Getaway Car held off a hard-trying Caldera in a thrilling photo finish to win the $400,000 Sunland Park Derby Feb. 16 at Sunland Park.

Getaway Car was the winner of the Grade 3 Best Pal Stakes last summer at Del Mar but the son of Curlin had not found the winner's circle in four starts since after battling with Bob Baffert-trained stablemates Citizen Bull and Gaming multiple times. He finally bested Gaming in their last meeting but was run down and denied by Journalism in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 14.

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The victory was crucial in putting Getaway Car back on track toward the May 3 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve. The race offered 20-10-6-4-2 qualifying points to the top five finishers, elevating the bay colt to third place on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 36 points.

Getaway Car entered the Sunland Park Derby as the 6-5 favorite, and the race seemed to set up for him as he established a clear lead onto the backstretch beneath jockey Juan Hernandez while setting fractions of :23.31, :46.93, and 1:10.99.

Caldera and jockey Rafael Bejarano took up hot pursuit around the far turn and drew even with the favorite at the quarter pole. The D. Wayne Lukas trainee then took command entering the stretch, but Getaway Car responded and the two hooked up in a classic Baffert-Lukas stretch duel.

Getaway Car reestablished himself as the leader with a sixteenth to go, but a final lunge by Caldera left the finish to be determined by the stewards as the clock stopped at 1:42.64 for 1 1/16 miles. After a review that must have been agonizingly long for the connections, Getaway Car was posted the nose victor and paid $4.40 to win.

The slow-starting Touchy finished nine lengths back in third while three lengths ahead of Take Charge Tom in fourth.

Despite the margin of victory, Baffert's longtime assistant Jimmy Barnes seemed happy with the performance in the Sunland Park winner's circle.

"That was the race we expected him to run," Barnes said. "Our horses like to set the pace. Juan did an excellent job of warming him up and getting him on the lead and finding more when he needed it."