Santa Anita Derby draws 8 nominees

Top-ranked American 3-year-old Journalism and 2024 2-year-old champion Citizen Bull head nominations for the Saturday, April 5 Santa Anita Derby.

Four trainers have all of the eight horses nominated for the $500,000, Grade I race for Kentucky Derby prospects: Michael McCarthy with Journalism and Bullard, Bob Baffert with Citizen Bull, Barnes and Rodriguez, John Shirreffs with Baeza and Westwood, and Karen Headley with Smooth Cruisein.

The field will be set Monday.

Saturday at Santa Anita, heavy favorites won both stakes, Pilot Commander ($2.80) and jockey Juan Hernandez outsprinting For All Mankind in the $100,000, Grade III San Carlos and Titupati ($4.20) and Umberto Rispoli outlasting Alpha Bella in the $100,000, Grade III Wilshire for fillies and mares on turf.

Sunday, the 7-year-old gelding Kings River Knight (Hernandez riding) goes for his sixth victory in a row and eighth in a California-bred stakes as he races for the first time since last May in the $100,000 Sensational Star Stakes, a downhill turf sprint.