The race at the top of the Western Conference standings continues to heat up as the Dallas Stars host the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. Dallas currently sits near the top of the conference and will look to strengthen its position in the Central Division with another win.
La Cara, a multiple Grade 1 winner of $1.2 million, is going to be retired to the breeding shed, according to her trainer, Mark Casse. He said she is scheduled to be bred to Not This Time.
La Cara registered her biggest wins in last year’s Acorn and Ashland. She has run fifth in both of her starts this year, both on wet tracks in the Grade 2 Azeri last weekend at Oaklawn and the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic in January at Sam Houston.
Bricklin, who ran third in the Sunland Derby, has a pair of upcoming race options at Oaklawn Park, according to his trainer, Rudy Brisset. The horse won a first-level allowance at a mile at Oaklawn before heading to New Mexico for the Sunland Derby.
Brisset said Bricklin is possible for either the Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby on March 28 or the $200,000 Hot Springs, which is a one-mile race for 3-year-olds on March 26.
“We haven’t really made a final decision on that,” said Brisset, who is weighing options with owner Imagine Racing.
Sunland Park Derby runner-up Express Kid is scheduled to make his next start in the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 4 at Aqueduct, according to his trainer, Justin Evans.
Express Kid set the pace in the $500,000 Sunland Derby and finished second by a nose in the Feb. 15 race, one start after he won the $300,000 Springboard Mile in December at Remington Park. For those efforts, he earned a total of 20 points for the Kentucky Derby.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Martin Drexler has gleaned a large following among local horseplayers since becoming a regular at the Gulfstream Park Championship meet earlier this decade. And while the 2025-26 session has not been up to his usual standards, Drexler has begun to catch fire of late, a streak he hopes to continue when sending out Clay Soldier as arguably the horse to beat in Friday’s $54,000 allowance and optional-claiming feature for Florida-bred fillies and mares.
More than 600 contestants are once again expected to vie for the title of Horseplayer of the Year when the 27th National Horseplayers Championship begins its three-day run Friday at the Horseshoe Las Vegas in Nevada.
With another sharp statebred allowance victory last month, it became undeniable that 5-year-old mare Intentious has turned a corner in New York. Having bucked her long-standing reputation as an Aqueduct also-ran, trainer David Duggan will now bring her into open company for Friday’s fourth race, an $83,000 first-level allowance.
“Obviously, it gets a little bit deep,” Duggan said. “You meet a different quality of horse. She’s a late-running sprinter, so the more pace we have to run at, the better.”
The Fair Grounds racing office allowed a conditioned dirt-sprint allowance race onto the Friday card with just five entrants – and for good reason.
The small field contains a wide swath of talent, and, really, any among the quintet could win.
“I like my draw and the horse is coming into the race really well, but there’s no doubt the water is getting deeper for him here,” said Bret Calhoun, who trains Autodrive, unbeaten in three starts coming into Friday’s third-race feature. “We’re going to find out something about the horse.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Kant Believe It will have several key variables working in her favor Friday when she moves into a ratings handicap for the featured ninth race at Oaklawn Park.
The 5 1/2-furlong sprint is for older fillies and mares and carries a purse of $80,000. The field of seven includes Dream Concert, who makes her first local start after racing on the East Coast, and Anakarina, who has been running in overnight stakes here.
