The last three races awarding 100 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve qualifying points to the winner will be held Saturday, April 5, at Aqueduct in New York and Santa Anita Park in Southern California, and Tuesday, April 8, at Keeneland Race Course in Kentucky.

Talented 3-year-olds will compete in the $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino at 6:10 p.m. ET and the $500,000 Santa Anita Derby at 7:30 p.m. ET, both Saturday, as well as in the rescheduled (due to inclement weather forecasts) $1.25 million Toyota Blue Grass Stakes on Tuesday with a shot to secure a spot in the starting gate for the first jewel of the Triple Crown May 3 at Churchill Downs. (Note: all post times are approximate.)

Most of the racehorses entered in these three races have previous experience on the Road to the Kentucky Derby and several have strung together a sequence of impressive stakes wins, but some are entered for their first try in a stakes race needing a true breakout performance to continue on the path to the Derby.  Let’s learn more about three of them …

1. Statesman

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey often uses races early in a horse’s career as learning exercises and he likes to bring the runners in his barn along slowly, so it’s no shock that this $200,000 purchase at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of selected yearlings showed little in three starts in 2024. The bay colt by Constitution out of Grade 1 winner Icon Project, by Empire Maker, has emerged in 2025 with two wins in as many starts and will be tested in a stakes for the first time Saturday in the Wood Memorial. Both of his wins came at one mile and 40 yards at Tampa Bay Downs and the speed figures were not very impressive at first glance, but he finished very fast in those Tampa races (overcoming significant trouble in his most recent win) and the Wood Memorial has historically been kind to closers like him. I think he’s a major win candidate at what figure to be big odds for McGaughey, who won this race in 1989 with Easy Goer and in 1998 with Coronado’s Quest.

Baeza (BENOIT photo)

2. Baeza

A $1.2 million purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September yearling sale, Baeza probably is the best known racehorse of this trio thanks to his pedigree. The McKinzie colt was produced by the stakes-winning Big Brown mare Puca, the mother of 2023 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve winner Mage and 2024 Belmont Stakes winner Dornoch. That’s a pretty nice pair of half-siblings (same dam, different sire) for Baeza, who will make his stakes debut in the Santa Anita Derby for trainer John Shirreffs, best known as the trainer of Hall of Famer Zenyatta but also a three-time winner of this race. Baeza needed three starts to earn his first win for owners CRK Stable and Grandview Equine (his breeder), but he won impressively Feb 14 at Santa Anita when taking a one-mile race by 4 ¾ lengths. The 104 Equibase Speed Figure and 93 Beyer Speed Figure indicate Baeza is a quality 3-year-old prospect, although he faces a tough challenge in the Santa Anita Derby against champion Citizen Bull, DK Horse San Felipe Stakes winner Journalism, and San Felipe runner-up Barnes.

3. Grande

A $300,000 purchase by prominent owner Mike Repole at the 2023 Keeneland September yearling sale, Grande won his career debut Jan. 11 at Gulfstream Park by 2 ½ lengths in a one-mile race and then rolled by 2 ½ lengths in a 1 1/8-mile allowance-optional claiming race at the same track Feb. 27. He makes his stakes debut in the Wood Memorial coming off a win at the same distance that earned promising speed figures – 87 Beyer Speed Figure and 89 Equibase Speed Figure – for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who has won the Wood seven times. He’s by Hall of Famer Curlin out of graded stakes winner Journey Home, by War Front, and has a Tomlinson rating of 410 that indicates he should handle an “off” track should New York see the rain that is forecast.