Who will be the shorter Derby prep price? Sovereignty, the two-time graded route stakes winner who is set to improve in his second start after a layoff, or Cornucopian, a second-time starter trying a route? I’ll say Cornucopian, and that Sovereignty is the more likely Saturday winner.
Arkansas Derby
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Getting a horse ready to run 1 1/2 miles off an extended layoff would seem a challenging task. But Christophe Clement has made it look easy, at least when it comes to the Grade 3 Pan American Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
In 2022, Clement sent out Gufo to win the Pan Am off a five-month layoff. Last year, he won it with Kertez off a six-month freshening.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Coal Battle, Sandman, and Speed King have been the pillars of the 3-year-old series this meet at Oaklawn Park and for Saturday’s final leg, the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby, they will take on a high-profile newcomer in Cornucopian.
The Arkansas Derby, the centerpiece of the annual Racing Festival of the South, is being showcased on a 14-race program that has a first post of 11:20 a.m. Central. The 1 1/8-mile race offers Kentucky Derby points on a scale of 100-50-25-15-10.
Aqueduct will offer six starter allowances on a stacked 11-race card Saturday. As viewers’ eyes are torn between several racetracks on a busy weekend, officials in New York hope to lure bettors with an average field size of nearly 11.
The allure, and challenge, of handicapping the Saturday card at Aqueduct is that nearly every race appears to be a wide-open contest. Each page in the past performances will likely reveal a standout runner. It’s nearly as likely that the standout runner is trained by Linda Rice, who has entered nine runners in six races.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Despite a less than desirable post-position draw and the loss of his regular rider due to injury earlier in the week, Sovereignty is expected to go postward a solid choice to add Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park to his victory here four weeks earlier in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth.
If one can “burst onto the scene,” can one also “burst off the scene?” That’s how Simply Joking’s trajectory maps.
The filly debuted Dec. 26 winning the Letellier Stakes at Fair Grounds, then stretched from that sprint to a Jan. 18 route and led all the way landing the Silverbulletday. Ten weeks later, Simply Joking finally swings back into action as one of 10 3-year-old fillies entered in the Grade 2, $750,000 Fantasy at Oaklawn Park.
“It does seem like a long time since she ran,” trainer Whit Beckman said. “I’m ready to get her back in a race.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – White Abarrio is generally considered to be one of the top handicap horses in the world following his one-sided victory over the enormously talented Locked in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational earlier this winter. But despite that distinction, his connections resisted the temptation to make the long journey to the Middle East to go after $20 million and $12 million purses in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, respectively, and to instead compete for a prize of $165,000 Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the Grade 3 Ghostzapper Stakes.
ARCADIA, Calif. – While the top sprinters from California race next week in million-dollar races in the Middle East, less accomplished local sprinters race for a $100,000 purse in the first of two Grade 3 races Saturday at Santa Anita.
Pilot Commander is odds-on in the San Carlos Stakes, a seven-furlong race with five entrants. It’s an easy spot, because the best local sprinters run April 5 in Dubai. Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Straight No Chaser is favored in the $2 million Golden Shaheen; Malibu Stakes winner Raging Torrent runs in the $1 million Godolphin Mile.
Hollygrove is looking for her second consecutive stakes victory at Turfway Park, but she is by no means a sure thing Saturday night. The stout lineup she faces in the $125,000 Serena’s Song Stakes includes Grace On Grace, also a winner in Turfway’s 3-year-old filly sprint series, albeit one Hollygrove has already bested once; and the comebacking multiple stakes winner Long Neck Paula.
