HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Eddie Kenneally and his owner Dr. Joseph Witek, said they’re ready to put Majestic Hussar on the Kentucky Derby trail following his impressive victory over odds-on favorite Palace Malice in Saturday’s opening race at Gulfstream Park.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Officer Alex will run Monday in the $150,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park, and he has more than just a few things in common with the race’s namesake. Officer Alex is a Pennsylvania-bred, like Smarty Jones. He also is wintering at Oaklawn, won the Pennsylvania Nursery as a 2-year-old, and his regular rider is Stewart Elliott.
The eighth season of Countdown to the Crown returns as one of the most comprehensive handicapper’s scouting reports of the 3-year-old scene. Posted each Friday at DRF.com from Jan. 4 through the Belmont Stakes, Countdown keeps you apprised of the rising stars of the 3-year-old class from the maiden ranks through the Grade 1 stakes. You can access daily updates, opinions and interactive features at Countdowntothecrown.com as well.
Straight from the gate
There are, as usual, more questions than answers in the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes, the first local step toward the $1 million Louisiana Derby. Can quick horses like Circle Unbroken, Malibu High, and Oxbow go two turns? How will two-turn maiden winners Golden Soul and Hawaakom stack up against stronger competition? But probably the most important question the Lecomte can answer is whether Avie’s Quality runs as well on dirt as on synthetic, because if he does, Avie’s Quality might be good enough to factor in races more important than a Grade 3 in mid-January.
Shanghai Bobby has won the Hopeful Stakes, the Champagne Stakes, and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and is the overwhelming favorite to be named champion 2-year-old of 2012 when the Eclipse Awards are held Sat
Officials at Fair Grounds Race Course made a preemptive and prudent decision Wednesday to postpone two of the five stakes scheduled for its “Road to the Derby Kickoff Day” program Saturday in New Orleans.
Both of those grass races, the $125,000 Col. E.R. Bradley and the $75,000 Marie Krantz Memorial, will be run a week from Saturday, on Jan. 26. The move was made because of a heavily saturated turf course and the fear that those stakes would be decimated if they were carded this Saturday and had to be transferred to the main track.
Prep races last weekend helped clear the air regarding the $50,000 California Oaks on Feb. 9 and Grade 3, $200,000 El Camino Real Derby on Feb. 16.
Sent off the 9-10 favorite, Zeewat won Saturday’s $100,000 California Derby as expected. The runner-up was Wildcat Moon, who was making both his route and stakes debuts.
Both are being pointed to the El Camino Real Derby.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Todd Pletcher reported that Shanghai Bobby is sitting on ready for his first start of the year, scheduled to come in the Grade 3 Holy Bull a week from Saturday, after watching his unbeaten 3-year-old work five furlongs in 1:00.42 at Palm Meadows on Sunday. Shanghai Bobby, popular winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, is the overwhelming favorite to be named juvenile champion at the Eclipse Awards dinner, to be held here Saturday night.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Wow!
Whether it was the addition of blinkers, the presence of a blistering pace battle in front of him, or just the case of a good fresh horse sitting on a big race, many who witnessed the 3-year-old debut of John Oxley’s Sky Mesa colt Dynamic Sky in Saturday’s $100,000 Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs came away with the feeling they may well have seen a horse with true Triple Crown potential.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
ALBANY, Calif. – The finish of the $100,000 California Derby was much better for odds-on favorite Zeewat than the start.
Zeewat ($3.80) hopped as the gate opened, breaking awkwardly and getting shuffled back early in the 1 1/16-mile race that is the major local prep for the Grade 3, $200,000 El Camino Real Derby on Feb. 16.
