The Florida Derby’s “big three” are big enough to make it the season’s most important prep race to date. The 100-40-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points scale aside, you don’t need a numbers racket higher than three to know this is a must-see race. And while the top prospects in the Louisiana Derby don't shine as brightly, the 14-race field is deeper in talent.
BreezeFigs Quick-Pix for Saturday, March 30th by Bob Fierro and Jay Kilgore.
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott holds the upper hand with his representatives in a pair of Grade 2 races on the Louisiana Derby undercard, first with Flat Out in the New Orleans Handicap, and then with Amira’s Prince in the Mervin Muniz.
Michael Hammersly's A's, B's, and C's for the March 30, 2013 Pick 4 ticket at Gulfstream Park.
Orb is in line to receive another favorable setup Saturday in the Florida Derby. And that, combined with the likelihood he will still be a bigger price than Itsmyluckyday and Shanghai Bobby, is why I’m taking Orb to win right back.
While trying to make sense of Saturday’s Florida Derby, I can’t get Florida Gulf Coast University out of my mind. Since I saw the university’s basketball team run two college basketball powers out of the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia last weekend, I have been trying to think of something comparable I have seen in horse racing.
Invigorated by the success of Ben's Cat, 80-year-old Maryland-based trainer King Leatherbury is enjoying himself and getting back to what he does best - claiming horses.
Michael Hammersly's weekly "Trip Notes" report, which includes the previous weekend's graded stakes - this weekend including the Spiral Stakes and the Sunland Derby.
Saturday's Spiral at Turfway lured a deep and interesting field, but it’s not filled with the kind of horses we’ve grown to expect in this race. Sunday's Sunland Derby has Bob Baffert trainees Shakin It Up and Govenor Charlie along with local hope Dry Summer.
The Sunland Derby will be run after Pool 3 of the Churchill Downs Kentucky Derby Future Wager closes on Sunday. Shakin It Up, the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the Sunland Derby, is the only runner in that race who is also an individual betting interest in Pool 3, so if you like his chances of winning, your Pool 3 Kentucky Derby futures odds cannot be bet down after the race if he is successful.
