ARCADIA, Calif. – Medina Spirit and Rock Your World both were scheduled to take on Life Is Good in the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby on April 3. Now with Life Is Good out of the race, and the win chances of both significantly upgraded, they worked Monday at Santa Anita in preparation for the West’s final prep for the May 1 Kentucky Derby.
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Larry Best, who buys, breeds, and races as OXO Equine, has been a Thoroughbred owner since 2017. In less than five years, he has raced a bevy of graded stakes winners, and is now drawing a bead on the Kentucky Oaks with one of those. He also will have a rooting interest in the Kentucky Derby, thanks to the progress of his broodmare band.
Mon, 03/22/2021 - 12:46
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mark Casse might already be mixing his metaphors when it comes to Soup and Sandwich, the unbeaten gray colt he will saddle Saturday at Gulfstream Park for the 69th Florida Derby.
“This is going to be a different kettle of fish,” Casse said early this week from his Ocala base.
:: Enhance your handicapping with DRF’s Gulfstream Park Clocker Report
Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby, 1 3/16 miles, Fair Grounds, March 20, 2021
(100 Derby qualifying points for first, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)
Winner: Hot Rod Charlie, by Oxbow
Trainer: Leandro Mora/Doug O’Neill
Jockey: Joel Rosario
Owner: Roadrunner Racing, Boat Racing LLC, and Bill Strauss
Beyer Speed Figure: 99
Life Is Good emerged from a fast work at Santa Anita on Saturday morning with an apparent hind-end injury and is off the Triple Crown trail, his trainer, Bob Baffert, said Saturday afternoon.
The unbeaten colt, who is the current favorite for the Kentucky Derby on May 1, was scheduled to make his next start in the Santa Anita Derby on April 3.
"He came back to the barn after the work and was off when he turned," Baffert said earlier Saturday. "We have to do more tests on him. It's nothing obvious."
Life Is Good emerged from a fast work at Santa Anita on Saturday morning with an apparent hind-end injury and will at the least not run in the Santa Anita Derby on April 3, his trainer, Bob Baffert, said early Saturday afternoon.
"He came back to the barn after the work and was off when he turned," Baffert said. "We have to do more tests on him. It's nothing obvious, but he's out of the Santa Anita Derby."
It was last year that the Risen Star was lengthened a sixteenth of a mile to 1 1/8 miles, and the Louisiana Derby a sixteenth of a mile to 1 3/16 miles. Brad Cox admits his immediate reaction was thumb’s down.
“I thought it was very odd, different,” the trainer recalled this week.
Then he won the Risen Star with Mr. Monomoy. And he won the Louisiana Derby with Wells Bayou. The idea is growing on him. Give it two thumbs up. Way up.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby next month at Oaklawn Park has picked up a trio of new probables in Super Stock, Caddo River, and Keepmeinmind.
The horses finished a respective fourth through sixth in the Rebel Stakes last Saturday at Oaklawn. The 1 1/16-mile Rebel serves as the final stepping-stone to the Arkansas Derby. The 1 1/8-mile fixture is set for April 10.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – For just the third time at the championship meet, which began Dec. 2, ontrack spectators will be permitted when the Florida Derby is run March 27. Tickets are on sale through the track website on a limited basis, just as they were for the Jan. 23 Pegasus and Feb. 27 Fountain of Youth. Strict pandemic-related protocols apply.