Lookin At Lucky faces Sidney's Candy in Santa Anita Derby

Horseracing Betting Lines

03/31/2010 - Arcadia, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rebel Stakes winner Lookin At Lucky and Sidney's Candy, winner of the San Vicente Stakes, highlight a field of 10 three-year-olds in Saturday's $750,000 Santa Anita Derby. The 1 1/8-mile race is the final Kentucky Derby prep at Santa Anita Park.

Lookin At Lucky, the 2009 champion two-year-old colt, has been installed as the 4-5 morning-line favorite and will start from post seven with regular rider Garrett Gomez.

Owned by Karl Watson, Mike Pegram and Paul Weltman, Lookin At Lucky is trained by Hall of Fame member Bob Baffert. The colt has won six of seven starts for more than $1.4 million.

"We were considering the Arkansas Derby on April 10 because that would have given us a week more from his last race," said Baffert, "but he worked really good here on Sunday and he's ready to run.

"Our ultimate goal is to win the Kentucky Derby and by running here on Saturday, this gives us a little extra time going into the Derby on May 1. He's done everything we've asked of him and he overcame a lot of trouble in his last race and then shipped back here real good."

Baffert has won the Santa Anita Derby five times, with Cavonnier (1996), Indian Charlie (1998), General Challenge (1999), Point Given (2001) and Pioneerof the Nile last year. He has won the Kentucky Derby three times, the last in 2002 with 20-1 longshot War Emblem.

Lookin At Lucky was second to Vale of York in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last November, but came back to win the CashCall Futurity the following month at Hollywood Park.

Should the Eclipse Award honoree win the Santa Anita Derby, he would be the first two-year-old champion to win the track's top Kentucky Derby prep since Affirmed in 1978.

Sidney's Candy will break from post four with Joe Talamo back to ride. The chestnut colt is the 3-1 second choice in the program.

Sidney's Candy, trained by John Sadler, is owned by the Sid and Jenny Craig Trust. He has career earnings of $223,560 with three wins in five lifetime starts.

While the colt likes to run on lead, Sadler doesn't believe that is the only style he has.

"He doesn't have to be in front, but he does have kind of a free-running style," said Sadler. "If he's not in front, he's going to be forwardly placed, because he's that kind of horse."

Here is the complete field for the 73rd Santa Anita Derby in post position order: Posse Power, Leslie Mawing, 50-1; Thomas Baines, Joel Rosario, 50-1; Who's Up, Victor Espinoza, 20-1; Sidney's Candy, Joe Talamo, 3-1; Setsuko, Rafael Bejarano, 20-1; Caracortado, Paul Atkinson, 5-1; Lookin At Lucky, Garrett Gomez, 4-5; Cardiff Giant, Christian Santiago Reyes, 30-1; Skipshot, Frank Alvarado, 15-1; and Alphie's Bet, Alex Solis, 8-1.

Each horse will carry 122 pounds.

The Santa Anita Derby will be broadcast on NBC with a scheduled post-time of 5:36 p.m. (et).

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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