ARCADIA, Calif. - Judging from trainer Doug O’Neill’s success at Santa Anita this year, a stakes win on Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby program is within expectations for the nationally prominent stable.
Through Sunday, O’Neill, 57, had a clear lead in the Santa Anita trainer standings at the winter-spring meeting with 36 wins, well in front of Mark Glatt (25) and Bob Baffert (23). O’Neill had 145 starters, the most of any trainer, but had won at a 24.8 percent clip.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – There are still some moving parts ahead of the Kentucky Derby on May 2, but many believe Renegade established himself as the early favorite for the race with his standout performance in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on Saturday.
“I do think we saw the Derby favorite run yesterday,” said Mark Casse, who trains Arkansas Derby runner-up Silent Tactic. “He ran by us at about the sixteenth pole.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Even though Commandment and The Puma hit the finish line as one at the end of Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby, trainer Gustavo Delgado and his son Gustavo Jr. were confident their horse, The Puma, had gotten to the wire first. It seemed the majority of those who watched the race, either on track or off, around the country did too.
INDIANTOWN, Fla. - Last year, after Far Bridge returned from a layoff to win the Grade 3 Pan American at Gulfstream Park, he shipped to New York to win the Grade 2 Man o’ War six weeks later.
With the New York Racing Association having moved the Man o’ War from the spring at Aqueduct to the fall at Belmont Park, Far Bridge will need a new plan for his next race.
Trainer Miguel Clement said Sunday he will consider the Grade 1, $1.5 million Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on May 2, or possibly train him up to the Grade 1 Manhattan at Saratoga on June 6.
INDIANTOWN, Fla. - Hours before he won his second straight Florida Derby, trainer Brad Cox won his first Gulfstream Park Oaks. Now, he not only seems well armed to try and win a second Kentucky Derby, Cox has plenty of ammunition to try and win a fourth Kentucky Oaks.
Trainer John Ennis two years ago saddled Epic Ride, who won the Leonatus Stakes and finished second in the John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park. Rather than continuing on that track’s prep series for the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby, Ennis ventured to Keeneland for a dirt try with Epic Ride, who finished a creditable third in the Grade 1 Blue Grass behind Sierra Leone. He drew in to the Kentucky Derby off the also-eligible list, and finished 14th.
Oaklawn Park will have a pick six carryover of $52,482 awaiting horseplayers when racing resumes on Thursday.
The Hot Springs, Ark., track will be dark on Sunday following the running of the Arkansas Derby on Saturday, when Oaklawn drew a record crowd of 73,000.
The $1 pick six will run on races 4-9 on Thursday. The card has been drawn.
The sequence opens with a first-level allowance route for fillies and mares that drew Floating Beauty, a stakes-placed closer who might get the right setup with three speed horses drawn to her immediate inside Thursday.
The undefeated Paladin, ranked first in Daily Racing Form’s Derby Watch, is off the Triple Crown trail after suffering an injury Saturday morning while completing a workout at Payson Park, trainer Chad Brown said Saturday.
Paladin, winner of the Grade 2 Remsen at age 2 and the Risen Star at 3, was pointing to next Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. He was timed in a workout Saturday morning in 48.80 seconds.
An untimely, brief, and minor illness kept the 4-year-old colt Magnitude from shipping to Saudi Arabia for the $20 million Saudi Cup in February. A timely, sustained, and major display of speed, professionalism, and stamina won Magnitude the $12 million Dubai World Cup on Saturday at Meydan Racecourse.
Book’em Danno, the champion sprinter of 2025, will make his return to the races in the Grade 2, $300,000 Carter Stakes at Aqueduct on April 4. His regular rider, Paco Lopez, will be in the saddle, trainer Derek Ryan said Friday.
Book’em Danno was scheduled to leave Tampa Bay Downs by van for Belmont Park on Saturday, Ryan said. On Friday at Tampa Bay Downs, Book’em Danno blew out three furlongs in 37 seconds from the gate with Lopez aboard.
“I took him to the gate because he hadn’t been there since he ran,” Ryan said.
