By Brian Mulligan

With many of the sophomore crop opting for other races, the Santa Anita Derby has come up a bit soft on content but that doesn’t mean there are no potential stars in the fray.

Those looking to play the roulette wheel can take a shot at Black Seventeen. Impressive in his Del Mar debut, the runner needed his local race badly and has every right to improve. He will have to overcome a weak pedigree to get there. There are 3 maiden winners in the tree but they are only a combined 3 for 28 and two others in the family are a combined 0 for 34.
Seventeen has potent connections in Brian Koriner but the reality is that he is playing catch up at this point in time even though he brings commanding speed.

Boutrous is the type of horse that is on the verge of putting it over the top. He had a horrible trip in the California Derby then was just flat out left with too much to do when chasing Great Hunter in the Lewis.

Bwana Bull will come to the race with a bull’s-eye on his back as he has won 3 in a row and 4 of his last 5. There is brilliance in his family as kin Bwana Charlie, basically a sprinter, who did draw away at a mile in his career winning by over 11 at the Fair Grounds.

Team Valor hopes will lie with King of the Roxy, who had a coming out party taking the Hutcheson with a career 103 Beyer to kick off March. There are nothing but winners in his background but the feeling at this point is that he will have a hard time getting the trip.

Level Red is the type of grinder that just may be rewarded. He fires every time, hooked a promising runner in Cobalt Blue in the San Felipe and will be dangerous with a clear trip.

Doug O’Neill has his top bullet with Liquidity and his connections are hoping that he can rebound off the poor Fair Grounds finale. Always considered one of the best in the barn, his non-winning dam is kin to SW and near $150K earner French Buster.

It could be put up or shut up time for Court the King. He’s lightly raced and was just too late when chasing home Bwana Bull last time.

Tiago will have to grow up in a hurry. He has never finished first but was awarded his maiden score and although he didn’t break sharply in his stakes debut, he really never looked like a winner either.

Sam P. has had his traveling shoes on and that may give him the needed seasoning to be a player next month. He’s raced in Kentucky, Florida, New York and California and he’s won at Churchill Downs. There is also stamina in his blood as kin Summer Legacy was best going long and handled any kind of going.

If looking for a little foreign intrigue in the Anita Derby, take a glance at Medici Code. Unbeaten this year, he is another that is playing from behind but his connections are not the risky types so just that fact he is getting a shot speaks volumes and you start at 30-1.

Check out his trainer, Darrell Vienna, and what he had to say on the Anita site. Vienna: “It’s taking a chance, but I don’t think anybody ever got to the moon without aiming for it.”

Those are not empty words. Vienna is a lawyer and he chooses his sentences carefully.

The other major prep Saturday is the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. The condition of the track is a question mark at this time but the horses to beat remain Nobiz Like Shobiz, and Any Given Saturday, who ran Street Sense to a nose.

The Florida invader Sightseeing has been educated this winter in Florida and could be set for a break out race while Cowtown Cat is very fast and has a right to get the distance.

Nobiz will have to run straight, and that’s a big if. The edge could go to the Pletchers, either Cowtown or Saturday since they both have the type of tactical speed that will give them first run.

 Feeling sick? Derby fever is escalating.