Trainer Eddie Barker, 76, has a chance to go to the Kentucky Derby for the first time, but only if Shipsational – the runner-up in the Sam F. Davis Stakes last month – can continue to progress in coming weeks, starting Saturday when he runs in the Tampa Bay Derby.
Eight new names are among the 23 individual betting interests in the fourth of five pools in the 2022 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday along with the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager.
Road to the 2022 Kentucky Derby: John Battaglia Memorial Stakes analysis
Road to the 2022 Kentucky Derby: Gotham Stakes analysis
Classic Causeway is all set for his role as the favorite in the Tampa Bay Derby after having his final prerace breeze Saturday at the Palm Meadows training center on the Atlantic Coast. The chestnut colt went five furlongs in 59.80 seconds in preparing for the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, to be run Saturday as the annual Festival Day showcase at Tampa in Oldsmar, Fla.
Simplification, coming off a nightmarish trip in the Holy Bull, got a deserved victory in Saturday's Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park. He earned a career-best Beyer figure and has now run two good races since heading around two turns.
Forbidden Kingdom has been patiently handled by Mandella, who waited until start number five to attempt two turns. The work Mandella has put in to getting this fast colt to carry his speed longer distances paid off when Forbidden Kingdom scored an easy victory in this race.
Morello remained undefeated and helped further fuel the Kentucky Derby dreams of his connections with an authoritative 4 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.
History repeated itself Saturday at Gulfstream Park for trainer Antonio Sano. Five years after his Gunnevera bounced back from a troubled second-place finish in the Holy Bull to win the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in impressive fashion, Sano did it again with Simplification, who rallied to a convincing 3 1/2-length victory over In Due Time in the key Kentucky Derby prep.
Brad Cox is contemplating pulling the old stakes switcheroo with a couple of his 3-year-olds, Cyberknife and Zozos.
