Graham Motion has won the Grade I Hollywood Derby from the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in California before, so aims his barn’s top three-year-old turf horse in Test Score at the $300,000 contest over 1,800m on Saturday, November 29. This colt by Lookin At Lucky has already struck in the Golden State this fall when landing the Twilight Derby.
Fresh from that success around Santa Anita Park, Test Score seeks a third Derby success of the season, having earlier won the Belmont Derby on the East Coast at Saratoga. Following a Grade III victory in Keeneland’s Transylvania Stakes in the spring, he made an eye-catching top-level debut when placed in the American Turf on the Kentucky Derby day card and schedule from Churchill Downs.
Only Zulu Kingdom proved too good for Test Score in the Bluegrass State on that occasion. While he made the show in the Saratoga Derby and missed out on a top three spot in the valuable Nashville Derby, he bounced back to form down in grade and distance. Storming down the center of the Santa Anita home stretch, Test Score pulled away from re-opposing second Maaz, who went up the fence.
He looked value for more than the official winning margin of a length-and-a-half. The Hollywood Derby of 2025 thus provides Test Score with a good chance of adding another Grade I success to his resume. Despite a long campaign, starting on February 1, he has already landed a Grade II in California and leading Kentucky Derby racebooks have him favorite to follow-up and confirm that Twilight Derby result.
Nothing to Fear from Old Rivals off Level Weights
Maaz meets Test Score off the same terms here as at Santa Anita, leaving Michael McCarthy’s Galiway gelding with work to do if he’s to turn things around. That one beat Leonard Powell inmate Tempus Volat over a mile around California’s other premier track prior to the Twilight Derby. A colt by Not This Time who landed the Let It Ride Stakes from re-opposing runner-up Friendly Confines from the Richard Baltas barn, Tempus Volat is 2lb worse off from his prep run.
All of these must step up on their best form, however, given race terms. Level weights means Test Score should have no fears from another old rival in Tom’s Magic. Trained by Michael Stidham, this son of Justify finished way down the field in the Transylvania earlier in the campaign. As so many horses by the Triple Crown winner do, Tom’s Magic came out and landed a mile-and-a-half race at Woodbine outside Toronto in Canada.
If there’s one barn from across America that has got the Hollywood Derby down in recent years, then Chad Brown is the man. He’s saddled four winners of the contest since 2016. Juddmonte’s Salamis represents him in this edition with some interesting form. A Listed winner at Aqueduct earlier in the season, this Speightstown colt caught the eye in fifth in the Bryan Station Stakes around Keeneland last time.
Beaten just a couple of lengths, the winner had previously landed a valuable Grade I from Kentucky Downs. Making the show was Giocoso, who triumphed in the Secretariat Stakes over the summer and scored again in the Commonwealth Turf last time. As Todd Pletcher scratched Noble Confessor, Salamis looks the biggest threat to Test Score. John Sadler maiden Kokosan and McCarthy barn second string Copp are longshots completing the line-up.
Hollywood Derby 2025 Post Positions Draw & Morning Line Odds
- Maaz – 5-1
- Friendly Confines – 6-1
- Test Score – 5-2 fav
- Salamis – 9-2
- Kokosan – 20-1
- Copp – 20-1
- Tempus Volat – 5-1
- Tom’s Magic – 7-2
NOTE: Noble Confessor – SCRATCHED
Our Handicapper’s Verdict
This is all about Test Score, who brings leading form claims into the race by some margin. Noble Confessor would’ve been the most interesting opponent, but his scratching only makes the task facing Motion’s Belmont and Twilight Derby winner easier. Salamis has the next best past performances on paper.
As for the others, it’s difficult to see without massive career bests how they can trouble the favorite. Maaz lost fair and square to Test Score at Santa Anita, and his other form ties in with Tempus Volat, unexposed over the trip, and Friendly Confines. Dropping Tom’s Magic three furlongs in distance might mean he struggles to go the pace.
WATCH: Test Score Beat Maaz in their Hollywood Derby Prep Race
