HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The three favorites for the Florida Derby had their final breezes Saturday for the $1 million race, with Upstart breezing at the Palm Meadows training center and the Todd Pletcher duo of Itsaknockout and Materiality doing their work at Palm Beach Downs.
Upstart, who figures as a solid favorite next Saturday in the Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, breezed five furlongs in 59.40 seconds under exercise rider Vicki King.
Masochistic, a four-time winner who was recently transferred from trainer A.C. Avila to Ron Ellis, will make his 2015 stakes debut in the $200,000 Kona Gold Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on April 11, Ellis said.
Masochistic joined Ellis’s stable after Avila was suspended 60 days and fined $10,000 by the racing board last month for a medication violation involving Masochistic in 2014. Masochistic tested in excess of the permitted level of the tranquilizer acepromazine when fifth in his debut in March 2014.
Trainer Bob Baffert said Lord Nelson will not start in Sunday’s $800,000 Sunland Park Derby in New Mexico and will be pointed for the $300,000 Bay Shore Stakes at seven furlongs at Aqueduct on April 4.
Lord Nelson was fourth in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita on March 7. Baffert decided to skip the Sunland Park race after watching Lord Nelson train Thursday. Lord Nelson had already been entered for the Sunland Park Derby but did not leave California.
ARCADIA, Calif. – One Lucky Dane may have earned a start in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 4 after winning his 3-year-old debut in a first-level optional $80,000 claimer at Santa Anita on Thursday.
Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, One Lucky Dane ($2.80) led throughout and pulled away from four rivals to win by 9 3/4 lengths over Harmonic in 1:35.48. He earned a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oceanwave has developed into a 3-year-old filly of note during the Oaklawn Park meet, and she could get a shot at the track’s richest offering for her division. The Grade 3, $400,000 Fantasy is April 4, and she is being considered for the 1 1/16-mile race, said trainer Wayne Catalano.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Officially, Leah Gyarmati is the trainer of Wonder Gal. This winter, it is Mother Nature who seems to be calling all the shots.
Gyarmati debated whether to run Wonder Gal once before the Grade 2 Gazelle on April 4 and eventually opted to enter her in a first-level allowance race for New York-bred 3-year-old fillies that was scheduled for Friday. But New York Racing Association officials canceled Friday’s card due to snow, so Gyarmati on Friday worked Wonder Gal six furlongs in 1:16.57 over the Belmont training track.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Frosted is coming home in an attempt to get back on the road to the Kentucky Derby.
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin confirmed Friday that Frosted will make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 4. The Wood, at 1 1/8 miles, is run over Aqueduct’s main track where last fall Frosted won a one-mile maiden race by 5 1/4 lengths before running a strong second to Leave the Light On in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Nick Zito has secured fellow Hall of Famer Gary Stevens to ride Frammento in the April 4 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. Frammento breezed a bullet half-mile in 47.80 seconds Thursday at the Palm Meadows training center.
Stevens rode Halory Hunter to win the 1998 Blue Grass, giving Zito his second of three victories in the race.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Ekati’s Phaeton showed that she’s ready for next Saturday’s Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks by working five furlongs in 1:00.73 here Friday with jockey Juan Leyva aboard. The 1 1/16-mile Oaks will be Ekati’s Phaeton’s first race going two turns on the main track.
NEW ORLEANS – It’s a natural pairing – jockey Joe Talamo, who is from Marrero, a New Orleans suburb on the west bank of the Mississippi River, and trainer Tom Amoss, a New Orleans native.
The jockey and trainer, who teamed often when Talamo was the leading rider at Fair Grounds as an apprentice during the 2006-07 season, say they’re excited about reuniting for a run at the Louisiana Derby with War Story.
