This was the last of the group of Kentucky Derby preps worth 85 points overall (50 to the winner), and it showcased the depth and strength of the Southern California-based 3-year-olds, for FIRING LINE made a mockery of this race after escaping the literal and figurative shadow of the hulking Dortmund.
Just days after the death of legendary trainer Allen Jerkens, Classic Point scored an emotional victory in taking the Grade 2 Inside Information Stakes on Saturday at Gulfstream Park. Allen Jerkens had trained Classic Point for owner-breeder Joseph Shields Jr. until summer 2014, when she was turned over to Jerkens’s son and fellow trainer, Jimmy Jerkens.
Dave Litfin's horses to watch at Aqueduct for the week of March 23.
Trip Notes for March 21-22: Spiral, Royal Delta, Sunland Derby and more by Michael Hammersly.
Download positive ROI trainer statistics for Monday's cards at Mountaineer Park, Mahoning Valley Racecourse, Parx Racing, Sunland Park, Turf Paradise, and Will Rogers Downs. The report features top trainer angles, top trainer/jockey combinations, and profitable betting angles based on a trainer's record in similar situations.
The strength and depth of California’s Kentucky Derby prospects looks even better when those horses ship out of town, and Firing Line certainly did his part to gloss that image Sunday with a runaway 14 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby here at Sunland Park.
Horses trained by Henry Dominguez locked up the exacta in the $100,000 Bill Thomas Memorial at Sunland Park on Sunday, when Unfettered beat the late-running Isn’t He Clever to the wire by 2 1/4 lengths.
Trainer Bob Baffert won the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks on Sunday for the fifth straight time, and seventh overall, but described his victory with Maybellene, via disqualification of his other filly, favored Callback, as “just an awkward, awkward situation.”
Wild in the Saddle, the former $5,000 claimer, won her first stakes in her 34th career start in Sunday’s $98,000 Dream of Summer Stakes for California-bred fillies and mares at Santa Anita.
Bob Pandolfo's Sharp Horses and Track Trends report featuring horses from Northfield, Dover, Yonkers and others.
