Antares World headed south

Trainer Steve Specht will have to look south for Antares World's next start, with her options including the Grade 3 Railbird at seven furlongs on May 9 or the Grade 2 Honeymoon at 1 1/8 miles on the turf May 31. Both races are at Hollywood Park.

Antares World, who was odds-on, always looked a winner in Saturday's Golden Poppy here, defeating Bleach Blonde by three lengths in the one-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies.

It was the type of race Specht expected two weeks earlier in the Grade 2 Providencia at Santa Anita. Despite impressing Specht in the paddock before the race, Antares World finished eighth in the 1 1/8-mile turf race.

"She stood out on looks down there," Specht said.

Specht felt jockey Frank Alvarado took too strong a hold of Antares World at Santa Anita and wound up fighting her. Alvarado, Specht's money rider, was simply in cruise control all the way in the Golden Poppy.