Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Oaklawn Park, April 13, 2019
(100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)
Winner: Omaha Beach, by War Front
Trainer: Richard Mandella
Jockey: Mike Smith
Owner: Fox Hill Farms Inc.
Beyer Speed Figure: 101

ARCADIA, Calif. – Months ago, Hard Not to Love was so difficult to handle that at times she had to be walked from the racetrack to the barn after exercise.

A patient approach to the daily racetrack routine allowed Hard Not to Love to settle into her surroundings.

“We needed to take it in baby steps,” trainer John Shirreffs recalled on Sunday morning.

Shirreffs’s methods are working. On Saturday at Santa Anita, Hard Not to Love won for the second time in as many starts in an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Omaha Beach emerged from his Saturday win in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in “great shape” and will soon head to Churchill Downs to begin preparations for the Kentucky Derby, trainer Richard Mandella said on Sunday.

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Maximum Security was back on the work tab Saturday for the first time since his wire-to-wire victory in the Grade 1 Florida Derby two weeks ago – although not in the manner one might expect from an undefeated 3-year-old considered to be among the leading candidates just three weeks down the road in the Kentucky Derby.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Lady Apple emerged from her gutsy win in the Grade 3, $500,000 Fantasy on Friday at Oaklawn Park in good order and will soon ship to Churchill Downs for a possible start in the Kentucky Oaks.

“She flies Monday to Churchill, obviously to consider running her in the Oaks,” trainer Steve Asmussen said Saturday.

“We’re very proud of her run yesterday. We want to see the same amount of confidence in her for the next race, wherever it is.”

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Tyler Gaffalione was smiling as he and War of Will walked back to the barn. If horses could smile, War of Will might have matched his rider.

"He had running on his mind today," Gaffalione said after Kentucky Derby candidate War of Will worked a sharp five furlongs from the gate in 59 seconds flat on Saturday morning at Keeneland. "He came back happy. He's real proud of himself."

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer William Morey, who has not started any horses since March 29 after an apparent medication violation at Santa Anita that day, has dispersed his Santa Anita-based runners, with some going to other trainers here and others shipped off the property.

Del Mar has raised overnight purses and has enhanced financial incentives for horses brought to California from other states or countries for its summer meeting, which runs from July 17 to Sept. 2.

Overnight purses will have moderate increases. A maiden special weight race will be worth $61,000, an increase of $1,000 from the summer meeting in 2018, while a $20,000 claimer for maidens will be worth $21,000 an increase of $1,000. The purse for a $25,000 claimer has been increased by $1,000, to $35,000.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – At Gulfstream Park on Friday, trainer Stanley Gold sent his Kentucky Oaks candidate Cookie Dough out to work five furlongs in 58.40 from the 4 1/2-furlong pole, according to track clockers. She zipped through early splits of 22.00 and 33.80 before tiring some late while finishing a sixteenth of a mile beyond the wire and galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.40.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Robert Yanez, a former jockey who later worked in the stable office on the Del Mar backstretch, died on Tuesday of injuries sustained in a car accident earlier this year, Del Mar officials announced.

Yanez was 75. He was injured on March 5 when his car was struck by a drunk driver in Ramona, Calif., officials said.

Yanez joined the Del Mar backstretch staff in 1995 and worked as an assistant stall superintendent.