Only five horses have entered Sunday’s $400,000, Grade 2 DK Horse San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita Park. The 1 1/16-mile contest is one of four Road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve qualifiers taking place this weekend. The field was reduced to four when #3 Nysos, an obvious and overwhelming favorite to win the San Felipe, was scratched on Saturday.

Trainer  Bob Baffert, who has won the San Felipe a record eight times, still has two horses in the race even after Nysos's scratch. Grade 1 American Pharoah Stakes runner-up #2 Wine Me Up who lost to Nysos when second in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes could now thrive in Nysos's absense. The other Baffert is #5 Imagination, the lone San Felipe entrant who isn’t exiting the Robert B. Lewis Stakes in his last race The Baffert new face in promising form and he has a shot to win on Sunday.

The two other horses in the race are #1 Scatify and #4 Mc Vay, who finished third and fourth in the Robert B. Lewis. They’re all capable colts.

Splitting Wine Me Up and Scatify isn’t easy. They were separated by only three-quarters of a length in the Robert B. Lewis, with Mc Vay another 4 ½ lengths behind. Wine Me Up gained runner-up honors that day, but he benefited from experience – the Lewis marked his fourth straight start in a Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifier. Scatify, on the other hand, was stepping up sharply in class and distance off a debut victory sprinting three-quarters of a mile at Los Alamitos. He set the pace in the Robert B. Lewis before weakening in the drive and may have more upside for improvement than Wine Me Up.

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As for Imagination, check out the quality of competition he has faced. In his debut sprinting at Del Mar, he finished second behind Pilot Commander, who returned take runner-up honors in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes. For his second start, Imagination stretched out over one mile at Del Mar and finished second by a neck against subsequent Robert B. Lewis participant Better Than Gold, while future El Camino Real Derby runner-up Tapalo settled for third place.

Imagination broke his maiden third-time out, leading all the way to win a one-mile maiden special weight at Santa Anita over a field including next-out winner Cornell. And in his fourth start, Imagination finished second in a fast $100,000 allowance optional claimer racing one mile at Santa Anita, beaten only a neck by his undefeated stablemate Maymun while pulling 10 ½ lengths clear of the third-place finisher.

These form lines suggest Imagination has the talent to win the San Felipe over Wine Me Up and Scatify, so we’ll play the race accordingly.

Good luck, and enjoy the race!