The graded stakes experience Hillbilly Royalty brings into the $100,000 Northern Spur on Saturday at Oaklawn Park could give him a slight class edge over a competitive field of 3-year-olds.
Fresh off a mind-blowing weekend at Santa Anita, John Sadler will be running Louisiana Handicap winner Hard Aces in the Oaklawn event for owners Pete and Kosta Hronis, with Victor Espinoza firmly attached. It’s a band you wouldn’t want to break up.
A pair of overnight stakes on the turf were expected to share the limelight on Saturday’s 10 race program at Gulfstream Park. But when both those races failed to fill, the spotlight shifted to a field of seven 4-year-old and up optional-claiming runners who’ll vie five furlongs on the grass for a $44,000 purse.
NBC and its sister network NBC Sports will televise 18 graded stakes races this summer and fall in 10 telecasts as part of its coverage of prep races guaranteeing spots in the Breeders’ Cup event, the network and the Breeders’ Cup announced on Thursday.
So instead of taking a relatively short price on one of the three favorites, why not look for a price on a horse who figures to be in front early in the Top Flight at Aqueduct on Saturday?
Living the Life will sprint on turf for the first time in Saturday’s $100,000 Las Cienegas Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita.
Uncoupled stablemates African Rose and Belleofthebeach, who have split two close decisions since December, will clash again in Saturday’s $50,000 Czaria Handicap at Sunland Park. The six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares drew a field of seven.
Protonico was eased in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap as the 5-1 third choice, which came as an unpleasant surprise to Todd Pletcher. On the flip side, Pletcher welcomed the news afterward that nothing was amiss with the colt.
The abundance of speed, as well as the Kentucky Derby’s history of typically unfolding with a fast pace, therefore begs the question, which horses might capitalize from all this speed? My short list of horses not overly keen early and capable of successfully winning from the second tier of runners, came down to three contenders.
Prospect Park, who finished a dull fourth in the Santa Anita Derby last Saturday, is off the Kentucky Derby trail after being found to have a high white blood cell count, trainer Cliff Sise Jr. said on Thursday.
