Saturday’s Festival Day will have three stakes races on the program, but the one most of the fans at the track and around the country will be most interested in is the Grade 3, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby.
The mutuel field closed as a clear-cut choice over the top individually listed option, Verrazano, when Pool 2 of the 2013 Kentucky Derby Future Wager closed Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern.
It’s certainly hard to blame trainer Gary Contessa and the connections of Rydilluc if they don’t start getting a little excited over the prospects of putting their 3-year-old on the Kentucky Derby trail after his eye-catching 3 1/2-length victory over Charming Kitten in Sunday’s $150,000 Palm Beach at Gulfstream Park.
Flashback, the unbeaten 3-year-old, had a tougher test than expected in a Sunday morning workout at Santa Anita. A leading contender for Saturday’s $300,000 San Felipe Stakes, Flashback worked five furlongs in 59 seconds, the fastest of 63 recorded works at the distance. But the circumstances of the stretch run of the workout were not what jockey Julien Leparoux and trainer Bob Baffert envisioned.
yjack, West Hills Giant, and Elnaawi – the top three finishers from Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct – all came out of the race in good order and are expected to meet again in the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial here April 6.
Going into the final six-hour session of wagering Sunday, the mutuel field continued as a clear-cut favorite in Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager. The pool reopens at noon Eastern and closes at 6 p.m.
The Kentucky Derby stock of both Itsmyluckyday and Shanghai Bobby may have risen even higher on Saturday after Clearly Now, a distant third behind that pair in the Grade 3 Holy Bull, rallied to a 1 3/4-length victory in the $150,000 Swale Stakes.
General Election powered from well off the pace under jockey Albin Jimenez to win his stakes debut Saturday in the 31st running of the $75,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky.
David Wilkenfeld wasn’t alive in the pick six at Aqueduct following Saturday’s Gotham Stakes but his dreams of the Kentucky Derby were certainly alive and well after the race. Wilkenfeld, whose stable is named Pick Six Racing, owns Vyjack, who showed a new dimension by rallying from next-to-last in a field of 11 to win Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham.
Trainer Ken McPeek was all smiles here at Gulfstream Park on Saturday morning after sending out a trio of his top 3-year-olds – Java’s War, Frac Daddy, and Pure Fun – to turn in important works in preparation for upcoming stakes opportunities.
