Cherry Wine still needs qualifying points in order to secure a spot in the Kentucky Derby and trainer Dale Romans believes the best place to get them is in the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 9.
Mohaymen and Nyquist make for a formidable one-two punch in the Florida Derby. The remainder of the field, however, has little to recommend.
It will be East vs. West, No. 1 vs. No. 2, a clash of the unbeatens when 3-year-old division leaders Nyquist and Mohaymen square off in one of the most-anticipated Kentucky Derby preps in recent memory, Saturday's $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.
Horses competing in the Blue Grass Stakes on April 9 at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., will again be subject to additional security precautions before and after the race, the track announced Thursday.
That shiver of excitement being felt across the racing landscape can be blamed on the showdown Saturday between marquee 3-year-olds Nyquist and Mohaymen in the $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.
The Florida Derby, the centerpiece of an interesting Gulfstream Park card on Saturday, could very well reveal the Kentucky Derby winner or, at least, the favorite. And we get to see the rare battle of No. 1 seeds before the Final 20.
When Tom Benson, through his wife Gayle Benson’s GMB Racing, jumped back into the Thoroughbred game for the first time in decades, buying a handful of yearlings in 2014, it’s unlikely that even the rosiest plan envisioned coming up with two Kentucky Derby starters in 2016. But with a little more than a month until the Kentucky Derby, that’s the position in which the Bensons find themselves, with both Tom’s Ready, who was second in the Louisiana Derby, and Mo Tom, a vastly troubled fourth, now bedded down at Churchill Downs and ready to begin their final major Derby preparations.
Airoforce has been assigned post 10 as the 3-1 morning-line favorite Saturday in a full field entered in the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park. Besides Airoforce, trained by Mark Casse, other notable Spiral entries include Jensen for Larry Jones, Kasseopia for Graham Motion, Ralis for Doug O'Neill, Azar for Todd Pletcher, and a foursome for Mike Maker.
These days, owner Paul Reddam has one eye on the Kentucky Derby preps and another on the National Hockey League standings, for as much as he wants to get to and win the Derby again, he also wants his beloved Detroit Red Wings to keep alive their 24-year streak of making the playoffs.
The lineup for Saturday's $1 million Florida Derby surprisingly swelled to 10 3-year-olds when the race was drawn Wednesday, although the last-minute additions of Copingaway, Chovanes, and Isofass did little to change the overwhelming notion that the Grade 1 event remains strictly a two-horse race between the undefeated division leaders Mohaymen and Nyquist.
