LEXINGTON, Ky. - For handicappers and hard-core racing fans, the aesthetics and amenities that come with the Keeneland spring meet are all fine and dandy.
The blooming shrubs and the well-heeled clientele appeal to the eye. The familiar refrains of longtime bugler Bucky Sallee and the understated tones of race-caller Kurt Becker appeal to the ear. And it almost goes without saying that the steaming burgoo and ice-cold beer appeal to the taste.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kent Desormeaux doesn't know exactly when he started getting the reputation of being a spoiled jockey who handpicks his spots.
All he knows is that the label is unfair. Desormeaux can't believe that anyone at age 33 would want to take it easy - especially himself.
"I'm too young to be riding a couple a day," he said.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Paper Wings will get the distance her pedigree suggests when she takes on five other older fillies and mares in Friday's one-mile allowance feature at Portland Meadows.
Paper Wings comes off wins over maiden special weight company at 5 1/2 furlongs and allowance rivals at six furlongs, but her best lick should come around two turns. The 4-year-old Paper Wings, who sold for $55,000 as a yearling, is by Belmont Stakes winner Editor's Note and out of the Deputy Minister mare Promiscuous Angel.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Unbeaten and untested is the scouting report on Ocean Terrace, the promising 3-year-old owned by Fog City Stable. The description will need to be updated after Saturday's $750,000 Santa Anita Derby.
There is little doubt that Ocean Terrace will face a stern test in the Santa Anita Derby, one of the year's top Kentucky Derby preps. He drew the rail and will be part of a strong field of 10.
If Ocean Terrace wins the Santa Anita Derby, he will approach the Kentucky Derby on May 3 as a leading contender.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The seventh race at Santa Anita Friday, a $57,000 optional claimer on the hillside turf course, resembles a consolation for fillies and mares eligible to Saturday's Grade 3 Las Cienegas Handicap.
Five of the eight entrants in Friday's race were nominated for the Las Cienegas, but seem better suited to the conditions of this optional claimer, restricted to fillies and mares eligible for the second allowance condition or to be claimed for $80,000.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Pleasantly Perfect, the winner of the Goodwood Handicap last fall, will miss Saturday's $150,000 San Bernardino Handicap at Santa Anita because of a bruised foot, trainer Richard Mandella said.
The San Bernardino would have been Pleasantly Perfect's third start of the meeting, following a third-place finish in the San Antonio Handicap on Feb. 2 and a fourth in the Santa Anita Handicap on March 1.
The injury is to the right front foot.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark - Take Charge Lady ran one of her best races following a layoff last year, and her trainer, Ken McPeek, is hoping for the same Saturday, when she takes on Azeri in the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park.
"She ran a 109 Beyer Speed Figure last spring at Fair Grounds off the layoff, and that was as a 3-year-old," said McPeek. "You'd like to think she'd be better this year."
CHICAGO - With a major-league purse of $500,000, Grade 2 status, and a desirable four-week breather until start of the Triple Crown, the Illinois Derby can reasonably be termed a Kentucky Derby prep race. It can even boast of having produced last year's Derby winner, War Emblem.
But if this is a Derby prep, nobody knows it yet.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Roxelana won her 6-year-old debut by two lengths over Grade 1 winner See How She Runs in the first race Wednesday at Oaklawn Park. Roxelana will start next at either Keeneland or Churchill Downs, most likely in a stakes, said her trainer, Blackie Huffman.
"We're not really pointing for anything in particular," he said. "We'll just play it by ear."
Lady Tak ran the most impressive race at Fair Grounds this winter, and this week was named horse of the meet at Fair Grounds.
Lady Tak, an easy winner in all five of her career starts, won three stakes at Fair Grounds after winning her maiden and a first-level allowance race last fall at Churchill. She won the six-furlong Thelma Stakes, stretched out to two turns for the first time and won the Tiffany Lass Stakes, and to top off her meet, buried hints of distance limitations with a dazzling win in the Fair Grounds Oaks.