LEXINGTON, Ky. – Blue Grass Stakes winner Vekoma returned Tuesday to his winter base, the Palm Beach Downs training center in Florida, where the speedy chestnut will do the bulk of his training toward the May 4 Kentucky Derby.
Trainer George Weaver said Wednesday from Palm Beach that Vekoma will have his pre-Derby work in Florida before returning north.
“That’s what won us the Blue Grass, and we’re sticking with what worked,” he said.
Vekoma was scheduled to return to light training Thursday.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Improbable drew the rail for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, which will have a field of 11 for Saturday. Entries for the 1 1/8-mile race were taken on Wednesday.
The Arkansas Derby will be the 11th race on a 12-race program that will have a special first post of 12:30 p.m. Central.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The M and M Racing stable of Mike and Mickala Sisk set a single-season record for owner wins at Oaklawn in the ninth race Sunday, when C J’s Flair ($4.60) gave the couple their 49th win at the current stand. It was the fourth win on the card for the Sisks. The couple broke a 1974 record held by Dan Lasater.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Anothertwistafate drew post 4 in a field of 10 3-year-olds for the Lexington Stakes, a Kentucky Derby points race on Saturday that most likely will determine whether the colt makes the 20-horse cutoff for the May 4 Derby.
The Grade 3, $200,000 Lexington will share top billing Saturday at Keeneland with the $350,000 Jenny Wiley, the last of four Grade 1 races at the 16-day spring meet.
Let’s get to the points.
The long and winding road that leads to the Kentucky Derby on May 4 began with the Iroquois at Churchill Downs last Sept. 15 and concludes Saturday with the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn and the Lexington at Keeneland. Those two races are the final chances for horses to earn enough points to make the field, and the likes of Anothertwistafate, in the Lexington, and Country House, in the Arkansas Derby, are being wheeled back on short rest to try to get in, because if the series ended now, they’d be out.
Parx Racing recently honored its best performers of 2018. Aztec Sense was the Bensalem, Pa., track’s Horse of the Year and top older male. Claimed by owner Joseph Besecker and trainer Jorge Navarro for $12,500 in August 2017, Aztec Sense went 8 for 8 in 2018. He won three $100,000 stakes at Parx and the $196,000 Claiming Crown Jewel at Gulfstream Park.
Scott Lake’s stable has been on a tear, going 16 for 48 (33 percent) at Parx Racing, Laurel Park, and Penn National since March 18. His hot streak comes at an opportune time since as of Wednesday morning he is six victories shy of becoming the sixth trainer in Thoroughbred history to win 6,000 races.
The other members of the 6,000-win club are the late Dale Baird (9,445 wins), Steve Asmussen (8,389), Jerry Hollendorfer (7,590), the late Jack Van Berg (6,523), and King Leatherbury (6,501).
Trainer Joe Orseno was still on Cloud 9 upon returning to South Florida late Monday morning, less than 48 hours after his turf sprint star Imprimis overcame a poor start to register an eye-catching victory in the Grade 2 Shakertown on Saturday at Keeneland.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – It’ll be hard to surpass the drama and excitement of the first Saturday of the meet, when 34,775 crammed Keeneland for the Blue Grass and four other graded stakes, but surely another huge crowd will turn out this Saturday when the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley and the Grade 3 Lexington are among four stakes on the card.
