The Bob Baffert-trained Collected and Let’s Meet in Rio finished one-two in the Grade 3, $100,750 Sham Stakes, the first graded stakes of the season for 3-year-olds that offers points towards a berth in the May 7 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
Mo Tom, who won the Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs last year before finishing third there in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, is the most accomplished of the 15 3-year-olds entered for the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 16 at Fair Grounds.
Even though Dressed in Hermes has made his last four starts on turf, winning two stakes, trainer Janet Armstrong likes the way he has trained on dirt, which has earned Dressed in Hermes a start on Saturday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita.
Churchill Downs officials on Tuesday released the stakes schedule for their 2016 spring meet, with the most notable change being the renaming of the former Firecracker Handicap in honor of Wise Dan, the Horse of the Year in 2012 and 2013.
Path of David, who won Thursday's $79,250 Eddie Logan Stakes on turf at Santa Anita, is being pointed for the $150,000 Robert Lewis Stakes on the main track here Feb. 6.
According to the company he's kept, Flexibility looks well spotted to kick off his 3-year-old campaign successfully when he runs in Saturday's Grade 3, $200,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct.
There are four horses in Saturday's Grade 3 Jerome at Aqueduct that hit 90 on the Beyer scale late in their 2-year-old seasons, suggesting this is a race that deserves more than casual attention.
Though entered in Friday's $125,000 Lost in the Fog Stakes at six furlongs, Condo King is likely to scratch from that spot and attempt two turns in Saturday's Grade 3, $200,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct.
On Saturday, both John Servis and his son Blane run horses in the Grade 3, $200,000 Jerome Stakes, now the first race for 3-year-olds on this circuit that could lead to the Kentucky Derby.
Nyquist and Songbird – both undefeated, both Breeders' Cup winners, and both undoubtedly to be named Eclipse Award winners – are the marquee names among the 3-year-olds of 2016 based this winter at Santa Anita, the track where three of the last four Kentucky Derby winners have trained during winter months.
