LEXINGTON, Ky. – Eric Reed has a Kentucky Derby horse. Rich Strike might not become an actual Derby starter, depending on what happens in the next two weeks, but his name will appear on the Churchill Downs program as part of the field for the Derby on May 7 nonetheless.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The champions Letruska and Ce Ce have been entered in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park. 

Post positions for the 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares were drawn Monday.  

Letruska’s name came out of the box first, and she will start from post 2 under Jose Ortiz. The champion older female of 2021, she has been made the 124-pound highweight for the Apple Blossom, a race she won in 2021.   

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The Grade 1 winner Bella Sofia continues to progress toward her 4-year-old debut, which is expected to come during the Belmont Park spring/summer meeting.

On Saturday, Bella Sofia went five furlongs in 1:01.20, working in company with Summer to Remember. It was her fifth work - but first at five furlongs - since she returned to trainer Rudy Rodriguez’s barn in late winter.

“She went very good,” Rodriguez said. “We put a little company with her, put a little more pressure on her, but she did it very comfortabl. Everything was very good.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Yes, he was favored, but Disco Pharoah still impressed his trainer, Ray Handal, with his solid 3 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Frank Whiteley Stakes at Laurel Park.

Disco Pharoah, coming off a 19 1/2-length maiden win at Aqueduct in March, was taking on a group of older, more-seasoned horses in their backyard. Disco Pharoah, in just his fourth start, vanned down to Maryland the morning of the race.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Todd Pletcher will spend the bulk of the next three weeks in Kentucky where he is preparing three horses for the Kentucky Derby and three for the Kentucky Oaks as well horses for other major stakes at Churchill Downs and Keeneland.

When he returns to New York, Pletcher will likely have a few familiar faces in his Belmont shed row as they gear up for their 2022 campaigns.

Americanrevolution, the Grade 1 Cigar Mile winner, and Annapolis, the Grade 2 Pilgrim winner, have recently returned to the work tab after lengthy winter freshenings.

Regal Glory posted her third straight graded stakes score in Saturday’s Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland and will look to make it four in a row in the Just a Game in New York a little less than eight weeks off.

The Grade 1, $500,000 Just a Game is contested on the Belmont Stakes undercard on June 11. The race is at a mile, a distance at which Regal Glory has proven proficient.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – In Due Time, third as the favorite Saturday in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland, remains a prospect for the Kentucky Derby, although trainer Kelly Breen said Monday he and the owners of the Not This Time colt need more time to determine whether they actually want to run in the May 7 classic at Churchill Downs.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Malathaat figures as a heavy favorite when she makes her 4-year-old debut Friday at Keeneland in what is expected to be a short field of fillies and mares in the Grade 3 Doubledogdare. Entries for the 1 1/16-mile race are to be drawn Tuesday.

Malathaat, the 3-year-old filly champion of 2021, has had eight works since mid-February for trainer Todd Pletcher. The Curlin filly won three Grade 1 races last year, including the Kentucky Oaks.

The Grade 2 Elkhorn and Grade 3 Ben Ali are the Saturday features.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Stablemates Golden Pal and Campanelle are set to bookend the Royal Ascot meeting in June in England for trainer Wesley Ward, with both targeting Group 1 events after winning their respective season debuts at Keeneland. After that, their paths could diverge – but both are eyeing another ambitious international trip.

ARCADIA, Calif. -- Diego Herrera rode his final day as an apprentice at Santa Anita on Sunday.

Herrera’s apprentice term ends on April 24, six days before the next program of live racing at Santa Anita. Herrera, 17, plans to ride at Los Alamitos next weekend, but otherwise plans to work horses in the mornings at Santa Anita and take a slower pace before racing resumes.

“I might get some time with my family,” he said.

He is ready for a slower pace after a hectic 14 months in which he has ridden an astonishing 1,030 races.