HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The most recent prep for the Kentucky Derby yielded a 75-1 winner when Un Ojo won the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park last Saturday.
A similar result Saturday in the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park would be far-fetched, but with an expected full gate of 12, there will be some real longshots in the field, if only by mathematical necessity.
Rocco Bowen received a hero’s farewell. Bowen has left Tampa Bay Downs for the season, but not before being honored by a local sponsor as the jockey of the month for February.
Bowen, 32, rode a winner Sunday before departing for his native Barbados to visit his mother and other family members. He will be off several weeks before returning to suburban Chicago, where he has his home, to start riding at the Hawthorne meet that starts April 3.
Bernabreezy likely will get her second stakes try this Fair Grounds season in the Fair Grounds Oaks on March 26. The 3-year-old filly nicely won a Dec. 20 maiden dirt-route, earning a Jan. 22 start in the Silverbulletday Stakes, where she loomed in upper stretch before fading to third.
Bernabreezy returned Feb. 18 in a first-level Fair Grounds allowance race and won by two lengths, matching her career-best 76 Beyer Speed Figure and pushing her way back into stakes competition.
Jackie’s Warrior, champion male sprinter of 2021, had his first timed workout as a 4-year-old, going an easy half-mile in 52.80 seconds on Sunday at Fair Grounds.
Jackie’s Warrior won the Pat Day Mile, the Amsterdam, the Allen Jerkens over Life Is Good, and the Gallant Bob before finishing sixth as the 1-2 favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He subsequently underwent surgery to repair a chipped knee, and given that he already is back working, the procedure went smoothly.
Proxy is headed back to stakes competition following his sharp second-level allowance race win Friday at Fair Grounds.
Starting for the first time since April 10, Proxy raced about seven lengths behind a fast pace in this two-turn dirt contest before closing on the leaders around the far turn. Racing with a focus and determination he hadn’t shown as a 3-year-old, Proxy stormed to the lead and drew away to a 3 3/4-length victory. He ran 1 1/16 miles in a swift 1:42.45 and got a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Slow Down Andy, winner of the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity in December but only sixth of 10 in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 19 at Fair Grounds, will be pointed to the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes on April 9 at Keeneland, trainer Doug O’Neill said over the weekend.
The Blue Grass is one of the leading preps for the Kentucky Derby on May 7 at Churchill Downs.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 1 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita on Saturday may arrive too soon for Soothsay, the two-time graded stakes winner who has not raced since July.
Sunday, trainer Richard Mandella said Soothsay remains a candidate for the $500,000 Beholder Mile for fillies and mares, but that the Grade 3 Las Flores Stakes for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs on March 13 may be a better fit.
“I’m a little concerned,” Mandella said, referring to Soothsay’s level of fitness. “I’m debating.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Fans of the one-eyed Patch have a new rooting interest on this year’s road to the Kentucky Derby.
The one-eyed Un Ojo emerged from his 75-1 upset in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel on Saturday in good order and will likely make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass on April 9 at Keeneland, trainer Ricky Courville said Sunday.
Courville said the Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby on April 2 also remains a consideration for the horse, who picked up 50 points for the Kentucky Derby with his half-length victory in the Rebel.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Winning 20-cent tickets in the Rainbow 6 returned $2,116 apiece when another forceout of a giant wagering pool was held Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
New wagers into the Rainbow 6 totaled $7,404,674 when chasing a carryover of $1,089,070 from Friday.
Two of the winners in a sequence comprising races 7-12 were post-time favorites. The winning numbers were 3-10-11-6-3-1, with those winners’ odds being 9-5f, 7-2, 10-1, 7-5f, 7-5, and 4-1.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Simplification, who overcame a slow start to finish a game second in the Grade 3 Holy Bull, will have a new rider when he goes postward among the favorites in next Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park.
