Santa Anita Park hosts annual Derby Day 5K

ARCADIA, Calif. (KABC) -- It was a perfect morning for a 5K!

Santa Anita Park hosted its annual Derby Day 5K Saturday, bringing out thousands of runners and plenty of family fun.

The 5K took participants through the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, and after the race, many enjoyed a post-race party.

James Timphy of La Cañada Flintridge was this year's 5K winner.

"It's an incredible atmosphere, I love this race," he said. "I've been doing it for four years now so, it's really exciting. Obviously, it's a family adventure."

The Grade 1 $500,000 Santa Anita Derby ran Saturday with a field including three of the top six colts in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's 3-year old poll.

Journalism won the $500,000 Santa Anita Derby by three-quarters of a length Saturday to confirm his status as the Kentucky Derby favorite, with trainer Bob Baffert's duo finishing fourth and fifth in the West Coast's major prep.

Baffert fared better on the East Coast, with Rodriguez leading all the way to win the $750,000 Wood Memorial by 3 1/2 lengths, earning enough points to move into the 20-horse field for the Kentucky Derby.

Journalism stamped himself as the favorite for the 151st running of the Derby on May 3. He overcame some trouble in the race and put away Citizen Bull, last year's 2-year-old champion, for his fourth straight win.

"You just saw what a serious, serious racehorse he really is," winning co-owner Aron Wellman said. "The battles are over. Now we're going to war."

Journalism got shuffled behind Westwood and bumped with Barnes at the seven-sixteenths pole before moving into the clear and going three-wide into the stretch in front of 34,312 at Santa Anita.

"Obviously in a five-horse field like this was today if he can't do it against five, he's going to have an awfully hard time doing it against 20," trainer Michael McCarthy said. "The horse did everything we could have asked of him."

Ridden by Umberto Rispoli, Journalism ran 1 1/8-miles in 1:49.56. Sent off as the even-money favorite, he paid $4 to win.

"Glad that he got the education he did today," Wellman said. "Small field, but lots of trouble, so he's got the appropriate seasoning going into what really has been our ultimate goal all along."

Baeza finished second and 40-1 shot Westwood was third. Both are trained by John Shirreffs.

The Baffert-trained Citizen Bull and Barnes finished fourth and last, respectively.

"We're not raising the white flag yet," Baffert said.

He said Citizen Bull's fitness wasn't up to the task on a deep, tiring track.

"It's demanding and he was blowing pretty good," Baffert said. "We'll make sure he comes back well. I don't think it's the distance, he just got tired."

Although he didn't say it, Barnes is off the Derby trail since he doesn't have enough points to qualify.

"We'll just have to regroup," Baffert said. "We didn't see the right Barnes today. It happens."

The five-horse field was the smallest since 2006.

The Associated Press and City News Service, Inc. contributed to this report.