Hronis Racing’s Tapalo, the El Camino Real Derby runner-up and contender in Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby (GI), leads a cast of nine 3-year-olds that were made eligible to compete in the 2024 Triple Crown with a late $6,000 payment that was due Monday.

Trained by John Sadler, Tapalo is expected to enter Saturday’s $750,000 Santa Anita Derby, the final West Coast stop on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.

The nine late nominees (pending late mail):

• Hronis Racing’s Tapalo;
• Tri Star Racing & Cimarron TTT’s Awesome Ruta;
• Lewis Family Racing Stables’ Celtic Contender;
• Ten Strike Racing, Four Cornerss Racing, Broadview Stables, Cory Moelis Racing and Jeremy Sussman’s D Day Sky;
• Travin Stables’ Evening News;
• Vicente Stables’ Le Dom Bro;
• John Parker’s Lonesome Boy;
• Average Joe Racing Stables and Dan Wells’ Mugatu; and
• Gelfenstein Farm’s Secret Chat.

Of the late nominees, Celtic Contender is a Maryland-bred based at Laurel Park, while Lonesome Boy is based at Parx Racing with trainer Hugo Padilla. Celtic Contender, a Lewis family homebred, has a win from three starts and most recently finished eighth in the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel Park. He is trained by Hamilton Smith. Lonesome Boy has three wins from 10 career starts and most recently won the City of Brotherly Love Stakes at Parx Racing.

In total, there are now 354 eligible 3-year-olds to compete in the Triple Crown series which consists of the $5 million Kentucky Derby, $1.5 million Preakness Stakes (GI) and $1.5 million Belmont Stakes (GI).

Any horse not nominated during the early or late phases can become Triple Crown eligible through a supplemental nomination payment due at the time of entry for each Triple Crown race: Kentucky Derby ($200,000 for all three Triple Crown races or $50,000 for the Kentucky Derby only), Preakness ($150,000) and Belmont ($50,000).

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