ARCADIA, Calif. – Mohaven, a stakes winner on Breeders’ Cup weekend at Del Mar last fall, was tried on turf for her first start of the year in early February.
She will not be on the surface again soon.
Mohaven thrived on dirt last year, and will be a strong favorite to win her second stakes on the surface in Saturday’s $125,000 Evening Jewel Stakes for California-bred 3-year-old fillies at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Whit Beckman believes added distance and better preparation can help Nycon turn the tables on Paradise when the two 3-year-old fillies meet for the second straight race in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Gazelle Stakes at Aqueduct.
Paradise defeated Nycon by 3 3/4 lengths in the Busher, a one-turn mile run here Feb. 28. Nycon was coming off a second-place finish in the Cash Run Stakes at Gulfstream Park on New Year’s Day and had gotten sick shortly after that race. As a result, Nycon worked just twice in the month leading up to the Busher.
Far from a tired sequel, Quint’s Brew and Blue Kingdom are on track to meet for the fifth straight time in the $100,000 Frank Y. Whiteley Stakes on Saturday at Laurel Park. Quint’s Brew will be going for his fifth career stakes victory, while his snakebit archrival is still looking for his first.
Trainer Tim Kreiser said Point Dume, who would have been the favorite in the Whiteley, will instead run in the Grade 2 Carter on Saturday at Aqueduct.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Considering her status as a heavy favorite for Saturday’s Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita, it is remarkable to consider the early impressions Queen Maxima gave trainer Jeff Mullins.
Queen Maxima, briefly in training in 2023, had a delayed start to her career, winning her debut at Del Mar in the summer of 2024.
“She got turned out twice,” Mullins recalled recently. “She had a little of this and a little of that. We didn’t think she was a whole lot.”
Well, opinions have changed.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Even though Meaning has not run particularly fast in three starts, the stakes winner’s company lines stamp her the favorite in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks on Saturday.
Meaning’s career-high Beyer Speed Figure is a mere 79, which hardly justifies backing her at 3-5 program odds in the Oaks. Her company lines tell a different story.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Crazy Mason danced plenty of dances last year, and rarely missed a beat. The first slot on his dance card for 2026 is Keeneland, where he goes in Saturday’s Grade 3, $350,000 Commonwealth Stakes, for older horses going seven furlongs.
A field of seven has been entered for the Commonwealth, but at least one withdrawal is expected. Be You, last-out winner of the Toboggan, will instead start in Saturday’s Grade 2 Carter at Aqueduct, where he faces divisional Eclipse Award champion Book’em Danno.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Everyone who watched the last race at Gulfstream Park on March 6 should come to the same conclusion. Okiro was much the best horse that day, overcoming a slow start and a very wide trip to rally from last down the backstretch to a one-length victory at odds of 28-1 for trainer Jose Garoffalo.
The big question Saturday, when Okiro returns against virtually the same field going the same five furlongs on turf in a $75,000 overnight handicap, is can he repeat that performance while a much shorter price?
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Sister Troienne rose to prominence in Florida over the winter, but she got her career started in Kentucky, where an allowance victory last fall on the Keeneland turf marked her as a stakes filly.
She returns to Keeneland on Saturday in the Grade 2, $500,000 Appalachian Stakes where she’ll face a one-two punch from another barn in Lion Lake, who edged her last out, and Imaginationthelady, already a Grade 2 winner on this course.
The Madison Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland is a Grade 1 race in search of Grade 1 winners.
Among the eight fillies and mares entered to run seven furlongs, only Clicquot has notched a Grade 1 victory, and hers came last September in the Cotillion, an age-restricted route race.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Dreams that began early for Potente and Robusta will endure or expire on Saturday when the top 3-year-olds in California race 1 1/8 miles in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.
One month after finishing one-two in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes, Potente and Robusta meet again. They face 100-Beyer maiden winner Cherokee Nation, Grade 1 winner Intrepido, Grade 2 sprint winner So Happy, allowance comebacker Vitruvian Man, and Cal Cup Derby winner Start the Ride.
