The 8-5 favorite, one of three Chad Brown-trained entries in the 10-horse field, overcame several challenges — starting when he entered the No. 10 far outside post. Sierra Leone appeared to be in position after resisting, then backed out a second time before finally settling.

He lagged behind for much of the race as 15-1 long shot Top Conor, another Brown pupil, and Just A Touch set the pace through the backstretch.

The bay colt then surged through the final turn to catch the leaders and added more space from Just A Touch to earn 100 points in the qualifying standings for the Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs. Epic Ride was third.

With Tyler Gaffalione aboard, Sierra Leone covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.08 and paid $5.32, $3.28 and $3.06.

Just A Touch returned $4.24 and $3.71 and earned 50 Derby points, while Epic Ride paid $9.12 and picked up 25 points.

Encino, one of two Brad Cox-trained entries, was scratched Saturday morning after drawing 12-1 odds from the far No. 11 post.

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The colt did a lot better than that. Now he isn’t just going to Louisville, he’s going as a horse who deserves respect.

Confirming the improvement that D’Amato had been seeing in morning workouts, Stronghold used a strong ride by Antonio Fresu to battle past favorite Imagination and win the $750,000, Grade I Santa Anita Derby on Saturday.

Stronghold paid $6.40. Imagination finished a neck behind, denying jockey Frankie Dettori a Santa Anita record-tying seventh winner of the day. E J Won the Cup was 3 1/4 lengths farther back in third, and longshot Curlin’s Kaos, pacesetter Tapalo, Wynstock, Mc Vay and Tessuto completed a strung-out field.

Winning a Santa Anita Derby means plenty in its own right, especially if you both own and bred the horse, as Rick and Sharon Waller did with Stronghold, a son of Ghostzapper and the couple’s mare Spectator.

“We’ve won some big races, but nothing like this,” Sharon said as they rode the elevator down to the winner’s circle after watching the Santa Anita Derby from the press box.

Winning also means you’re going to the May 4 Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown.

After other races on the final day of major Derby preps — the Blue Grass Stakes won by Sierra Leone at Keeneland and the Wood Memorial won by Resilience at Aqueduct — a third-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby by Stronghold would indeed have added enough qualifying points to his total to clinch a spot in the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field.

None of the other Santa Anita Derby runners made the Kentucky Derby. Imagination and Wynstock were ineligible for points because trainer Bob Baffert’s ban from Churchill Downs, stemming from Medina Spirit’s 2021 Derby disqualification, was extended to a third year.

The other California-based horse going to the Kentucky Derby is Endlessly, the Michael McCarthy-trained colt who won the Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park.

It will be the first Kentucky Derby for Fresu, D’Amato and the Wallers.

D’Amato, one of Southern California’s leading trainers, is known mostly for his success with turf-course specialists but is having no trouble getting Stronghold to peak at the right time. A win in the Sunland Derby in New Mexico put the colt on the map. Fast recent workouts put him on edge.

Saturday, Fresu placed him fourth early in the race and then bulled between Tapalo and Imagination at the top of the stretch before dueling Imagination to the wire.

“Today he proved to be a very good horse,” Fresu said.

Dettori, who won five straight races and six overall from 11 mounts on the 12-race card, said he was forced to push Imagination earlier than planned when Mike Smith moved with E J Won the Cup on the second turn.

“In the stretch I was vulnerable for a closer,” Dettori said. “When he passed me, my horse kept fighting back. We were head and head, and he was too strong for me down the line.”

Stronghold finished the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.98, covering the final eighth in 13.10. D’Amato called it an ideal setup for the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby.

“I’ve been training him exactly the way he performed this afternoon, sitting him behind (other horses), having him come get them,” D’Amato said. “That’s what you’re going to need to win big races like the Kentucky Derby, and he’s developing into that horse.”

He laughed when asked if he ever sees such days coming.

“I got up this morning, after I flew back from (competing in Kentucky) last night, thinking, ‘Oh my god, I’m 53. I can’t remember riding 11 races in a day. I hope I can make it!’ ” Dettori said.

