Arkansas Derby: Valenzuela will ride Sway Away

Patrick Valenzuela will ride Sway Away in the Arkansas Derby, trainer Jeff Bonde said Monday. The horse, who was the runner-up to The Factor in the Grade 2 San Vicente at Santa Anita in February, finished a troubled sixth last out in the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel at Oaklawn. (The Factor won the race and on Monday worked six furlongs in 1:11.40 at Santa Anita.)

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Bonde’s other festival starters will include Smiling Tiger, one of the nation’s top sprinters. He will go in the Grade 3, $200,000 Count Fleet on April 14. Road Ready is to seek his second career stakes win in the $75,000 Bachelor for 3-year-olds at six furlongs April 15. Bonde said Joel Rosario has the mount on Smiling Tiger, who along with Sway Away has been based here since the middle of March.

“He’s training good, just waiting to run,” Bonde said of Smiling Tiger.

Road Ready, meanwhile, is scheduled to fly in from California on April 12, said Bonde. (There is also a flight next week bringing festival horses from Florida.)

Saratoga Red worked for the Arkansas Derby on Monday, breezing six furlongs in 1:12.40. His trainer, Lukas, called the move “huge” when describing it Tuesday.

“That was about a 30-mile an hour headwind he went into,” he said, noting the horse came home his last quarter in 24 seconds. “That’s pretty good.”

◗ Archarcharch, the winner of the Grade 3 Southwest in February, worked six furlongs by himself Tuesday, in 1:12.20. Jon Court was aboard for the move, which went past the wire to the seven-eighths pole. He galloped out seven furlongs in 1:25.80.

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