Greatest Honour
Tapit – Tiffany’s Honour, by Street Cry
Bred in Kentucky by Courtlandt Farm
Greatest Honour, who is seeking his third consecutive graded stakes win at Gulfstream Park in Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby, has established himself as a standout contender for the Kentucky Derby. He has a pedigree suited to the 1 1/4-mile Derby – but perhaps even more tailor-made for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mike Shanley is a Villanova University graduate and a huge fan of the school’s basketball program, but pardon the 74-year-old retired attorney if he is preoccupied when the Wildcats face heavily favored Baylor in the NCAA tournament late Saturday afternoon.
“As much as I love the school and Villanova basketball, both of my eyes are going to be focused on that racetrack,” Shanley said with a chuckle this week from Ocean Ridge, Fla.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Big Lake, who was third in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel in his last start March 13 at Oaklawn Park, emerged from the race with an injury and will be sidelined indefinitely, trainer Steve Asmussen said Tuesday.
Asmussen said Big Lake came out of the Rebel with a condylar fracture in one of his legs.
Big Lake had won a maiden special weight and a first-level allowance, both at Fair Grounds, prior to making his stakes debut in the Rebel. For his third-place finish he earned 10 points for the Kentucky Derby.
Eight new names are among the separately listed interests in the fifth and final pool of the 2021 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday at noon Eastern for the customary three-day run.
Essential Quality is listed as the 3-1 morning-line favorite in Pool 5, followed closely by Greatest Honour (4-1), Concert Tour (9-2), and Hot Rod Charlie (6-1). The mutuel field, the 24th or “all others” option, is listed at 20-1 after closing as the favorite in the first three pools.
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.
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.
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."
