HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Florent Geroux, who has played an important role in the development of Timberlake, will be watching the horse closely in the Arkansas Derby – from Dubai.
Geroux is traveling overseas to ride Saudi Crown in the Godolphin Mile. He was overseas last month for the $20 million Saudi Cup when Timberlake won the Grade 2, $1.25 million Rebel at Oaklawn Park.
WHO’S HOT
Catching Freedom took advantage of a pro-closers race flow in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby to score a last-to-first victory at Fair Grounds and cement his Kentucky Derby credentials. Catching Freedom and runner-up Honor Marie, who rallied from next-to-last, were both exiting the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes won by Derby Watch favorite Sierra Leone. Subsequently, linemaker David Aragona lowered Sierra Leone to 6-1 and Catching Freedom to 8-1 second choice. Honor Marie was trimmed to 15-1 co-sixth choice.
Seating and ticketing options for the 2024 Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club on Nov. 1-2 were posted on the Breeders’ Cup website on Tuesday, four weeks in advance of tickets to the event going on sale.
Breeders’ Cup is planning to spend $5 million to create temporary seating and hospitality areas at Del Mar, a strategy it has used at the track and other similarly sized venues over the past decade. As a result, fans will have a wide variety of options for seating and ticketing for the Del Mar event.
Three Thoroughbreds died and four others were transported to a veterinary clinic with injuries following a trailer crash on a Kentucky highway early Monday. The horses, trained by Eddie Kenneally, were traveling in a Creech Horse Transportation van, bound for Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., where the spring meet opens next week.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Vlahos was the subject of a private purchase after his authoritative win in a maiden race at 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita on March 9 for trainer Luis Mendez.
Now based with Doug O’Neill and owned by Ty Leatherman and Todd Cady, Vlahos may be bound for a nationally prominent race later this spring.
O’Neill said on Sunday that the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile, a $600,000 race for 3-year-olds on dirt at Churchill Downs on May 4, is under strong consideration. The Pat Day Mile is part of the undercard of the Kentucky Derby program.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Two years ago in Britain, Missed the Cut reeled off three consecutive wins, ending with an easy victory in the Golden Gates Stakes at the world-famous Royal Ascot meeting.
Missed the Cut is arguably in better form this year, evidenced by his second consecutive Grade 3 win in Saturday’s $100,000 San Luis Rey Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf at Santa Anita.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Repo Rocks, a four-time stakes winner in 2023 who has been away from the races since a seventh-place finish in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap last June, is now with trainer Rick Dutrow and could be about six weeks from a return to the races.
Repo Rocks, previously trained by Jamie Ness, was recently sent to Dutrow from Willowbrook Stables, a rehab, training and breeding facility in upstate New York. He had his first published workout last Friday, a three-furlong move in 38.20 seconds over the Belmont Park training track.
Tarifa and Our Pretty Woman, separated by three-quarters of a length in a respective one-two Fair Grounds Oaks finish Saturday, are set for a rematch in the Kentucky Oaks.
Both fillies appeared Sunday to have come out of the race in good condition, and both will arrive at Churchill Downs in coming days.
Catching Freedom is catching a ride on a horse van from New Orleans to Louisville, where he’ll have the better part of a six weeks’ wait until a start in the May 4 Kentucky Derby.
Catching Freedom exited his one-length win Saturday in the $1 million Louisiana Derby healthy and happy, trainer Brad Cox reported Sunday morning, and will have a chance to become Cox’s first outright Derby winner.
West Saratoga, second to Endlessly in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby on Saturday at Turfway Park, will proceed to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, having likely amassed the points to get into the starting gate.
West Saratoga, trained by Larry Demeritte for Harry Veruchi, won the first points race toward the Kentucky Derby, last September’s Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs, before finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.
