The late racemare It's Tricky had an affinity for Aqueduct, winning all five of her starts there, including three stakes. Her son Enticed, her lone starter to date from three foals produced prior to her death last year, seems to have inherited the same. The Medaglia d'Oro colt won the Gotham Stakes in his most recent outing and now moves on to the Wood Memorial.
Eight new names are in the lineup for the fourth and final pool of the 2018 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday at noon Eastern for the customary three-day run.
Eclipse Award champion Good Magic has been installed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite in a full field for the Grade 2, $1 million Blue Grass Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland.
Oaklawn leading trainer Steve Asmussen has confirmed that Dream Baby Dream will make his next start in the Arkansas Derby on April 14. Monday, Asmussen worked Combatant and Tenfold, also possible contenders for the race.
Mike Repole has seen the change in the Thoroughbred ownership game over the last several years and instead of trying to fight it, he's embraced it.
After finally getting a chance to see McKinzie for the first time in a week, assessing his status, and looking at the calendar, trainer Bob Baffert on Monday morning here at Santa Anita said it was “not looking good” for McKinzie to make the Kentucky Derby on May 5 at Churchill Downs.
I had noted in the weekly Derby Watch chart I do with colleague Mike Watchmaker that AUDIBLE reminded me quite a bit of Always Dreaming in terms of being a late developer who blossomed in Florida, and he furthered that impression by winning the Florida Derby, the same race Always Dreaming took last year in his final start before capturing the Kentucky Derby. They have different running styles, but both are coming to hand when it matters most for Pletcher.
Greyvitos, the winner of the $402,400 Springboard Mile at Remington Park in December, will have a new jockey when he returns from injury in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 14.
Bolt d’Oro reached the finish of a five-furlong workout at Santa Anita on Sunday in 1:01.20. It was then that the talented colt decided the exercise was not complete.
This victory made GRONKOWSKI the points leader after the seventh and final leg of the European Road to the Derby series, which was inaugurated this year by Churchill Downs and offered a carve-out that is separate from the main Road to the Derby races. Gronkowski thus secured a spot in the 20-horse field for the Kentucky Derby on May 5, and so this analysis is solely dedicated to his performance in this race and his chances in five weeks.
