HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Midnight Storm drew post 3 in a field of seven for the Grade 2, $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap on Saturday. Entries were drawn Wednesday.

The field from the rail is: Texas Chrome, Domain’s Rap, Midnight Storm, Madefromlucky, Inside Straight, Cutacorner, and Goats Town.

Accelerate was intended for the Oaklawn Handicap upon his Tuesday arrival from Southern California, but he spiked a fever Wednesday morning and was withdrawn from the race, according to trainer John Sadler. Sadler said Accelerate will return home to Santa Anita.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Last year’s juvenile male champion, Classic Empire, will break from post 2 in a field of 12 for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday. The race was drawn Wednesday and picked up a few new faces following the Monday defection of One Liner.

Classic Empire was scheduled to arrive on the Oaklawn backstretch later Wednesday following a flight from south Florida.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The connections of Mo Town are searching for answers after the 3-year-old’s seventh-place finish in last Saturday’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial.

Mo Town was sent to Kentucky, where he will be evaluated by veterinarians to see if there’s a physical issue that has yet to be discovered.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Unified came out of his neck defeat to Green Gratto in last Saturday’s Grade 1 Carter in good order and is under consideration for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 10 at Belmont Park, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Wednesday.

Jerkens said he was worried about Green Gratto’s presence in the Carter because of the early speed he possesses.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer John Kimmel has been considering running Bar of Gold on turf since last summer. On Saturday, the turf experiment commences with Bar of Gold running in the $100,000 Plenty of Grace Stakes, scheduled for one mile over Aqueduct’s turf course.

Bar of Gold, a multiple New York-bred stakes winner on dirt, is a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro and out of the Grade 3 turf-stakes winner Khancord Kid. Bar of Gold is 5 for 16, with all five of her wins coming over wet tracks, including an 18-length romp in last October’s Empire Distaff at Belmont.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Iliad, fifth as the 3-1 favorite in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby last Saturday, will be considered for the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 20.

Trainer Doug O’Neill said on Wednesday that he does not think Iliad will have sufficient qualifying points to gain one of the 20 berths in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 6. As of last weekend’s leading prep races, Iliad had 20 qualifying points and ranked 24th among candidates.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mark Casse won the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes last year with one superstar turf mare – and he’ll be trying to deny another one Saturday.

Casse won the 2016 Jenny Wiley with Tepin and now will send out Catch a Glimpse to try to upset Lady Eli, who figures as an odds-on favorite in the 29th running of the $350,000 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland.

A year ago this Saturday, apprentice rider Ashley Castrenze won at Tampa Bay Downs with her first mount. On Friday, in the seventh race at Laurel Park, she will restart her career following a six-month injury-related layoff.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The fierce college rivalry between the Louisville Cardinals and Kentucky Wildcats has made its way into Thoroughbred nomenclature.

In a tongue-in-cheek takeoff borrowing from the Repole Stable star Notacatbutallama, 22-year-old trainer Liam Benson has given one of his unraced 2-year-olds this name: Notacatbutacard.

“I always loved that New York-bred Notacatbutallama, and it’s a great dig at UK, too,” said Benson, a graduate of the equine business program at Louisville.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainer Lynn Whiting, who 25 years ago this May celebrated the pinnacle of a lifetime in racing by winning the 1992 Kentucky Derby with 17-1 shot Lil E. Tee, is undergoing physical therapy after spending six weeks in a Louisville, Ky., hospital following a stroke and hopes to be back working at his Churchill Downs barn within a week or so.

Whiting, 77, said by phone Wednesday with his typical wry humor that he is “getting along all right,” but, “I don’t have any blue ribbons hanging off me just yet. I kind of lost my edge for a little bit there.”