Taxed is under serious consideration for the Grade 1, $1 million Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs, said trainer Randy Morse. The seven-furlong race for fillies and mares will be run May 3.

Taxed won an Oaklawn allowance over six furlongs in her most recent start on March 9, closing from more than 15 lengths off the pace for a neck win.

“She got it done,” Morse said. “I might try the Grade 1 at Churchill going seven-eighths. We’ll kind of just play it by ear and we’ll see.”

A Grade 2 winner, Taxed is nearing career earnings of $900,000.

Booth has emerged as the fastest horse at Oaklawn based on Beyer Speed Figures, earning a 107 for his win in the Grade 3, $250,000 Whitmore last Saturday and a 105 for his victory in an overnight stakes, the Commodore. The numbers are the top two Beyers put up this meet.

“We’re extremely proud of how good Booth’s running right now,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “It was great to have him win his first graded stakes. I think he definitely has benefited from time and he’s obviously faster now than he’s ever been.”

Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope said he’s hoping for a field of nine to 12 horses for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby next Saturday. Entries for the 1 1/8-mile race will be drawn Sunday.

Arkansas Derby probables include Coal Battle and Speed King, who have won the meet’s first three preps for the Kentucky Derby, as well as Sandman and Bestfriend Rocket.

The Arkansas Derby will be showcased on a 13- or 14-race card, Pope said Friday. All of the races will be either stakes, overnight stakes, allowances, or maiden special weight races.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Disarm is poised to return to graded-stakes company after opening his 5-year-old season with a sharp allowance win at Oaklawn Park.

Trainer Steve Asmussen said Disarm’s next race will likely come in either the Grade 2, $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on April 19 or the Grade 2, $750,000 Alysheba at 1 1/16 miles on May 2 at Churchill Downs.

In hopes of getting both horses qualified for the Kentucky Derby, trainer Chad Brown said that he is leaning toward running multiple Grade 1 winner Chancer McPatrick in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland while sending Hill Road to the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Both races are on April 5.

Chancer McPatrick and Hill Road finished second and third, respectively, in the Tampa Bay Derby on March 8, the 3-year-old debut for both.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After a successful two-year stint training in Saudi Arabia, Jimmy Jerkens has returned to New York. Jerkens, 66, is weighing his options about his future in the sport.

Jerkens trained 12 individual Grade 1 winners, including two Breeders’ Cup winners, in a 26-year career before taking a job in Saudi Arabia to train for Faisal bin Khalid Al Saud. Jerkens said while he wants to be around horses, he is not interested in starting over from scratch in the U.S. with his own stable.