ARCADIA, Calif. – Stellar Wind, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2015, had her first official workout of the year at Santa Anita on Saturday, exercising three furlongs in 37.40 seconds.
Trainer John Sadler said he hopes to have Stellar Wind ready for the $400,000 Vanity Mile for fillies and mares June 4.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Six of the seven probable starters for the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 9, including the stakes winners Danzing Candy, Exaggerator, Iron Rob, and Smokey Image, had workouts at Santa Anita on Saturday.
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – Plans for a trio of Todd Pletcher-trained 3-year-olds came more into focus Saturday, with Tampa Bay Derby winner Destin training up to the Kentucky Derby, Tampa Bay Derby runner-up Outwork confirmed for the Wood Memorial, and Fountain of Youth runner-up Zulu likely headed to the Blue Grass Stakes.
Nickname, the winner of last year’s Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park, is being pointed to the Grade 3, $150,000 Beaumont on April 17 at Keeneland, said trainer Steve Asmussen. She was second in the Honeybee in her most recent start March 12 at Oaklawn.
Durango, who defeated older rivals in a recent allowance at Oaklawn, is under consideration for the Beaumont, said trainer Randy Morse. He also said she is under consideration for the $150,000 Instant Racing during the Oaklawn festival April 16.
Steve Asmussen, the leading trainer at Oaklawn, will be active in a number of stakes for the Racing Festival of the South. His first starters will come next Saturday in the Fantasy.
Asmussen said Terra Promessa, a winner of her last three starts, including the Grade 3 Honeybee at Oaklawn, is set to start under Ricardo Santana Jr. The barn also plans to send out Taxable, who is undefeated in two starts, among her wins a maiden special weight at Churchill Downs.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Signs that the Racing Festival of the South is right around the corner at Oaklawn Park were everywhere on Friday.
The champion Untapable was out for an early gallop as she continues preparations for a defense of her title in the Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap on April 15.
Southwest Stakes winner Suddenbreakingnews worked a half-mile in 48.80 seconds for an intended start in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 16.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Wildcat Red, who hasn’t run since finishing seventh in the Fred Hooper Stakes on Feb. 6, returned to the work tab Friday, breezing a half-mile in 52.44 seconds at Gulfstream.
“Just an easy breeze coming off a short layoff,” trainer Jose Garoffalo said. “He came back pretty good. I don’t have any plans with him right now. As soon as we get him ready, 100 percent, we’ll find a race.”
Garoffalo said he hasn’t decided whether Wildcat Red – the 2014 Fountain of Youth winner – would stay in south Florida or ship to Monmouth Park later this month.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Late in 2014, owner Mac Nichol and trainer John Mazza won a maiden race at Gulfstream Park with a promising soon-to-be 3-year-old. Nichol sold a majority interest in that horse for $1 million to Cheyenne Stables, and he was transferred to trainer Todd Pletcher.
The horse, Madefromlucky, won the Peter Pan Stakes and West Virginia Derby, a pair of Grade 2 stakes.
Last Sunday, Nichol and Mazza won a maiden race at Gulfstream with Sea Wizard. The offers have been coming in ever since. So far, Nichol has held onto the son of Uncle Mo.
Cherry Wine still needs qualifying points to secure a spot in the Kentucky Derby, and trainer Dale Romans believes the best place to get them is in the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 9.
“It looks like it’s going to be a fairly small field, and we need to pick up points with a closer,” Romans said Friday at Gulfstream Park. “The less horses to have to pass, the better off you are; the less chance you’re going to get stopped or something’s going to happen and you’re not going to get the points you need.”