Not only did he make it through the card Saturday. The globetrotting Italian jockey had one of the great afternoons in Santa Anita’s 90-year history. Dettorit rode six winners, including Nothing Like You in a rail-skimming, 7 1/2-length victory in the $300,000, Grade II Santa Anita Oaks for 3-year-old fillies.

The wins were one short of Laffit Pincay’s Santa Anita record of seven on March 14, 1987. They made Dettori one of 15 jockeys to win six in a day at the Arcadia track.

At one point he’d won five in a row, none of them betting favorites. Ball Don’t Lie paid $6.60, Recinto Rompere $18.20, Roberta’s Love $21.60, Kathynmarissa $15 and Nothing Like You $16.40.

By the time Dettori boarded his sixth mount, in the seventh race, fans had gotten wise, making Royal Charter a 4-1 favorite. Dettori, the filly ($10.80) and the crowd won.

Dettori had four shots at No. 7, including favorite Imagination in the day’s big race, the $750,000, Grade I Santa Anita Derby. Imagination came closest to winning, a neck behind Stronghold.

After the Oaks, Dettori gave the crowd one of his flying dismounts. Rushing back to the jockeys’ room to get ready for his next win, he gave a pair of writers a sample of the effusiveness that continues to amaze people. He was expected to retire in 2023 but moved from Great Britain to California to continue.

“It’s one of our biggest days. To ride five straight wins (at that point), in front of a big crowd, we’re selling the sport,” Dettori said. “I’m happy for myself, but happy to see people getting behind me and lots of cheering.”

Dettori was scheduled to fly back to Kentucky to ride two horses at Keeneland on Sunday.

THE UNDERCARD

Dettori rode two stakes winners Saturday. Nothing Like You upset Bob Baffert barnmate Kinza in the Santa Anita Oaks, and Roberta’s Love led all the way in the $125,000 Evening Jewel sprint for California-bred 3-year-old fillies.

Phil D’Amato, who trained Santa Anita Derby winner Stronghold, doubled when Shady Tiger ($8) romped with Juan Hernandez in the $125,000 Echo Eddie sprint for Cal-bred 3-year-olds.

Ag Bullet ($5) and Umberto Rispoli won the $100,000, Grade III Monrovia for fillies and mares on the turf hillside for trainer Richard Baltas.

BY THE NUMBERS

The reported on-site crowd of 32,089 was the biggest for the Santa Anita Derby since 2019, the year Justify won the race before sweeping the Triple Crown.

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D’Amato’s next stakes win might deserve a plaque of its own.

When he saddles the 3-year-old colt Stronghold for the $750,000, Grade I Santa Anita Derby on Saturday, D’Amato will be seeking the biggest win of his life and a chance for a career-defining win in the May 4 Kentucky Derby.

“It’s definitely looked at as the Super Bowl of our sport more than any other race in the country,” D’Amato said of the Kentucky Derby. “Just to get there is a feat. To get there and win it is an exceptional feat. We’ve got to get there first.”

Stronghold, ridden by Antonio Fresu, is the 5-2 second choice on the Santa Anita Derby morning line, behind 8-5 favorite Imagination and ahead of 5-1 Tapalo, 5-1 Mc Vay, 8-1 Wynstock, 10-1 Tessuto, 20-1 E J Won the Cup and 20-1 Curlin’s Kaos.

Imagination and Wynstock are ineligible for the Kentucky Derby because Churchill Downs added a third year to trainer Bob Baffert’s suspension resulting from Medina Spirit’s disqualification from victory in the 2021 Derby. That leaves Stronghold and five other Santa Anita Derby runners to battle for qualifying points awarded to top-five finishers.

To add enough points to his column to ensure a spot in the 20-horse field at Churchill, Stronghold probably must finish third or better in the Santa Anita Derby. A fourth-place finish might be good enough too, depending on the results of other races Saturday. The Blue Grass Stakes, in Lexington, Kentucky, and the Wood Memorial, in New York, round out the final week of major Triple Crown preps.

It’s a new experience for D’Amato, 48, a San Pedro native who was an assistant to training giant Mike Mitchell before taking over the stable when Mitchell retired 10 years ago this month. Mitchell died of cancer the following year.

