Nine horses, headed by Risen Star Stakes winner Epicenter, were entered Saturday for the $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 26 at Fair Grounds.

The Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, carrying 170 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, will be the last of 12 races next Saturday on an eight-stakes card that also features the 2022 debut of Echo Zulu. The champion 2-year-old filly of 2021 on the strength of a perfect season during which she won three Grade 1s, Echo Zulu will be heavily favored to beat five rivals in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Arkansas Derby candidates Un Ojo and Barber Road put in works toward the April 2 race at Oaklawn Park at separate locales on Saturday.  

Un Ojo worked at his base of the Copper Crowne training center near Lafayette, La. The winner of the Grade 1, $1 million Rebel last month at Oaklawn breezed five furlongs in 1:03 on a fast track. The move was the fastest of six at the distance Saturday at Copper Crowne.  

The 20-cent Rainbow pick six at Santa Anita has a mandatory payout on Saturday, and the pool will begin with a carryover of $395,500 from Friday.

Saturday’s pick six covers the fourth through ninth races on a nine-race program that begins at 1 p.m. Pacific. The fourth race has a scheduled post time of 2:35 p.m.

Forbidden Kingdom, the winner of two Grade 2 races this year who is rated as one of the nation’s leading 3-year-olds, will not have a timed workout this weekend after he was diagnosed with an elevated temperature in recent days.

Forbidden Kingdom, scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 9, will have his next workout on the weekend of March 25-27, trainer Richard Mandella said on Saturday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though he sees the field becoming tougher and tougher every time he reads about it, trainer David Duggan said he is still planning to run Grade 3 Toboggan Stakes winner Drafted in the Grade 1, $300,000 Carter Handicap here on April 9.

“Every time I look, there’s a nice horse showing up,” Duggan said. “We’re going to roll the dice and see how it goes. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, we’ll dust ourselves off and go back to the real world.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – On paper and on the track, things have gone pretty well for Early Voting since his victory in the Grade 3 Withers Stakes six weeks ago.

Two horses Early Voting defeated in the Withers – Un Ojo and Grantham – have come back to run career-best races in their next starts, with Un Ojo winning the Grade 2 Rebel at Oaklawn Park. Those factors recently led to Early Voting’s Beyer Speed Figure being elevated from 78 to 87.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer John Terranova is weighing a graded stakes opportunity for Bank Sting after the New York-bred won the $150,000 Heavenly Prize Invitational on March 6, her third consecutive stakes victory.

Terranova said Bank Sting, who is 7 for 9 overall, would be nominated to the Grade 3,$150,000 Distaff on April 9. If he feels that race is too close back or the race is coming up too strong, he could wait for the Grade 2, $200,000 Ruffian going a mile at Belmont Park on May 8.

Racing for 2-year-olds will begin as early as April 15 at Santa Anita, with races scheduled almost on a daily basis through the end of the meeting on June 19.

The first races will be for California-breds, with open-company races scheduled for the weekend of April 30-May 1. There is no racing at Santa Anita on the weekend of April 22-24 to allow for a springtime break.

Smooth Like Strait, one of the nation’s top turf milers of 2021, is nearing a springtime return.

Unraced since a second in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar last November, Smooth Like Strait worked a half-mile in 49.40 seconds at Santa Anita on Friday, his fourth workout this year.

Trainer Michael McCarthy, who clocked Smooth Like Strait in 49.20 seconds, said several races are options for his return, including the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile at Keeneland on April 15 and the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields on April 30.

The everyday presence of jockey Flavien Prat at Santa Anita is nearing an end.

Prat, the runaway leading jockey, is riding at Santa Anita this weekend, but is likely to ride only one more day at the track, on April 3, before relocating to the East Coast next month.

Prat is traveling to Dubai next week where he is booked to ride Hot Rod Charlie in the Dubai World Cup, Dr. Schivel in the Golden Shaheen Stakes, and Pinehurst in the United Arab Emirates Derby.