Sunland Park Derby winner Slow Down Andy was traveling to Kentucky on Tuesday to begin preparations for the Kentucky Derby, according to his trainer, Doug O’Neill.
Slow Down Andy picked up 50 points for the Kentucky Derby on Sunday with his win in the Sunland Derby. Slow Down Andy also has 10 points from his win in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity in December and ranks fourth on the current points leaderboard with 60.
Slow Down Andy earned a 86 Beyer Speed Figure in the Sunland Derby.
The ownership of Bye Bye Bobby has made the Sunland Park Derby runner-up eligible to the Triple Crown, trainer Todd Fincher said Tuesday.
The late nomination period for the 3-year-old series closed on Monday. Fincher said B4 Farms LLC made the horse eligible at a cost of $6,000.
Bye Bye Bobby earned 20 Kentucky Derby qualifying points for his second-place finish to Slow Down Andy in the Sunland Derby on Sunday. He was beaten a half-length.
Slow Down Andy and Bye Bye Bobby both earned 86 Beyer Speed Figures in the Sunland Derby.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - After missing a scheduled work on Sunday due to a minor setback earlier in the week, White Abarrio got in his final work for Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby on Tuesday morning at Gulfstream Park, an easy three furlongs in 34.89 over a very fast track shortly after the second renovation break.
White Abarrio, who has not started since his impressive 4 1/2-length victory over Simplication in the Grade 3 Holy Bull on Feb. 5, galloped out with plenty of energy after completing his drill, going a half-mile in 47.12 before easing up five panels in 1:00.85.
With the exception of the return of turf racing – scheduled to begin April 7 – and one blockbuster card on April 9, Aqueduct’s 15-day spring meet, which begins Thursday and runs through April 24, figures to look very similar to the four-month winter meet that concluded Sunday.
Dylan Davis hopes there are no changes atop the jockey standings this spring after statistics reset on Thursday.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Cristian Torres will be sidelined for a couple of weeks due to injuries sustained Sunday, agent Ruben Munoz said.
Torres was thrown from his mount, Big On Broadway, in the fifth race at Oaklawn. Munoz said the rider has been diagnosed with a hairline fracture in his tailbone and on the inside of his right ankle.
Big On Broadway, who was racing along the rail, shied from something, according to the stewards at Oaklawn. They said they were informed the horse did not sustain serious injury.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Pretty Birdie put up the year’s highest Beyer Speed Figure for a 3-year-old filly on Saturday, when she earned a 95 for her victory in the $150,000 Purple Martin at Oaklawn Park.
Pretty Birdie set the pace and went on to cover six furlongs in 1:09.01. She won by 2 3/4 lengths in what was her second stakes victory behind last year’s Grade 3 Schuylerville at Saratoga.
“She came back very well,” trainer Norm Casse said Monday. “We’re going to aim for the Eight Belles on Oaks Day at Churchill.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The $1 million Florida Derby got a little more interesting over the weekend when trainer Brian Lynch confirmed he will redirect Tampa Bay Derby winner Classic Causeway to the Grade 1 fixture on Saturday rather than await the Blue Grass at Keeneland the following week as originally planned.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Kathleen O., undefeated winner of the Grade 2 Davona Dale, heads what is expected to be a short field in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks, the richest of nine stakes on the undercard of the $1 million Florida Derby.
The Gulfstream Oaks, at 1 1/16 miles, will be the first start around two turns for Kathleen O., a daughter of Upstart.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mark Casse doesn’t know what went wrong for Pappacap in last month’s Grade 2 Risen Star where the Grade 1 stakes-placed horse finished eighth, 14 1/4 lengths behind Epicenter. What Casse does know is to do what most trainers do in such instances when there’s no evident excuse – draw a line through the race and try again.
Thus, Casse will return Pappacap to the site of his first victory – Gulfstream Park – and run him in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby, a last-ditch effort to make the Kentucky Derby.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Like death and taxes, one of the certainties of our existence is that on the Monday preceding a Saturday stakes race, Steve Asmussen will work his horses an easy half-mile in something like 51 and change for their final tune-up. So on Monday morning, just after the renovation break at Oaklawn, his colt Chasing Time hit right on cue, a half-mile in 51.20 seconds under the supervision of assistant Darren Fleming while readying for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby.
