High-priced 2-year-olds working toward debuts

With this season’s 2-year-old racing about to begin in earnest, two of the highest-priced offerings of the season, both by freshman sires, are working steadily in California toward their racing careers.

Dre Dan, a son of Union Rags who commanded the highest price by a freshman sire at the Fasig-Tipton Florida sale of 2-year-olds in training, turned in his third work last week at Los Alamitos, stretching out to three furlongs and going in 37.80 seconds.

Dre Dan was a $975,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton by Bob Baffert, acting as agent for Charles Chu’s Baoma Corp. The colt is out of the Touch Gold mare Touched, dam of Grade 2 winner Indian Firewater – who was also trained by Baffert.

Tap It All, a filly from the first crop of Tapizar, worked three furlongs in 35.80 at Santa Anita for trainer Doug O’Neill, getting the bullet of 16 moves at the distance.

Tap It All sold for $800,000 at the Fasig-Tipton sale, with O’Neill’s brother Dennis, working with Erik Johnson, signing the ticket. Sire Tapizar, winner of the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, is by two-time leading sire Tapit.

Tap It All is the first foal out of the stakes-winning New York-bred Yawkey Way.

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Astrology’s first winner in Mexico

Astrology was the first of this year’s freshman sires off the mark with a winner as his son Mi Querido Capo was a six-length maiden winner in Mexico last week.

The Kentucky-bred colt was a $15,000 purchase by Carlos Antonio Gomez Ruiz out of the 2015 Keeneland September yearling sale.

Astrology, a son of A.P. Indy, was a Grade 3 winner as a juvenile and finished third in the 2011 Preakness Stakes. He stands at Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Ky.

Florida-bred takes Kentucky’s first 2-year-old race

Kentucky’s first 2-year-old race of the year opened the Keeneland spring meet on Friday, with Wesley Ward trainee Big City Dreamin breaking sharply, opening up around the turn, and continuing on to win by 1 1/4 lengths. The Florida-bred Iqbaal filly ran the 4 1/2 furlongs in 52.53.

Bluegrass Gem, the first starter by Grade 1 winner and freshman sire Gemologist, rallied mildly to be second. Baytown Turls, by fellow freshman sire Maclean’s Music, was third.

OBS prepares for spring sale

The juvenile sales season continues later this month with the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training. The auction is set for April 19-22, with 1,216 juveniles cataloged over the four sessions.

A pre-sale under-tack show will take place on the Ocala Training Center’s all-weather Safetrack surface on April 11-16. Both the breeze show and the sale will be streamed live on DRF.com.