HOT SPRINGS, ARK. – Booth, who earned a meet-best Beyer Speed Figure of 105 last out at Oaklawn, is being pointed to the track’s Grade 3 Whitmore Stakes, trainer Steve Asmussen said.

Booth won the Commodore, a new overnight stakes, in his most recent start in Hot Springs.

◗ Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said plans for recent 3-year-old allowance route winner Bestfriend Rocket are being discussed with owner Frank Fletcher. Lukas said he is still finalizing stakes plans for some of the other quality 3-year-olds he has in the barn this season at Oaklawn.

G W’s Girl, who has won back-to-back sprint stakes at Oaklawn, is being considered for a start in the Grade 2, $400,000 Beaumont for 3-year-old fillies April 6 at Keeneland, according to her trainer, Greg Compton.

G W’s Girl won the $150,000 Mockingbird at six furlongs Jan. 4. She closed from off the pace and one start later raced with the leaders winning the $150,000 Dixie Belle at the same distance Feb. 24. G W’s Girl was the odds-on favorite and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 84.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Free Like a Girl could be making the penultimate start of her career Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park, according to co-owner and trainer Chasey Deville Pomier.

Free Like a Girl ranks as the all-time-leading earner among Louisiana-breds. She has won 21 of 48 starts for earnings of $2,173,438. Free Like a Girl enters the Azeri off a runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Bayakoa, beaten a head in the Feb. 1 race at Oaklawn. She is shipping back to Arkansas from Delta Downs.

INDIANTOWN, Fla. – Three times in the last seven years, as the field turned into the stretch of the Kentucky Derby, trainer Chad Brown thought his horses were in position to win the race.

It wasn’t to be.

In 2018, Good Magic had to settle for second, 2 1/2 lengths behind Justify. In 2022, the late-running Zandon couldn’t see out the 1 1/4 miles and finished third, 1 1/2 lengths behind longshot winner Rich Strike.

Then, in 2024, Sierra Leone couldn’t maintain a straight course through the stretch and fell a nose short of the rail-skimming Mystik Dan.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The fact that Soul of an Angel sold for $2.6 million on Tuesday didn’t surprise her trainer, Saffie Joseph Jr., although he said the reality of having a champion leave the barn in such a sudden manner never really began to sink in until he started making shipping arrangements for her the following morning.

It wasn’t that surprising that Mama’s Gold finished fifth as the favorite in last month’s Say Florida Sandy Stakes at Aqueduct. Sure, he was coming off two triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, but those were earned in wins going 1 1/8 miles, whereas the Say Florida Sandy was a seven-furlong race.

“I guess I proved all the critics right last time. If he goes short, he likes to stop,” trainer Jimmy Ferraro said. “The longer you go with him, the better he is.”

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Claret Beret has been favored in her last four starts, and it will be interesting to see if she will again be the public’s choice in a competitive second-level allowance Friday at Oaklawn Park.

Claret Beret has won three of her last four starts, her most recent a nose win at this 1 1/16-mile distance in a first-level allowance for fillies and mares. The Beyer Speed Figure of 81 that she earned is one of the best last-race numbers in the field Friday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The difference in class between second-level allowance and stakes races is less distinct nowadays in California, though class boundaries have not evaporated entirely.

The handicapping question is how much difference is there, really, between the class levels? The subject will be tested in a pair of second-level allowance sprints Friday at Santa Anita.

East Avenue came into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile the first weekend in November looking like the leading member of his generation. Coming into the second weekend of March, his generation less than two months away from their turn at the Kentucky Derby, East Avenue essentially has fallen off the radar.

There are no quiet weekends for the remainder of March for Flavien Prat, the champion jockey of 2024.

After riding at Santa Anita last Saturday, Prat will be on planes each weekend for the rest of the month. This Saturday in the Tampa Bay Derby, he is scheduled to ride Chancer McPatrick, who won the Grade 1 Hopeful and Grade 1 Champagne Stakes last year before finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 1 in his last start.