OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Coming off a strong victory against winners in an allowance race last out, Doc Sullivan looms the horse to beat against five maiden winners in Sunday’s $100,000 Gander Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds at Aqueduct.

The Gander is run as a one-turn mile and that was the configuration at which Doc Sullivan scored a seven-length victory here Jan. 19, his third race in seven weeks. Trainer Mike Miceli said Doc Sullivan, a son of Solomini, handled that series of races in a relatively short span extremely well. He now has 37 days since his last race.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Grade 3, $600,000 Razorback Handicap appears to be the best betting race on Saturday’s blockbuster card at Oaklawn Park.

The 1 1/16-mile contest is part of an all-stakes pick four that runs from races 8 to 11 on Rebel Day. The 12-race card is also littered with allowance and maiden special weight opportunities that could produce starters for next month’s Arkansas Derby.

The Razorback drew 13 veterans, but Ain’t Life Grand will scratch in favor of a Sunday allowance for what will be his first start since July, according to trainer Kelly Von Hemel.

Sometimes, one must look far afield, maybe even halfway around the world, to find value. Fine, we’re on it. The Saudi Cup goes off just as the East Coast tracks get down to Saturday business. Stick around till late afternoon for a Derby prep in Arkansas.

Saudi Cup

I have long contended (not that anyone was listening) Senor Buscador is a better horse racing around one turn than two, and here, for $20 million, he can prove it.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Timberlake is the undisputed class of the $1.25 million Rebel on Saturday as a Grade 1 winner, but like fellow Derby Watch member Just Steel, he has questions to answer in the 1 1/16-mile race at Oaklawn Park.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Band of Gold will face formidable new rivals West Omaha and Alys Beach on Saturday, when she attempts to win her second straight Kentucky Oaks points race in the Grade 3, $400,000 Honeybee at Oaklawn Park.

The fillies are part of a field of 10, with the first five finishers from the 1 1/16-mile race to earn points on a scale of 50-25-15-10-5. The Honeybee is being run on a 12-race card anchored by the Grade 2, $1.25 million Rebel.

In the 2023 Riyadh Dirt Sprint at King Abdulaziz Racecourse, the Steve Asmussen-trained Gunite ran a winning race but could only finish second to the Bill Mott-trained Elite Power, the best dirt sprinter in the world. On Saturday, it’s Asmussen who has the horse to beat, Skelly, while Mott makes a repeat bid with Bold Journey, a solid sprinter but nothing like Elite Power.

Neither American horse has yet proven to be top class, though Skelly could be on his way, and the $1.5 million contest did not draw a daunting field.

A year ago, the fourth renewal of the world’s richest horse race, the Saudi Cup, was, frankly, blah. The unspectacular Japanese horse Panthalassa went wire to wire holding off a past-his-prime Country Grammer. Panthalassa five weeks later finished 10th in the Dubai World Cup, where Country Grammer was seventh.

This year? The race, as much as possible, lives up to its $20 million purse, with an excellent field of 14 set to go postward Saturday night at King Abdulaziz Racecourse.

After claiming Classier from Brittany Russell last spring, trainer Kieron Magee won three of his first four starts with the horse, including the off-turf Henry Clark Stakes at Pimlico. On Saturday, Magee attempts to turn a similar trick with Point Dume in Laurel Park’s Miracle Wood for 3-year-olds at a one-turn mile.

The Miracle Wood is one of two $100,000 stakes on the card for 3-year-olds, along with the Wide Country for fillies at seven furlongs.

ARCADIA, Calif. – It’s hard to find the right race for a horse this winter in California, and the effect of a declining equine population is evident Saturday at Santa Anita.

The unusual entry of multiple California-bred stakes winner Kings River Knight in a second-level allowance and the ambitious placement of entry-level allowance winner Queens Command in a Grade 3 stakes are both due to a scarcity of horses.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Two years ago, Candy Man Rocket came off a nine-month layoff to win a high-level optional-claiming and allowance race by 3 1/2 lengths during the Gulfstream Park Championship meet. Last winter, Candy Man Rocket returned from just shy of a one-year hiatus to capture a similarly conditioned allowance by 2 1/4 lengths as a stepping-stone to his popular victory five weeks later in the six-furlong Gulfstream Park Sprint.