in the field, he raced fourth along the rail throughout the race, but was forced to check hard when he was squeezed hard against the rail in the final turn. He dropped back to seventh, but moved to the outside and rallied to third. Sidney's CAndy is unbeaten in three starts as a 3-year-old. The colt kicked off 2010 with a rom in the 7-furlong San Vicente Stakes in February, stretched out to a mile and a sixteenth in the San Felipe Stakes but won by only a half-length over Interactif after setting the pace. Overall, Sidney's Candy has won four of his six races. If you want to read about the race -- and Gomez and Baffert's thoughts on Lookin at Lucky's performance -- here's bloodhorse's story on it. I'm not commenting on Espinoza, Gomez, and Baffert. Unless you want a very long rant.

More Kentucky Derby contenders were made in this week's Wood Memorial where Eskendereya romped to a 9 3/4 length win. I got goosebumps watching the race, it was seriously that amazing. Most Happy Fella took the lead from the start, with Jackson Bend pressing him, the two setting moderate splits. Eskendereya trailed a length back off the leaders throughout the race. He began to move up as they entered the final turn and then drew away, leading by 3 1/2 lengths into the final furlong. Jackson Bend moved up along the rail to take second and likely enough earnings to go to the Derby. Awesome Act took third despite losing a shoe coming out of the gate and is also likely to be eligible for the Derby. Schoolyard Dreams finished fourth. Like Sidney's Candy, Eskendereya is also undefeated this year, with a record of 4-1-0 in six starts. Jackson Bend and Awesome Act's trainers have confirmed them as starters in the Derby.

American Lion earned himself a trip to Churchill this week with his wire-to-wire win in the Illinois Derby. Looks like Sidney's Candy is going to have some major competition out there for the lead. American Lion closed out his 2-year-old season in december with a win in the Hollywood Prevue, but disappointed in both of his starts prior to the Illinois Derby this year. He was third in the Robert B. Lewis and fourth in the San Felipe. Then Lion shed his blinkers and made his first start on dirt after four synthetic starts And improve he did. Breaking from the rail, American Lion took a hold of the lead. He clicked off easy splits while Yawanna Twist tracked behind him. As they came off the turn, it was a two-horse race between American Lion and Yawanna Twist dueling back and forth. There was only a head to separate them with only a furlong remaining. American Lion edged away inside the sixteenth-pole to win by 2 3/4 lengths. Yawanna Twist was 11 3/4 lengths ahead of Backtalk who took third by a neck over Turf Melody.