Bob Baffert has himself a trio of horses for the Kentucky Derby.
Sinister Minister became the latest to join the trainer's assault on a fourth Derby victory with an eye-opening, gate-to-wire romp in Saturday's $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.
With Garrett Gomez urging Sinister Minister into the lead right out of the No. 7 post, the 3-year-old colt took charge and rolled a 12 3/4-length victory over 65-1 long shot Storm Treasure.
The winning margin was the third largest in 82 runnings of the Blue Grass: Arts and Letters won by 15 lengths in 1969, and Alydar won by 13 in 1978.
Bluegrass Cat and First Samurai were supposed to be the ones to beat in this final major prep before the Derby in three weeks. But neither threatened, with Bluegrass Cat finishing fourth and First Samurai fifth.
In Saturday's other Derby prep, Lawyer Ron won the $1 million Arkansas Derby for his sixth straight victory to remain among the Derby favorites with Brother Derek and Barbaro.
Baffert, meanwhile, closed out his prep campaign with a flourish. Sinister Minister will join stablemates Bob and John and Point Determined in the starting gate at Churchill Downs. Last week, Bob and John won the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct and Point Determined finished second in the Santa Anita Derby.
Before the Blue Grass, Baffert said he was bringing Sinister Minister to Keeneland to "upset the applecart" and see if "we can get the lead and hold it."
Good call, Bob.
"The horse is waking up at just the right time," said Baffert, who won the Derby with Silver Charm in 1997, Real Quiet in 1998 and War Emblem in 2002. "When he got to the quarter pole, I thought, 'Son of a gun, I'm going to win the Blue Grass.' "
Sinister Minister, sent off at 8-1 by the crowd of 30,660 on a hot day, picked a perfect time for his second career victory. In earning $465,000 for owners Lanni Family Trust, Mercedes Stable and Bernie Schiappa, the colt has more than enough graded stakes earning to run in the Derby if more than 20 horses are entered.
The owners include Terri Lanni, chairman of the MGM Mirage and Ernie Moody, founder of Action Gaming, Inc. Schiappa is partner in a Mercedes dealership.
Bluegrass Cat, trying to rebound from a second-place finish in the Tampa Bay Derby, was off his game but will still be considered for the Derby.
"We'll have to regroup and see how he comes out of it," Bluegrass Cat trainer Todd Pletcher said. "The winner won one of those freaky Keeneland races."
Pletcher's High Cotton finished ninth in the Arkansas Derby, and is likely out of Derby consideration. The trainer has two other hopefuls in Keyed Entry and Sunriver.
First Samurai won the Fountain of Youth Stakes last month via disqualification, and has yet to finish first in any of his three races this year. Trainer Frank Brothers was unavailable for comment after the race.
Sinister Minister, second behind Cause to Believe in the California Derby in his last start, covered the 1 1-8 miles in 1:48.85, and returned $19.40, $9.20 and $5.80. Storm Treasure returned $47.80 and $16 for second, with Strong Contender third at $4.80 to show.
Strong Contender, who had no graded stakes earnings, collected $75,000 for third place, but the figure may not be enough to get trainer John Ward's colt into the Derby field.
Since winning the Derby with War Emblem and 20-1 odds, Baffert has not had much luck in the race. Indian Express ran 14th in 2003, the trainer missed the '04 edition and Sort It Out was 17th last year.
"You like to go into the Derby with a horse that has a chance to win," Baffert said. "This horse showed me something ... He really poured it on today."
Seaside Retreat was sixth, followed by Sadler's Trick, Little Cliff and Court Folly.
It was not a good day of preps for trainer Nick Zito, who sent out a record-tying five Derby starters last year. The Hall of Fame trainer is still looking for a Derby starter after Little Cliff finished eighth, and Superfly finished 11th in the Arkansas Derby a few minutes later.
Trainer Steve Asmussen may have found two Derby horses of his own: Storm Treasure picked up $150,000 for second and would likely qualify for the field, while Private Vow ran a solid third in the Arkansas Derby.
In recent years, the Blue Grass has not had much of an impact on the Derby. Last year, for example, Blue Grass winner Bandini finished 19th in the Derby.
The last Blue Grass winner to go on and take the Derby was Strike the Gold in 1991, and the last horse to come out of this prep and win the Derby was Thunder Gulch in 1995.
In stakes races on the undercard, Zito's Sun King ($16.40) won the $400,000 Commonwealth Breeders' Cup, and Wend ($4.80), ridden by Edgar Prado, beat Asi Siempre by 1 1/2 lengths in the $200,000 Jenny Wiley Stakes.