Animal Kingdom, the reigning Kentucky Derby champion, and Union Rags, currently the favorite to win this year’s Derby, both turned in easy maintenance works at Palm Meadows on Saturday morning.
The Todd Pletcher-trained Gemologist, unbeaten but unraced since November, is among 14 3-year-olds considering next Saturday's Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
Trainer Pat Byrne confirmed Friday that he would scratch Take Charge Indy from Saturday’s Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby to await the $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on March 31.
The Florida Derby is not the only important Kentucky Derby prep left on the local racing schedule this winter. The $150,000 Palm Beach Stakes may be carded on the grass, but it could well have Derby implications with both Dullahan and Howe Great among the six 3-year-olds set to go 1 1/8 miles Sunday at Gulfstream Park.
Hansen was scheduled to ship early Saturday from Turfway Park to Louisville in time to train over the Trackside training center, where the champion colt will be based until making his next start, likely in the April 7 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
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.
Romancing the Gold, who won a first-level allowance race at Aqueduct on Wednesday, could possibly make his next start in the $1 million Wood Memorial on April 7, trainer Jeremiah Englehart said Thursday.
A handicapping conundrum as old as the sport comes front and center Saturday at Santa Anita in the Grade 2, $300,000 San Felipe Stakes, when the raw, yet untested talent of Bodemeister takes on stakes-proven runners such as Creative Cause and Liaison in this key prep for both the April 7 Santa Anita Derby and the May 5 Kentucky Derby.
Brother Francis, third in the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park in December, will be heavily favored to win a maiden race over a mile on turf in Saturday’s second race, which is his prep for the Santa Anita Derby.
The winter hasn’t gone quite as smoothly as trainer Jonathan Sheppard had hoped for Ever So Lucky, but the Hall of Fame horseman will finally take the wraps off his top 3-year-old prospect when sending him out against nine rivals in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Swale at Gulfstream Park.
