HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Prep season in Florida starts heating up as Kentucky Derby prospects will undergo their first major test of the year at Gulfstream Park when the Grade 3, $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes is run next Saturday, Feb. 4.

Jockey Edwin Gonzalez, who was among the top 10 riders at the Gulfstream Park spring-summer and summer-fall meetings last year, is moving to Golden Gate Fields.

Gonzalez, 31, is booked to ride three of the nine races on Saturday’s program, all for trainer Jonathan Wong.

Gonzalez said in an interview on Thursday that slow business during the current Gulfstream Park winter meeting led to his decision.

“I’m not riding much,” he said. “I don’t like to be on the bench. I like to be playing the game. The best riders are here.”

Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., will offer $7.7 million in stakes purses during its 2023 meet, including $2.9 million on a single day, July 22, when the $1 million Haskell Invitational will anchor a stakes-rich card.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Kiaran McLaughlin had to make a lot of difficult decisions during a sensational 25-year training career that resulted in more than $120 million in stable earnings.

Not a lot has changed in that regard in the nearly three years that have elapsed since McLaughlin retired from training to begin booking mounts as the agent for star jockey Luis Saez. Case in point: his decision to ride Get Her Number instead of Art Collector in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The most accomplished 2-year-old filly in California last season is aiming to a Grade 1 that was once a natural. But over the past decade, the spring target for And Tell Me Nolies has become a reach for a West Coast 3-year-old filly.

“Obviously, the Kentucky Oaks is our goal,” trainer Peter Miller said. “With her pedigree, and with the distances increasing, I would think [the Oaks] would be in her wheelhouse.”

Kentucky Ghost is among the older male horses expected in action next Saturday, Feb. 4, at Tampa Bay Downs, where the stakes schedule will resume with a pair of graded turf stakes.

Kentucky Ghost is being pointed to the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Stakes, which will be run the same day at the Oldsmar, Fla., track as its female counterpart, the Grade 3 Endeavour. Purses for both 1 1/16-mile turf races start at $150,000, with an additional $25,000 in bonuses available to eligible Florida-breds.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Keystone Field, who owns the current highest Beyer Speed Figure for races at a mile or longer in 2023, is scheduled to make his next start in the Grade 3, $600,000 Razorback Handicap on Feb. 18 at Oaklawn Park, trainer Mike Maker said Tuesday. 

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Verifying, a half-brother to champion Midnight Bisou who is tied atop the Beyer Speed Figure standings for 3-year-olds, will likely make his next start in a Kentucky Derby points race at Oaklawn Park or Fair Grounds, according to trainer Brad Cox.  

Verifying was a first-level allowance winner at a mile Jan. 14 at Oaklawn and the Beyer of 97 that he earned ranks first in his division. A day later, Hejazi won a maiden sprint at Santa Anita with the same number. Verifying has since returned to his base at Fair Grounds, said Cox. 

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Jace’s Road, who is one of the leading points earners for the Kentucky Derby, drew post 3 in a field of nine for the Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest Stakes on Saturday at Oaklawn Park.  

The field for the Southwest also includes Arabian Knight, a debut winner at Keeneland who will be ridden by John Velazquez, and Corona Bolt, a Fair Grounds stakes winner to be ridden by Flavien Prat. 

Entries for the 1 1/16-mile race were taken on Monday.  

ARCADIA, Calif. – Flavien Prat is in a strange place in the jockey standings this winter at Santa Anita.

Through Sunday, Prat was tied for sixth place with five wins since opening day on Dec. 26, well behind leader Juan Hernandez with 19 wins. Prat is far from his customary position as the leading rider who dominates the rankings.