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The draw for Saturday’s B.C. Derby offers clarity on the lineup but not the biggest question of the week — will Chi Chi Time beat the boys?
Published Sep 12, 2025 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 3 minute read
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Rondelito, ridden by Kimal Santo, is among the hometown favourites for Saturday’s $125,000 B.C. Derby. Photo: Michael Bye.Article content
While Wednesday morning’s live postposition draw solved a few riddles ahead of Saturday’s $125,000 B.C. Derby at Hastings, the big question on race fans’ lips went unanswered — namely, will the unbeaten Chi Chi Time take on the boys in the Derby or, as is traditionally the case, stay with the fillies in the $75,000 B.C. Oaks?
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Chi Chi Time’s connections were noncommittal when quizzed earlier in the week and the flying filly remains entered in both races, with a final decision not expected until race day. The draw didn’t help clarify matters, either. Chi Chi Time was allocated the number-three gate for the Derby while, for the Oaks, the unbeaten B.C.-bred will need to navigate a safe passage from the rail-adjacent number-one slot.
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“I’d rather not have drawn the number-one gate for her in the Oaks,” Chi Chi Time’s trainer Pat Jarvis admitted. “But no complaints about her post position for the Derby.”
Away from the “will-she-won’t she” saga, the 78th running of the B.C. Derby has attracted nine other entrants, including the Manitoba Derby winner and Canadian Derby third, Attack (drawn #4), as well as the Canadian Derby runner-up, Accidental Genius (#5). Dancing Porky (#7), winner of the Grande Prairie Derby and sixth in the Canadian Derby, has also made the trip west. He will be joined in the gate by fellow raiders Pioneer Storm King (#2), who began his career at Hastings and was a solid fourth in the Canadian Derby, and Puttingonthefoil (#6), another B.C.-bred who is Alberta-based and who finished a remote ninth in the Edmonton race following a poor start.
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Accidental Genius is a familiar name to local race fans. He arrived at Hastings from Arizona in the spring, but was then bought by Alberta-based interests ahead of last month’s Canadian Derby, where he improved on the good impression he gave at Hastings by rallying into the runner-up spot.
The Canadian Derby winner, Take Charge Tom, who also “won” the Manitoba Derby before being disqualified by the stewards for interference, has not travelled to Vancouver, with connections preferring to wait for the Oklahoma Derby later this month. If Chi Chi Time remains with the fillies, the local team’s hopes for Saturday’s big race, which is the final leg of the Western Canada Derby Series and which carries a $25,000 bonus for connections whose horses garner the most points from the Manitoba, Canadian and B.C. Derbies, is headed by Rondelito (#1).
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A minor setback prevented the Steve Henson-trained three-year-old from taking his intended shot at the Canadian Derby. However, his neck victory over Accidental Genius in last month’s Sir Winston Churchill Derby Trial makes him a leading contender for Saturday’s highlight. The Hastings’ team is rounded out by Rondelito’s stablemate Mount Doom (#10), who was last season’s leading juvenile but who has lost his way of late, and two lightly-raced, but improving, maiden winners in Prime Directive (#8) and Creative Union (#9).
Finally, if Chi Chi Time does take her shot at immortality in the B.C. Derby, a win would make her the first filly to land the race since the Alberta-based Academic in 2015 and only the second since Ali Miss in 1956. Hastings’ bumper 12-race Derby Day card gets underway at 2:30 p.m. with the B.C. Derby due off at 5:30 p.m.
Hastings Selections
Saturday, Sept. 13. First post 2:30 p.m. RACE 7. The 78th running of the $125,000 B.C. Derby. Chi Chi Time is the best of her generation at Hastings and, if connections choose the Derby over the Oaks, she will be worth following. If she goes for the Oaks, then Accidental Genius’s Hastings experience and his excellent second in last month’s Canadian Derby make him a logical choice ahead of Attack and Rondelito.
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