OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Brad Cox and Todd Pletcher already have horses securely in this year’s Kentucky Derby. It is the size of their contingent that remains to be determined.

Now we’re talking. Headed by Keeneland’s blockbuster card, and with multi-stakes programs at Aqueduct and Santa Anita, we have before us the best Saturday of racing so far this year.

At Keeneland, Pleasant Passage in the Appalachian and Run Classic in the Commonwealth just missed the cut here. And at Santa Anita, Awake At Midnyte trying her first turf sprint in the Monrovia held appeal. But let’s just focus on a trio of Kentucky Derby preps.

Wood Memorial

Fittingly, Kangaroo Court and Bus Buzz are drawn side by side in Saturday’s $150,000 Echo Eddie for 3-year-old California-breds at Santa Anita. They may have a heck of a time getting rid of each other in the race at 6 1/2 furlongs.

On March 4, Kangaroo Court won his 2023 debut in an allowance race for statebreds at six furlongs, racing just behind the pacesetting Bus Buzz before taking the lead in the stretch. Kangaroo Court won by 1 3/4 lengths under jockey Flavien Prat.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The torch gets passed from one outstanding female turf sprinter to another Saturday at Santa Anita. Or maybe the transfer already occurred.

Leggs Galore, a six-time stakes winner owned by her breeder, Jack Sims, and trained by Phil D’Amato, makes the final start of her career Saturday in the Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes. Leggs Galore, a 6-year-old, will be bred to Into Mischief.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gangly has changed hands five times via the claim box over the last 19 months. But at the age of 6, he is as good as he’s ever been, and that figures to make him the solid favorite in Saturday’s 10th event at Gulfstream, the second of two $51,000 allowances contests on an 11-race program that begins at 12:40 p.m.

ARCADIA, Calif. – No trainer in California starts more runners in graded stakes on turf than Phil D’Amato. But he has not yet won them all.

D’Amato is 0 for 9 in the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham, a mark likely to be corrected Saturday at Santa Anita. D’Amato entered three in the Whittingham, including the two likely favorites.

Graded stakes winners Gold Phoenix and Masteroffoxhounds will be well backed in the Whittingham, a mile and one-quarter turf race for 3-year-olds and up that is race 5. The Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby is race 6.

She is unbeaten in four starts, a sprint and three graded stakes around two turns, each time displaying the same style. Faiza is a stalker who swoops past rivals to lead in early stretch, a tactic that will make her the favorite in Saturday’s Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks.

To win the richest race of her career in the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks at 1 1/16 miles, Faiza must negotiate her way to the front against eight rivals, the largest field of her career. If she makes the lead, jockey Flavien Prat and trainer Bob Baffert hope Faiza will extend herself.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Something’s gotta give as Nakatomi and Heart Rhythm line up Saturday at Keeneland. Both are unbeaten in three starts on this main track, and they put those marks on the line in the Grade 3, $300,000 Commonwealth Stakes for older horses going seven furlongs.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – On paper, jumping from a listed stakes to a Grade 1 seems daunting. Saturday’s $300,000 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct hardly seems daunting for Repo Rocks, who puts his four-race winning streak on the line in the first Grade 1 stakes to be run on this circuit in 2023.

The Carter, which now has a field of six with the scratch of White Abarrio due to illness, does not include any upper echelon sprinters. 

“For a Grade 1, it’s not the toughest race I’ve ever seen,” said Jamie Ness, who is seeking his first Grade 1 win as a trainer.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though trainer Linda Rice chose to run Arctic Arrogance in Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial over the Grade 3, $200,000 Bay Shore, it didn’t leave her without a shot in the seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct.

Rice will send out Joey Freshwater in the Bay Shore, and though she obtained the horse via the claim box, he does not look misplaced in this spot.