It isn’t a stakes race, but it could be. When Sunday’s seventh race at Gulfstream Park is over, one or more of the nine 3-year-olds entered will be stakes bound in a bid to get on the Triple Crown trail.
Hansen has kept a pretty low profile throughout his brief but successful racing career, doing the majority of his training in the relative anonymity of the Trackside Training Center in Kentucky prior to his victory in the Breeders’ Cup and under the cloak of darkness since arriving in south Florida last month.
Countdown to the Crown returns for a seventh season online as one of the most comprehensive handicapper’s scouting reports of the 3-year-old scene. Posted each Friday at DRF.com from Jan. 6 through the Belmont Stakes, Countdown keeps you apprised of the rising stars of the 3-year-old class from the maiden ranks through the Grade 1 stakes.
Ever So Lucky, who ran two bang-up races in a span of 15 days last November at Churchill Downs, arrived at Gulfstream shortly after 6 a.m. Friday following a 12-hour van ride from Camden, S.C. After getting a little rest, Ever So Lucky went to the track for a mile gallop.
While the Holy Bull will be the focus of Sunday’s card, an allowance for 3-year-olds held about 90 minutes earlier will garner a lot of attention as well.
The south Florida road to the Kentucky Derby will kick off in earnest Sunday when six aspiring Derby prospects, including recently crowned juvenile champion Hansen, square off at a mile in the $400,000 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park.
There will be at least two south-Florida based Kentucky Derby prospects heading to Tampa next week for Tampa Bay Downs' Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes. Trainer Ian Wilkes is pointing his Neck 'n Neck in that direction, as is Jimmy Toner with his recently acquired Chief Energy.
Union Rags, the Grade 1 Champagne winner and Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up, worked five furlongs in 1:00.82 over the main track at Palm Meadows Tuesday morning. It was the second-fastest of 28 recorded works at the distance on a warm, cloudy, and sometimes rainy morning.
Midnight Transfer has run in his last sprint race for the foreseeable future after winning Sunday’s San Pedro Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita.
Stephanoatsee, runner-up to Alpha in the Count Fleet Stakes at Aqueduct on Jan. 7, is off the Triple Crown trail due to an injured pastern bone.
