Though Change of Command has won his last two starts, trainer Shug McGaughey thinks the horse hasn’t put forth a complete effort in either one. Thus, when Change of Command makes his stakes debut in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs, he will be equipped with blinkers for the first time.
Endlessly, winner of two Grade 3 turf stakes for 2-year-olds last September and October, had minimal interest in a late autumn vacation a few months ago.
“We were hoping to keep him idle until March,” trainer Michael McCarthy said earlier this week. “He wasn’t having it.”
Endlessly wanted action and was back in a workout routine by early December. Two months later, Endlessly will make his 2024 debut as a heavy favorite in Saturday’s $100,000 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – It’s less than a week to Valentine’s Day, and those looking for early gifts might consider a ticket on Valentine Candy in the $150,000 Ozark on Saturday at Oaklawn Park.
He does figure to go favored off back-to-back stakes wins, but the field he will line up against includes a number of capable new shooters in what could lend itself to some value on the field’s most accomplished runner.
“It’s going to be a very tough race,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “It will take his best.”
WHO’S HOT
Locked spiked a fever, which delays his comeback, but the Grade 1 winner opens as the 8-1 Derby Watch favorite by Daily Racing Form linemaker David Aragona. Locked, who won the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland prior to finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, was aiming to the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs. The postponement is believed minor.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Toby Keith will be at Oaklawn Park in spirit Friday, as the country music superstar, who died Monday night, has two horses racing on the card in partnership with Danny Caldwell.
“He’ll be watching from above, trust me,” Caldwell said.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A pair of promising 3-year-old fillies with possible designs on the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks at the end of the meet, Gun Song and Catherine Wheel, will take center stage in the first of two allowance races that highlight Friday’s nine-race program at Gulfstream Park.
Having started more horses in the Kentucky Derby than any other trainer, and attempted to get even more to the race who didn’t make it, Todd Pletcher knows the pitfalls of the Triple Crown trail as well, if not better, than most.
A year ago, things appeared to going perfectly for Forte, right up until 72 hours before the race when a foot bruise developed. It would lead to three days of drama and ultimately a scratch of the Derby favorite the morning of the race.
“It was a trainer’s worst nightmare,” Pletcher, a two-time Derby winner, recalled recently.