D’Amato has established himself as one of Southern California’s top trainers. The signs on the barn’s exterior remind you he has led meets in victories 12 times and has won 18 elite Grade I races along with more than 100 Grade II’s and III’s. The biggest, from a national perspective, was Obviously’s front-running win with jockey Flavien Prat in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita.

But his reputation has been built on success with horses specializing in turf-course races, an emphasis he says he and most of his clients settled on because it’s generally less expensive to buy young horses whose pedigrees and conformation are suited to grass than those built for dirt main tracks. In simple terms, turf horses tend to be more lightly built, dirt horses more solidly built, like the difference between human distance runners and sprinters.

Although turf racing has grown in prominence in America in recent decades, dirt-track classics such as the Triple Crown races remain the heart of the sport here.

That’s why getting to the Kentucky Derby would be a huge stride for D’Amato, whose closest brush with the race has been running horses on the undercard.

“We’ve ventured out and bought some more nice dirt-pedigreed fillies, but this is one of the few times I’ve been fortunate enough to get a really good-pedigreed dirt colt,” D’Amato said in his barn office. “You need many of them to get to the Derby. Hopefully Stronghold is enough.”

Stronghold, bred by owners Rick and Sharon Waller, is a son of 2004 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and Horse of the Year Ghostzapper and the D’Amato-trained stakes-winning mare Spectator. Adding emotion to the connections’ story, Spectator died while giving birth to her only foal.

The sire’s and dam’s wins on dirt told D’Amato that Stronghold should be tried on the main track. He flashed promise immediately, finishing second at Ellis Park in Kentucky and then breaking his maiden at Churchill Downs in races against horses who have been on the Derby trail. A close second to Wynstock in the Los Alamitos Futurity ended his 2-year-old season on a high.

A February win in the Sunland Derby, in New Mexico, made Stronghold a Derby possibility – but not yet a contender.

“I think at this stage, four, five weeks out, you need a horse that’s improving,” D’Amato said. “I’m definitely seeing that in the morning, and we’re hoping to see it in the afternoon.”

Strong morning workouts the past two weeks say Stronghold is sharp. Training with Fresu has made him more tractable, which should allow him to sit behind the several front-runners early in the Santa Anita Derby’s 1-1/8 miles.

“I definitely think he’s a horse with potential (who is) getting better with age, and we’re all hoping that he’s a potential Kentucky Derby horse,” D’Amato said. “We’re kind of on the cusp here, and we’ll know a lot more after the Santa Anita Derby.

“It would mean a lot.”

The Santa Anita Derby is scheduled for 4:45 p.m. as the 10th race Saturday. It’s one of five stakes, including the $300,000, Grade II Santa Anita Oaks. The 12-race card starts at noon.

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Imagination, one of two horses seeking to give trainer Bob Baffert a 10th win in the $750,000, Grade I race for 3-year-olds, is a legitimate top choice on the morning line announced by Santa Anita’s Jon White.

But this Derby is more than one or two or even three or four horses deep, giving fans some chances to get creative in straight bets, multi-horse bets or any of the 10 multi-race bets in which it’s included.

Here’s a look at the eight horses scheduled to line up at the 1-1/8-mile starting point in front of the grandstand Saturday at about 4:30 p.m.

The favorites

• Imagination (post No. 4, jockey Frankie Dettori, 8-5 morning-line odds): His 96 Beyer speed figure for a March 3 victory in the San Felipe Stakes would rate fourth among Kentucky Derby contenders if Churchill Downs were allowing him and other Baffert horses to run. But the son of perennial leading sire Into Mischief has hardly been unbeatable. Imagination finished in a photo with another horse in this field early in their careers.

• Stronghold (No. 3, Antonio Fresu, trainer Phil D’Amato, 5-2): The son of 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper should continue the improvement he showed in winning the Sunland Derby in New Mexico and in recent workouts at Santa Anita. Stronghold is one of a couple of horses who could benefit if a battle for the lead develops in front of them.

