Patrick Valenzuela will ride Sway Away in the Arkansas Derby, trainer Jeff Bonde said Monday. The horse, who was the runner-up to The Factor in the Grade 2 San Vicente at Santa Anita in February, finished a troubled sixth last out in the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel at Oaklawn.
Uncle Mo could face as many as 10 opponents in Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct and as far as the champion 2-year-old’s connections are concerned, the more the merrier.
Clarke Lane, second in an allowance race over a mile on Sunday at Santa Anita, could start in the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 16, trainer Simon Callaghan said on Tuesday.
Six races into his career, Silver Medallion will make his first start on a dirt surface in Saturday’s $1 million Santa Anita Derby. “The way he trains on it, he does better on the dirt than the other two,” assistant trainer Scott Blasi said on Tuesday morning. “It’s the matter of whether he can run the same race on dirt as synthetic. If he runs like he trains, I think he’ll like the dirt.”
A flight scheduled to bring Uncle Mo and other horses to New York from Florida on Tuesday was canceled because of weather concerns and rescheduled for Wednesday. The favorite for the Kentucky Derby, Uncle Mo is scheduled to run Saturday in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
One year after finishing a troubled-trip second in the Kentucky Derby with Ice Box, owner Robert LaPenta and trainer Nick Zito are positioned to make another charge at the blanket of roses with Dialed In, who, like Ice Box in 2010, enters the race off a last-to-first victory in the Florida Derby.
He’s not exactly Uncle Mo, but Watch Me Go will be the horse with at least a hint of name recognition in Saturday’s Illinois Derby. Trainer Kathleen O’Connell confirmed early Monday afternoon that she and owner Gil Campbell have chosen the Grade 3, $300,000 Illinois Derby at Hawthorne over the Arkansas Derby next weekend at Oaklawn Park for Watch Me Go’s next race.
The gamble of moving Gulfstream Park’s marquee event, the $1 million Florida Derby, to a Sunday for the first time this season proved an unequivocal success.
.jpg)
More than likely, Anthony’s Cross must finish in the first three in Saturday’s $1 million Santa Anita Derby to have sufficient earnings to earn a berth in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7.
Some handicappers believe that experience counts, especially as it pertains to the Kentucky Derby. Caleb’s Posse has experience. Lots of it. If he starts, as expected, in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on April 16, it will be his 11th lifetime race. That’s more trips to the post than Uncle Mo and The Factor will have combined before this year’s Run for the Roses.
