Chad Brown likens the approach he and owner Seth Klarman take to building Klarman’s Klaravich Stables to drafting a team, looking for prospects at every position. Potential contenders for the spring classics – the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont – are an important part of the roster, to be sure, but so is finding horses like Bricks and Mortar, their 2019 Horse of the Year. They want horses who can run short or long, on turf and dirt, be it colts or fillies.

Risk Taking

Medaglia d’Oro – Run a Risk, by Distorted Humor

Bred in Kentucky by G. Watts Humphrey Jr. ($240,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Mike Ryan, agent)

WHO’S HOT

Helium, who won the Tampa Bay Derby in his last start and is scheduled to go straight to the Kentucky Derby on May 1, and Weyburn, who won the Gotham in his last start and is scheduled to run in the Wood Memorial on Saturday, are two of the nine 3-year-olds announced on Wednesday as late nominees to the Triple Crown.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Keepmeinmind ran some of the best races of his career last year at Keeneland, and he will be returning to the track for the Grade 2, $800,000 Blue Grass, trainer Robertino Diodoro said Monday. The Kentucky Derby points race is Saturday.

Keepmeinmind is based at Oaklawn, where he also had been under consideration for the Arkansas Derby on April 10. Keepmeinmind worked here Saturday, going five-eighths in 1:00. Diodoro said shortly after the work that a decision had not yet been made on the horse’s next start, but he expected to have plans by Monday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Capo Kane will make his fourth consecutive trip to Aqueduct when he runs in the Wood Memorial. Capo Kane won the Jerome on New Year’s Day, finished third in the Grade 3 Withers, and was sixth in the Grade 3 Gotham.

Trainer Harold Wyner said he wants Capo Kane to be forwardly placed and to help achieve that objective he will add blinkers to the son of Street Sense for the Wood.

“He’s a forwardly placed horse, he needs to be out there and set his own pace and run his race,” Wyner said.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It will be 119 days between starts for Brooklyn Strong when he makes his 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, but his trainer, Danny Velazquez, couldn’t be more confident in his gelding’s chances for success.

“In my head, I’m going in for the kill, I’m not even thinking of losing,” Velazquez said by phone from Parx Racing where he is based. “I’m very confident, extremely confident in my horse. I see him doing everything I want him to do.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Parnelli will have new rider and new equipment as he tries to reverse his recent form when he starts as a longshot in the Grade 1, $750,000 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby on Saturday.

Parnelli worked five furlongs on Monday morning at Santa Anita in a sharp 59.40 seconds under Edwin Maldonado, who will ride Parnelli for the first time in the Santa Anita Derby. Parnelli has been working in blinkers in his recent drills and will race in them for the first time Saturday.

Grade 3, $243,325 Jeff Ruby Steaks, 1 1/8 miles, Turfway Park, March 27, 2021
(100 Derby qualifying points for first, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)

Winner: Like the King, by Palace Malice
Trainer: Wesley Ward
Jockey: Drayden Van Dyke
Owner: M Racing Group LLC
Beyer Speed Figure: 86

Grade 1, $770,000 Florida Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Gulfstream Park, March 27, 2021
(100 Derby qualifying points for first, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)

Winner: Known Agenda, by Curlin
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.
Owner: St. Elias Stable
Beyer Speed Figure: 94