The X factors

• Tapalo (No. 2, Umberto Rispoli, John Sadler, 5-1): It’s a sign of confidence that the owners paid $6,000 last weekend to make the ridgling a late nominee to the Triple Crown races. He’s 1 for 5. But he finished a head behind Imagination when they met in December. His second in the ungraded El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields, behind Kentucky Derby qualifier Endlessly, is better than it looks on paper. Tapalo held a 2½-length lead on the turn for home and was the only horse to hold on for first or second after leading at that point in a race on Golden Gate’s synthetic track Feb. 10. Sadler has won this race twice.

• Wynstock (No. 5, Juan Hernandez, Baffert, 8-1): The winner over Stronghold in the Los Alamitos Futurity in December is such a high price on the morning line because of an 11th-place finish behind Mystik Dan in the Southwest Stakes in Arkansas on Feb. 3. Baffert shrugs that off as the result of the muddy track. This makes sense, since Wynstock’s previous poor effort came on a “wet fast” track. Or it could be that he needs the early lead. Top rider Hernandez usually gets tactics right.

• Mc Vay (No. 7, Hector Berrios, John Shirreffs, 5-1): Shirreffs’ three Santa Anita Derby victories came with 29-1, 6-1 and 2-1 shots. A fourth will require a big step forward from Mc Vay, still a maiden after a troubled but distant third place in the San Felipe. He’s a $1.25 million son of 2014 Florida Derby winner Constitution and has turned in fast workouts lately.

The longshots

• E J Won the Cup (No. 8, Mike Smith, Doug O’Neill, 15-1): O’Neill, like Shirreffs, can sneak up on the Santa Anita Derby. His two winners were 4-1 and 6-1 at post time.

• Tessuto (No. 6, Kazushi Kimura, George Papaprodromou, 10-1): Tessuto has had trouble at the start in all three of his races and looked better in his maiden victory in February.

• Curlin’s Kaos (No. 1, Diego Herrera, Antonio Garcia, 20-1): The only California-bred and only gelding in the field would be the first graded stakes winner for his jockey or trainer, and the biggest Santa Anita Derby surprise in at least a (human) generation.

The Santa Anita Derby is the 10th of 12 races Saturday and one of five stakes. Baffert-trained Kinza is a 4-5 morning-line favorite in the $300,000, Grade II Santa Anita Oaks, the sixth race, and it’s harder to envision her losing than to see Imagination upset.

The Derby caps a new bet called the Big 3 Pick 3, linking the three races on the final day of major Triple Crown preps: the Wood Memorial (1:07 p.m.) at Aqueduct in New York, the Blue Grass (2:52) at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky, and the Santa Anita Derby.

The Blue Grass is a rematch of Dornoch and Sierra Leone, 1-2 in the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct two starts back, and Just a Touch could join them in qualifying for the Kentucky Derby.

At Santa Anita, the trends can’t be ignored: Post-time favorites are winning 46% of all races this season. Favorites had won 12 of the past 16 graded stakes races at Santa Anita through last week. As for the Santa Anita Derby, the past 10 runnings have produced four successful favorites, and no winner has come from outside the public’s top three choices.

Those numbers point to Imagination. But betting calls for imagination.

Follow Kevin Modesti on Twitter (formerly X) @Kevin Modesti.

Jockeys / Wins

Juan Hernandez / 50

Flavien Prat / 42

Antonio Fresu / 42

Frankie Dettori / 28

Hector Berrios / 24

Umberto Rispoli / 24

Trainers / Wins

Doug O’Neill / 29

Mark Glatt / 25

Phil D’Amato / 24

Bob Baffert / 23

Steve Knapp / 20

WEEKEND STAKES

SANTA ANITA

Saturday

• $750,000, Grade I Santa Anita Derby, 3-year-olds, 1-1/8 miles

• $300,000, Grade II Santa Anita Oaks, 3-year-old fillies, 1-1/16 miles

• $100,000, Grade III Monrovia Stakes, fillies and mares, 4 and up, about 6½ furlongs on turf

