ARCADIA, Calif. - There is a pick six carryover of $108,545 at Santa Anita on Thursday after a string of longshots won on Wednesday.
The pick six covers the third through eighth races on Thursday.
Here is a glance at the late changes.
There are no changes in the third race, a hillside sprint race for $55,000 to $62,500 claimers. Brocky's Dream, who has drawn the outside post in the field of six, is the 2-1 favorite on the morning line.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Horses are sometimes best judged by the company they keep, and by that measuring stick Borrego deserves much respect in the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on Saturday.
No other horse in the field has faced as many promising 3-year-olds this season as Borrego. In his two dirt stakes starts, he has run second to Master David and Wimbledon, and finished in front of such horses as champion Action This Day, Grade 2 winner Preachinatthebar, and Pollard's Vision, who last Saturday won the Grade 2, $500,000 Illinois Derby.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Not that the weatherman is predicting it, but Friday could be a "Perfect" afternoon at Keeneland. Although sunny skies are in the forecast, the high temperature might only reach 60, detracting slightly from ideal racing conditions.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The proper verbal respects were paid to the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes favorites when post positions for the Grade 1 race were drawn Wednesday in the Keeneland paddock. Predictably, ample mention was given to Lion Heart, Action This Day, and The Cliff's Edge, if for no other reason than that's just the way these things work.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - While compiling a win streak that reached nine Wednesday at Keeneland, Ema Bovary had been the beneficiary of one disqualification that kept the streak intact.
So when an objection was filed against Ema Bovary soon after she crossed the wire first in the $175,000 Vinery Madison Stakes, the possibility of her streak being ended by disqualification hung heavily in the spring air.
Spanish Empire overtook pacesetter Crafty Shaw in the stretch and drove to a one-length win in the Grade 3, $100,000 Fifth Season Breeders' Cup at Oaklawn Park on Wednesday. Crafty Shaw held for second, a neck in front of third-place finisher No Comprende.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Laura de Seroux has spent the last six months reforming a stable decimated by the loss of the champion Azeri last fall and by injuries that sidelined several other important horses.
Azeri was almost retired in October because of a tendon injury, but was put back in training in December by owner Michael Paulson. She was sent to trainer D. Wayne Lukas. In her comeback race, Azeri won the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park last Saturday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - While Kentucky Derby hopefuls have banged heads in major prep races from coast to coast over the past several weeks, Friends Lake, much to the delight of trainer John Kimmel, continues to train in relative anonymity at Payson Park.
Friends Lake secured his position in the Kentucky Derby with his victory in the $1 million Florida Derby on March 13, and Kimmel is sticking to his plan of training the New York-bred up to the big race.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Last week, the Grade 1 Ashland drew a small but star-studded group of 3-year-old fillies, no doubt prompting other members of the division to prep for the Kentucky Oaks elsewhere. Friday's Grade 2, $200,000 Fantasy may have been the beneficiary.
The Fantasy drew a large, competitive field of 11 fillies, led by House of Fortune and Miss Coronado. Other stakes winners in the 1 1/16-mile race include Shadow Cast, Stellar Jayne, and Island Sand.
