Busy morning for Gotham probables
Led by the 2-year-old champion Hansen, seven horses pointing to next Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct put in workouts Sunday morning at four different facilities.
David GreningFeb 26, 2012
Led by the 2-year-old champion Hansen, seven horses pointing to next Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct put in workouts Sunday morning at four different facilities.
Algorithms has been scratched from Sunday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes after popping a splint, according to owner Jack Wolf. Algorithms was the morning-line favorite and one of two horses trainer Todd Pletcher had entered in the race along with Discreet Dancer.
Isn’t He Clever rolled out new tactics Saturday for the $150,000 Borderland Derby at Sunland Park, and after rallying for a 1 3/4-length win over favorite Zackn’mat, his connections said he would target next month’s Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby.
El Padrino has been described as extremely laid-back by his trainer, Todd Pletcher, but he showed Saturday in the Grade 2, $300,000 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds that he can be a street fighter, too.
On a February weekend unusually chock full of appearances by 2011 Eclipse Award winners and contenders – Amazombie, Awesome Maria, Perfect Shirl, Royal Delta, and The Factor are all making their 2012 debuts – the unveiling of greatest interest will come Sunday when Union Rags makes his first start as a 3-year-old in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park.
A real harbinger of what to expect at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday of May will take place at Gulfstream Park on Sunday when Union Rags and Algorithms, just about everybody’s consensus picks as the two leading Kentucky Derby prospects, lock horns in the $250,000 Fountain of Youth.
In the two biggest preps for Kentucky Derby prospects this weekend, handicapper Jeremy Plonk likes El Padrino in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds and Algorithms in the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Union Rags and Algorithms top a field of eight 3-year-olds for Sunday's Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park.
Mardi Gras may have ended Tuesday, but in this city, the rallying cry is always “laissez les bons temps rouler.” At Fair Grounds on Saturday, the good times roll with a stakes-packed Louisiana Derby preview card, highlighted by a Grade 2, $300,000 Risen Star Stakes in which the locals will try to defend their honor against a visitor.
Fed Biz, winner of a maiden race and an optional claimer at this meeting, will make his stakes debut in the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on March 10, trainer Bob Baffert said Wednesday.