* $125,000 Echo Eddie Stakes, California-bred 3-year-olds, 6½ furlongs

• $125,000 Evening Jewel Stakes, Cal-bred 3-year-old fillies, 6½ furlongs

Sunday

• $100,000 John Shear Stakes, 3-year-olds, about 6½ furlongs on turf

• $100,000 Angels Flight Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, about 6½ furlongs on turf

LOS ALAMITOS

Saturday

• $30,000 James Smith Memorial Handicap, 3-year-old quarter horses, 350 yards

DOWN THE STRETCH

• Santa Anita is reducing purses for the two-month portion of its season known as the Hollywood Meet, starting Friday, April 19 after a week off. A track executive told the California Horse Racing Board on March 21 that cuts would be needed to manage a $4 million purse deficit caused by declines in wagering. Officials confirmed a report by the Daily Racing Form’s Steve Andersen that the cuts amount to about 12% from 2023 levels and affect everyday races and some stakes. The May 27 Hollywood Gold Cup, now Grade II instead of Grade I, will be worth $200,000 instead of $300,000.

• Trainers Neil Drysdale and Tim Yakteen ended graded-stakes droughts in turf miles run on Thursday at Santa Anita after being rained out last weekend. The mare Nadette and Hector Berrios burst past Stay and Scam late in the $100,000, Grade III Wilshire to give Drysdale his first graded win in California since 2022. Johannes and Umberto Rispoli took the $100,000, Grade III American for Yakteen’s first graded win since the 2023 Santa Anita Derby with Practical Move.

• The final round of official future betting on the May 4 Kentucky Derby closes Saturday at 1 p.m. PDT, before the final Derby preps are run. Fierceness is 7-2 on the morning line after his 13½-length win in the Florida Derby, followed by 6-1 Sierra Leone, 8-1 Catching Freedom, 10-1 Forever Young and 12-1 Dornoch. Thirty-nine individuals and an “all others” option are available for wagering.

• Two big changes in the Kentucky Derby contenders list: Santa Anita-based Endlessly is in, after trainer Michael McCarthy had indicated the Jeff Ruby Steaks winner at Turfway Park would run in a grass race on the Derby undercard. Timberlake is out, trainer Brad Cox said after the Rebel Stakes winner faded to fourth behind Muth in the Arkansas Derby.

• Handicappers have begun seeing workout clockings from Santa Anita’s new all-weather training track in past-performance charts. The synthetic oval, installed at a cost of $8 million, opened for workouts Saturday after being tested by joggers and gallopers for most of March.

• Kent Desormeaux’s victory aboard Bob Hess-trained Ashcroft on March 24 at Santa Anita, the racing Hall of Famer’s first from 16 mounts in 2024, marked the 39th year in a row he has ridden at least one winner. (Hat tip to Gary Dougherty’s Racing Stats & Info tweets.) Desormeaux, 54, has 6,168 wins, 17th among North American thoroughbred jockeys all-time and fourth among active riders.

• Jockey Giovanni Franco, unseated from Flatterwithjewels at the start of Santa Anita’s 1-mile second race Thursday, didn’t miss a mount and rode sixth-race winner Diamonds Danzing. The second was declared no contest and the rest of the field was pulled up on the backstretch because Franco didn’t get up immediately and could have been in the horses’ path to the finish. Single-race and some multi-race wagers were refunded.

• Santiago Gonzalez, who went to the hospital for tests after hitting the ground hard when She’s a Joker slipped and fell turning for home in a turf mile March 29 at Santa Anita, was named on two horses Thursday but ended up missing the day’s races. She’s a Joker walked away from the accident and was reported unhurt.

• Los Alamitos’ Saturday feature, the James Smith Memorial Handicap, is headed by Ready for It, trained by Monty Arrossa and ridden by Armando Cervantes. Arrossa leads the Orange County track’s quarter-horse trainer standings with 12 wins. Jose Nicasio leads the jockeys with 10 wins.

• The annual Santa Anita Derby Day 5K Run & Walk – that’s for humans – will keep Baldwin Avenue closed to cars on Saturday from 7:30 to 10 a.m. Santa Anita’s first post time that day is noon.

— Kevin Modesti

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