ARCADIA, Calif. - David Flores will ride Santa Anita Derby runner-up Bob Black Jack in the Kentucky Derby, if the speed colt gains a berth in the classic race at Churchill Downs on May 3.
Flores said he agreed to ride the colt earlier this week to ensure he had a mount in the Kentucky Derby.
"It's getting closer," he said. "We had to make a decision."
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Kelly Von Hemel said earlier this week that Semaphore Man was on top of his game coming into the Grade 3, $150,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park on Thursday, and the horse delivered one of the best performances of his career. He dueled on the lead with three rivals and went on to win by a length and a quarter over multiple stakes winner Junior College. It was another neck back in third to Lovango.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - An upset by Halo Najib in the Blue Grass Stakes wouldn't necessarily translate into the colt being regarded as a legitimate threat to win the Kentucky Derby. After all, the colt has tended to get his best results racing on Polytrack, his pedigree suggests he may have distance limitations, and by getting the hottest jockey in North America, Garrett Gomez, he is catching quite a break Saturday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After beginning the year in a 1-for-49 funk, trainer John Kimmel has shown signs of life recently, winning with 3 of his last 9 starters.
Kimmel hopes his good fortune continues Saturday when he runs Elusive Lady in the Grade 2, $150,000 Comely Stakes at Aqueduct. Elusive Lady will be Kimmel's first starter of the year in New York.
Contested as a one-turn mile on the main track, the Comely is run under the same conditions as last October's Grade 3 Tempted Stakes, won by Elusive Lady.
Bobby Frankel and Garrett Gomez did it again. For the second straight day, the trainer-jockey team won a Grade 2 stakes at Keeneland when Ariege stormed to victory Thursday in the $250,000 Stonerside Beaumont Stakes.
Frankel and Gomez won the Wednesday feature, the Grade 2 Vinery Madison, when Ventura rallied from the back of the pack. This time, it was a rail run from Ariege, a Doneraile Court filly coming off a victory in the Santa Anita Oaks.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Mike DePaulo shed row at Woodbine is home to a handful of solid 3-year-old males this year, including several prospects for the Queen's Plate.
On Saturday, DePaulo will be represented in what he hopes is the first of many stakes for the division when he sends out the uncoupled pair of Five and Off and Sun Hawk in the $150,000 Achievement at six furlongs.
Five and Off, although Ontario-bred, is not considered a Queen's Plate hopeful because his forte appears to be sprinting.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Mark Casse/Patrick Husbands trainer-rider juggernaut didn't take long to resume rolling here this spring as they teamed for wins with Battle Zone and Legal Move on Sunday's second card of the meeting.
Battle Zone, an Ontario-bred 3-year-old gelding, won a maiden special at first asking for them while Legal Move, an Ontario-bred 4-year-old colt, captured the open allowance prep for the Jacques Cartier Stakes.
Trainer Adan Farias has the fastest qualifier, Fighter on Fire, for Friday's Grade 2, $185,700 El Primero Del Ano Derby and the second-fastest qualifier, My Lady First, to Saturday's Grade 2, $245,000 La Primera Del Ano Derby on Saturday at Los Alamitos.
The El Primero Derby is for colts and geldings, while the La Primera Derby is for fillies.
Buy the Barrel picked up her second stakes win in her last three starts on Wednesday, when she rallied for a 5 3/4-length win over stablemate Best Vow in the $100,000 Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn Park. Both fillies are trained by Larry Jones.
Buy the Barrel ($7.40) stalked the pace in third in the 1 1/16-mile Bayakoa, as Over Under and Best Vow dueled through fractions of 23.79 seconds for the opening quarter and 47.71 for the half-mile over a muddy track. Buy the Barrel moved to the leaders into the stretch, and rallied to cover the distance in 1:44.29.