HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The stablemates Tejano Twist and Edge to Edge will bring complementary running styles into the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on Saturday at Oaklawn Park.

The six-furlong race for 4-year-olds and up shares a card with the Grade 1, $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap. The stakes continue the Racing Festival of the South and will be showcased on a 12-race card. The forecast is for a high of 78 degrees with an 80 percent chance of a thunderstorm, according to AccuWeather.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Secret Oath and Clairiere face the same tall task Saturday at Oaklawn Park in the Grade 1, $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap – catch loose-on-the-lead Hot and Sultry.

The 1 1/16-mile feature shares a card with the Count Fleet as a part of the Racing Festival of the South and seems to be that easy of a read. The field of four includes a speed horse and three confirmed closers. It’s a recipe for a potential upset.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – In Italian went into a hibernation of sorts after making her most recent public appearance at Keeneland, but some five months later, the standout turf mare will be front and center once again when she makes her 5-year-old debut here Saturday as a solid favorite in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes.

Every single horse in North America and Japan with the qualifying points to make the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field on May 6 is as of Wednesday still on track to race in the Kentucky Derby.

Of the top 20 point earners, only Brave Emperor, who topped the European Road to the Derby, has been ruled out of consideration. And that means horses who in a more typical year would comfortably be in the field will be sweating things out over the next few weeks.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – American Apple and Danse Macabre are among the contenders in a full field of 12 for Friday’s $250,000 Limestone Stakes for 3-year-old fillies sprinting 5 1/2 furlongs on the Keeneland turf. They are the only two U.S. graded stakes winners in the lineup.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Hit the Woah will try to begin her 5-year-old campaign better than she ended her 4-year-old season when she returns to the races Friday in a third-level allowance scheduled for six furlongs over Aqueduct’s outer turf course.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainer Chad Brown will be looking to extend his dominance in the Grade 1, $600,000 Jenny Wiley when he is represented by the highly regarded Peter Brant pair of In Italian and Speak of the Devil among eight fillies and mares in the 1 1/16-mile turf race.

The status of Blue Grass third-place finisher Blazing Sevens will be monitored quite closely by those on the outside of the Kentucky Derby picture looking in, but don’t expect a decision on that colt’s status for a few weeks.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Lexington Stakes on Saturday often serves as a prep for the Preakness, not the Kentucky Derby. And that would most definitely apply in the case of Arabian Lion, one of 11 3-year-olds confirmed for the final qualifying race toward the May 6 Derby.

Arabian Lion, trained by Bob Baffert, lacks sufficient qualifying points for the Derby, helping to make that a moot point. But the May 20 Preakness remains in play, especially if the Justify colt runs big in the Grade 3, $400,000 Lexington at Keeneland.

Lord Miles

Curlin – Lady Esme, by Majestic Warrior

Bred in Kentucky by Vegso Racing Stable

With all the major Kentucky Derby prep races in the books, the biggest newcomer on this week’s Daily Racing Form Derby Watch is Lord Miles, who returned $120.50 for his nose victory in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial on Saturday at Aqueduct. While he will again be a long price in the Derby, he brings classic credentials from a pedigree standpoint.