Secret Circle handled the latest distance test in his escalating career Saturday at Oaklawn Park, when he beat a fast-closing Optimizer by three-quarters of a length in the Grade 2, $500,000 Rebel Stakes.
Street Life likely earned himself a spot in the $1 million Wood Memorial by overcoming a slow pace to run down pacesetting Copy My Swagger to win Saturday’s $75,000 Broad Brush Stakes at Aqueduct.
The field for the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby will be drawn on Wednesday. The mile and an eighth stakes will be run on Sunday, March 25, as part of a program of seven stakes worth a collective $1.6 million.
Many of the prospects for the upcoming Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park had their final pre-race works in recent days, including Mr. Prankster and Tizanexpense who breezed for Mike Maker on Saturday at the Trackside training center in Louisville.
Union Rags breezed a leisurely five furlongs in 1:04.21 seconds shortly after sunrise Saturday morning at Palm Meadows as he continues preparations for the $1 million Florida Derby on March 31.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is undecided on where his top 3-year-old, Alpha, will make his next start, but indicated Friday afternoon that he is now leaning slightly toward the $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 7. His other choice appears to be the Louisiana Derby six days earlier at Fair Grounds.
Racing officials at Turfway Park are expecting a sizable field for their annual showcase event, the Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes, with a handful of prominent trainers likely to run a pair of 3-year-olds apiece.
Handicapper Jeremy Plonk provides analysis of this weekend's key Kentucky Derby preps, including the San Felipe at Santa Anita and the Tampa Bay Derby.
Trainer Bob Baffert has the favored Secret Circle for Saturday’s Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, which he won last year with The Factor and in 2010 with Lookin At Lucky.
A pair of colts who finished far behind two of this season’s top Kentucky Derby prospects in graded stakes last time out will attempt to regroup against easier competition in Saturday’s $100,000 Private Terms at Laurel Park.
