What was I thinking?
Life and racing can be unpredictable. One minute you’re up and things seem to be going your way, then everything changes and nothing is going your way.
My goal has always been to be the best horseplayer I can possibly be. I am comfortable in the knowledge that no matter how much I think I know about racing there is a lot more I don’t know. I prepare to the best of my ability only to find out that there is more.
It says a lot when an Eclipse Award-winning older male and male turf horse is overshadowed in his seasonal debut, but that is the case Saturday. Main Sequence’s return in the Mac Diarmida at Gulfstream Park, big as it is, plays second fiddle to two Grade 2, $400,000 Kentucky Derby preps – the Fountain of Youth, which tops the stakes-filled card at Gulfstream, and the Risen Star, which heads a stakes-packed program at Fair Grounds.
Canadian Turf Stakes
EVAN’S CALLING
Trainer: Brad Cox
Last Race: Feb. 12, 8th
Finish: 1st by nose
Beyer: 92
In his first start since May, he defeated a handful of stakes winners in an optional $50,000 claiming route, winning from between rivals in a three-way photo. With the victory, he improved his Oaklawn record to 4 for 4.
ROCKET HEAT
Trainer: Vann Belvoir
Last race: Feb. 12, 6th
Finish: 1st by 9
Beyer: 70
A second-start maiden, gelded since first raced and dropping from special-weight to maiden-$30K, this 3-year-old set blazing fractions and ran away by many. Claimed by Belvoir from Jeff Bonde in a five-way shake, he fits right back in a starter allowance.
FAR RIGHT struck first in the 3-year-old series at Oaklawn Park when he won the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes over a drifting MR. Z. The pair was set to meet again Monday in the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest Stakes, the first major prep for the Arkansas Derby, but the race was canceled due to inclement weather. The Southwest is to be rescheduled for either Saturday or Sunday, according to Oaklawn spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyt.
Top 3-year-old males
With the exception of EL KABEIR, the majority of the locally based 3-year-old contingent is comprised of deep bench players from top outfits such as Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown. We’re including horses based out of town who are targeting the New York preps such as undefeated runners OCEAN KNIGHT and FAR FROM OVER who have already won over the inner track but who are doing their training in south Florida. The most accomplished 3-year-old filly on the grounds is CONDO COMMANDO, the Grade 1 Spinaway winner who is slated to make her 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s $100,000 Busher Stakes.
The fillies are better than the colts, or so it appears as we head toward the second round of 3-year-old stakes races at this meet, the Rachel Alexandra and the Risen Star, both on Feb. 21. INTERNATIONAL STAR shipped in and won the Lecomte on Jan. 17, a race that went slower than its filly companion race, the Silverbulletday, won in sharp front-running fashion by I’M A CHATTERBOX.
BOX OFFICE
Trainer: Jason Servis
Last race: Feb. 11, 5th
Finish: 3rd by 3 3/4
Beyer: 86
Returned from a 67-day layoff in a first-level allowance mile and sacrificed tons of ground while racing three wide in midpack early and winding up in the No. 6 path into the stretch; prefers to be involved in the pace.
A foot abscess derailed Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner TEXAS RED; his status for the Santa Anita Derby and/or Kentucky Derby is uncertain. He will attempt to maintain fitness with a swimming regimen at a layup facility.
Meanwhile, champion 2-year-old male AMERICAN PHAROAH has not raced since late September, but he is working steadily for a comeback. The next major local stakes for Derby aspirants is the Grade 2 San Felipe on March 7.
