INDIANTOWN, Fla. – Though he has already won a Triple Crown race in his career, trainer Christophe Clement is not a name one typically associates with the Triple Crown trail.

Saturday, Clement will see if he has a potential Kentucky Derby contender in Otello, the Mucho Macho Man Stakes winner who starts in the Grade 3, $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park. It will be Clement’s first starter in a traditional Derby prep at this track, though he did run By George (sixth) in the Grade 3 Swale Stakes in 2021.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Bob Baffert began winning races for Ed Allred in the 1970s. But not as a trainer.

“Out of high school, I tried to be a jockey,” Baffert said. “He put me on a couple of winners, threw me a bone. We’ve been friends for a long time.”

Fast forward to Saturday, and the men will team with Wynstock in the Southwest at Oaklawn Park. The horse, who also is co-owned by Jack Liebau, is a somewhat rare Thoroughbred runner for Allred.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – It was 20 years ago this month that Smarty Jones won the Southwest Stakes and set off a life-changing sequence of events for both his connections and Oaklawn Park.

In a perfect storm, he swept the track’s 3-year-old series, went on to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and earned a $5 million bonus in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of Oaklawn.

Vote No was freshened in the fall with an eye toward having him ready for a busy winter at Turfway Park. After kicking off his meet with a win in the Turfway Prevue on Jan. 6, he was prepared to wheel back quickly for his next challenge. But he got a little more time, as frigid weather in Kentucky forced his outing in the $125,000 Leonatus Stakes back about two weeks on the calendar, to where it is now the feature on Friday night’s program.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The lure of a pick six carryover Friday at Santa Anita is complicated by an ominous weather forecast calling for all-day rain Thursday and uncertain track condition Friday.

A carryover of $74,329 is up for grabs, and bettors might consider the $1 pick six a virtual pick five based on a potential standout in an allowance dirt sprint. But the sequence on races 3-8 also includes two grass races on a course likely to be wet. Wet dirt is less problematic.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jody’s Pride, runner-up to Just F Y I in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, will make her 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale Stakes going one mile at Gulfstream Park on March 2.

Trainer Jorge Abreu said he was between running Jody’s Pride here or in the $200,000 Busher at Aqueduct the same day. He said after consulting with the owners and with the possibility of getting Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride, the decision was made to stay here.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The fields for both the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes and listed Swale Stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park will lose at least one starter as trainer Jose D’Angelo said Wednesday he plans to scratch his 3-year-olds from those races for other spots.

No More Time, who is entered in the Holy Bull, is going to run instead in the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 10. Bentornato, the three-time stakes winner who was entered in the Swale, is being re-routed to the Grade 3, $1.5 million Saudi Derby on Feb. 24.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint runner-up Valiant Force, whose eagerly anticipated main-track debut was put off once when he was scratched at the gate as the 1-5 favorite prior to the Limehouse Stakes earlier this month, will likely have to wait a little longer before getting the opportunity to strut his stuff on dirt.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Comparative could get an ideal tracking trip behind Hot and Sultry and perhaps Shotgun Hottie on Friday, when she seeks to win her third consecutive race in the Grade 3, $250,000 Bayakoa at Oaklawn Park.

Full Moon Madness will look to build off a career-best performance last out and potentially earn his way back into stakes company when he heads a field of seven entered in a second-level allowance/optional $62,500 claimer that serves as Friday’s feature on Aqueduct’s eight-race card.

A son of Into Mischief out of the Grade 1-winning mare By the Moon, Full Moon Madness galloped to a 4 1/2-length victory in an entry-level allowance at Aqueduct on New Year’s Day. The 91 Beyer Speed Figure he earned was a career-best.