Havana developed a small quarter crack on his right front foot on Saturday morning, forcing trainer Todd Pletcher to scratch the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up from the Grade 2 Swale later that afternoon at Gulfstream Park.
Sheik Mohammed al-Maktoum’s Darley operation has purchased a majority interest in multiple graded stakes winner Cairo Prince, considered among the leading candidates for the Kentucky Derby.
The mutuel field, the 24th or “all others” option, was in the familiar spot as favorite after the first full day of betting into Pool 3 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which began a three-day run Thursday.
The mutuel field, the 24th or “all others” option, was in the familiar spot as the favorite during the opening hours of wagering in Pool 3 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which began a three-day run Thursday at noon Eastern.
Some under-the-radar scrambling for a Kentucky Derby foothold will take place Saturday at Turfway Park, where 11 3-year-olds will have an audition of sorts for the track’s only Derby-points event when running in the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes.
Though billed as a rematch between Withers Stakes 1-2 finishers Samraat and Uncle Sigh, Saturday’s Grade 3, $500,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct is far from a two-horse race.
The Swale Stakes on Saturday will launch the 3-year-old campaigns of No Nay Never and Havana, whose careers figure to head in different directions after the race. No Nay Never is likely headed back to Europe, where he captured the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes and the Group 1 Prix Morny at 2. Havana likely will go to one of the final Kentucky Derby preps.
Trainer Bill Kaplan was extremely pleased with East Hall’s fourth-place finish in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, a performance that earned the improving 3-year-old five Kentucky Derby qualifier points.
Samraat’s victory in the Grade 3 Withers Stakes gave Len Riggio his first graded stakes victory as an owner. Samraat and stablemate Noble Cornerstone will try to give him his second, when they run Saturday in the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct.
Street Strategy, who is part of the field for Friday’s featured eighth race at Oaklawn Park, shares a number of similarities with his sire, 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, said jockey Calvin Borel.
