MN Oaks favorites, Carson Bay and Flatter Me Baby, may battle on early lead.
Trainer Coty Rosin has a pair of speedy 3-year-olds entered in Saturday’s $75,000 Minnesota Derby. Sushi Man, owned and bred by One Bid Stable, has won consecutive races, both on the turf, and is the 7/5 morning line favorite. Flying Martini also has back-to-back wins leading gate to wire, the first at a mile on the dirt and most recently on the grass course.
Sushi Man, habitually on the early lead, won the Canterbury Derby June 28 against open company. Although he has not won on the dirt he finished second by a half-length in a maiden race in May at Prairie Meadows to Mickswagger who next out won the Prairie Mile Stakes. Leading jockey Harry Hernandez has the mount on Sushi Man.
“I think Sushi Man is faster. He has a high cruising speed,” Rosin said. “I’d like to see him on the lead and [Flying] Martini right behind.”
The eight-horse race also includes Able Seaman, last-to-first winner of the 2024 state-bred Northern Lights Futurity at 22 to 1 odds, his lone career win. Trainer Mac Robertson has entered T C Gold, stretching out in distance for the first time, and Towner Too, runaway winner in a sprint July 12. The field is rounded out by Arjun for Karz, another whose career best has come when he finds the early lead, Beggin for Trouble and jockey Fausto Da Silva, and Way Up North for trainer Bruce Riecken.
The Minnesota Derby is conducted at one mile and seventy yards on the main track and is restricted to horses bred in the state.
The seven fillies in the co-featured $75,000 Minnesota Oaks have spent much of their brief careers facing each other. Rosin also has a presence in the Oaks which will be run as the fourth of eight races, kicking off the 10 percent takeout Pick 5 wager. He will saddle Vintage Port, a filly he owns. Both of her 2025 starts have come at two turns on the turf where she broke her maiden and then finished second in a state bred allowance. Her running style puts her off the pace and advancing in the later stages which could be an advantage in the Oaks.
“This looks like the kind of race where any one of them can win,” Rosin said. “If you have a state bred with talent and the purse is $75,000, you have to try.”
Last year Vintage Port finished behind several others in this race but her recent form suggests she may have matured.
“When we debuted her last year I didn’t think she could get beat,” Rosin said. “We sprinted her three times and she never won. She didn’t want to be rushed so we went long on the turf this year where she could relax and come running. I don’t think it’s the turf I think it was the distance. She trains like she can run all day.”
The likely favorites, Carson Bay trained by Gary Scherer and Flatter Me Baby trained by Troy Bethke, met July 12 in a sprint and raced head to head for the first half mile before Flatter Me Baby gained an edge and went on to win by 1 1/4 lengths. With those two likely to hook up early a closer may surface in the stretch. Where’s Marilyn, surprise winner of last year’s Northern Lights Debutante, could have first run at the favorites should they falter and Wildcat Minny can also stay close to the lead.
Rosin, currently fifth in the trainer standings, has never won the Minnesota Oaks or Derby. “When I worked for Mac [Robertson] he won these races a lot. I don’t know how many oaks and derbies he won. I’ve only had one starter. I’d like to win one for myself.”
Robertson, who has four Oaks wins and three Derby wins, entered a duo in the filly race as well with Mary B’s Legacy and I C Gold.
Racing Saturday begins at 5:10 p.m.
