San Felipe J

The six entrants in Saturday's $250,000 San Felipe S. (G2) lack credentials.

There aren't any stakes winners in the field, but COBALT BLUE (Golden Missile)

and AIR COMMANDER (Point Given) have Triple Crown ambitions. We'll give the edge

to the former.

Cobalt Blue is lightly raced but very promising. The Doug O'Neill-trained

colt returned from a lengthy layoff to capture an allowance at Santa Anita on

February 14, rating off the pace before storming home to complete six furlongs

in 1:09. Now two-for-three in his career, the chestnut registered a very

promising 99 BRIS Speed rating last time, and he's bred to stretch out effectively. Victor Espinoza will pick up the mount, and Cobalt Blue may wind up

dictating the early pace from his inside post in the 1 1/16-mile event. We'll

look for him to keep advancing.

Garrett Gomez sticks with Air Commander over Cobalt Blue, and Air Commander

is probably the best Kentucky Derby (G1) hope for three-time winner Bob Baffert.

We can expect him to be cranked up for a top showing. The bay colt appears to be

improving, posting allowance and maiden special weight wins over the track in

his last two outings, but his Speed ratings are pretty dismal. Air Commander

earned only a 92 for his hard-fought maiden score at this distance two starts

back, and he notched only a 91 while going nine furlongs last time. Those

figures could rise sharply as he continues to develop, but we'll give Cobalt

Blue the edge right now.

GRAPELLI (Thunder Gulch) gained valuable seasoning when finishing third in

the San Rafael S. (G2) and may continue to show more in his second start versus

winners. Trained by Todd Pletcher, the chestnut colt offered a visually

impressive turn of foot to record a 1 1/4-length maiden win two starts ago, but

the late runner left himself with too much to do last time. Grapelli could have

similar issues in this spot, but he can close for a small share.

LEVEL RED (Aptitude) will likely show speed from the outside and merits

serious respect for the top three. He's won two of his last three, both at this

distance, and the David Hofmans charge shows a couple of sharp six-furlong works

for this appearance. Level Red's Speed figures are a little low and he must

overcome the far outside post, but we won't be surprised to see him offer a good

account of himself.

DEE RAIN (Afternoon Deelites) steps up after placing in a couple of

allowances, most recently finishing runner-up to Level Red. We'll just watch to see how the maiden claiming winner handles his

stakes bow. TAP IT LIGHT (General Meeting) is probably not fast enough to

challenge.