Three Hearts was third and second in consecutive graded stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf during the winter, and is back in a longer race in Saturday’s $150,000 Santa Barbara Handicap at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita.
McGee: How I'd play Keeneland for Saturday, April 18
Shared Belief should win the Charles Town Classic on Saturday as a very short-priced favorite. Still, several obstacles stand between Shared Belief and victory.
The end of the Kentucky Derby prep season this past week marked the third year where Derby berths have been secured under the new points system announced in 2012. On the whole, it has worked well, providing a clearer and more cohesive path to Louisville than the graded-stakes earnings plan it replaced. Some tweaking , however, still needs to be done.
You won’t get 18-1 on him this year, but given the depth of the opposition, Unitarian still might be a square price when the $250,000 Elkhorn Stakes is run Saturday at Keeneland for the 30th time.
Winter Dawn, who took the measure of the future Grade 1-placed Feathered when the pair debuted together at Saratoga in August, will kick off her 3-year-old campaign in Saturday’s $44,000 optional-claiming at six furlongs at Gulfstream Park.
When That’s Who made his 2015 debut last month, he led almost every step of the way in the New Mexico State University Handicap at Sunland Park before grudgingly yielding in the final strides to finish third, three-quarters of a length behind the winner. That March 14 race covered one mile and 70 yards and followed a layoff of 2 1/2 months, so with less ground to cover Saturday, a fitter That’s Who could be tough to handle in the $60,000 O.D. McDonald Stakes at the Downs at Albuquerque.
Two of the leading candidates for this year’s Kentucky Derby, Frosted and Upstart, had a very good morning Thursday at Palm Meadows.
Love’s Not Fair makes his first start since March 13 in Thursday’s eighth race at Pimlico, a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer on turf. Trainer Claudio Gonzalez is winning 28 percent of his starts coming off a layoff 31-60 days, for a return on investment of $3.16.
Derick Giwner writes about his recent visit to Northfield Park in Ohio and also which horses could make the Levy Memorial final at Yonkers Raceway?
