Larry Jones is relying on the instincts that have governed his 25 years of training racehorses. Although his latest stable star, Hard Spun, ran well enough last month in the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park to earn a Beyer Speed Figure of 95, Jones still had an uneasy feeling about how the colt had trained over the Oaklawn track.
"I could just tell he was having to do too much and work too hard," said Jones, who normally gets aboard the colt for his morning gallops.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The plowing of snow and ice from the barn area and the fact there are still two weeks of racing remaining on Aqueduct's inner track may belie the fact that spring was to officially commence at 8:07 Tuesday night. But the expected arrival of three shippers from California for Saturday's $150,000 Distaff Breeders' Cup Handicap is indeed a sign of the change in seasons.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - It would be easy for trainer Helen Pitts to walk her steadily improving 3-year-old For You Reppo from his stall in Barn 14 a week from Saturday to run in the $1 million Florida Derby. Instead she will ship the colt to Kentucky to race for half the money in Saturday's Lane's End Stakes.
With a full field expected for the Lane's End Stakes on Saturday, the chances of Hard Spun getting away on an easy lead do not seem good - especially if one rival in particular is entered when Turfway Park draws the race Wednesday.
Forefathers, the speedy Gone West colt who was the beaten favorite earlier this month in the Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park, is under serious consideration for the Grade 2, $500,000 Lane's End, trainer Nick Zito said Monday. If Forefathers starts, the complexion of the Lane's End figures to change.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Tortuga Straits is one of the most accomplished 3-year-olds on the grounds at Oaklawn Park, with a 6-for-6 record, and last Sunday he put in a strong work in preparation for a possible stakes start this weekend, said his trainer, Ralph Irwin.
Irwin said Tortuga Straits is being considered for the $100,000 Crescent City Derby, a 1 1/16-mile race for Louisiana-breds at Fair Grounds on Sunday. He breezed five furlongs here in 1:03.40 under regular rider Luis Quinonez.
ARCADIA, Calif. - As if winning a significant Kentucky Derby prep race wasn't enough to keep a trainer's mind occupied, Doug O'Neill was active on all fronts over the weekend, preparing Lava Man for a start in Dubai, putting champion Stevie Wonderboy through the first official workout of his latest comeback attempt, and winning the Pasadena Stakes with Whatsthescript.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Brian Koriner's fingerprints were all over the weekend's best races at Bay Meadows.
Court's in Session, a multiple stakes winner trained by Koriner, won a $62,500 claiming sprint at six furlongs Saturday, and the Koriner-trained Dealer Choice won Sunday's Luck of the Irish Handicap.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Saying he "has a score to settle with Scat Daddy," Bill Currin has decided to send his colt Stormello back to Gulfstream Park for a rematch of the Fountain of Youth Stakes in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby on March 31.
Currin, who trains and is the co-owner of Stormello, said "I'd rather go with the devil I know than with the devil I don't know." He also had been considering the Santa Anita Derby on April 7 and the Arkansas Derby on April 14.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - In one of the most exciting Kentucky Derby prep races in recent memory, reigning Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Eclipse Award winner Street Sense outdueled and ultimately outlasted an equally game and tenacious Any Given Saturday to register a nose decision in Saturday's $300,000 Tampa Bay Derby.
Street Sense ($4.40), making his first start since his sensational 10-length victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, also established a stakes and course record after covering 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.11 over a fast track. Delightful Kiss was another 6 1/4 lengths back in third.
Song of Navarone stamped himself as a plausible fringe contender for the Kentucky Derby by racing off to a 1 1/2-length victory Sunday in the showcase race at Sunland Park, the $600,000 WinStar Derby.
Ridden by Victor Espinoza, Song of Navarone put away the 9-10 favorite, Forty Grams, before holding off Solemn Promise in the fifth running of the WinStar Derby. The victory was the third in five career starts for Song of Navarone, a Kentucky-bred son of Sultry Song. He returned $6.20 to win as second choice in a field of seven 3-year-olds.
