Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes, 1 1/8 miles, Aqueduct, Feb. 6, 2021
(10 Derby qualifying points for first, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)

Winner: Risk Taking, by Medaglia d’Oro
Trainer: Chad Brown
Jockey: Eric Cancel
Owner: Klaravich Stables
Beyer Speed Figure: 89

Essential Quality, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and champion 2-year-old male of 2020, heads 326 3-year-olds announced Thursday as nominations to this year’s Triple Crown, a list that includes Breeders’ Cup winners Vequist and Fire At Will, too.

Vequist, who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies to be named the Eclipse Award winner in her division, is one of 13 fillies nominated to the Triple Crown. Fire At Will won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

Sometimes it seems like Todd Pletcher is beating up on the competition with one hand tied behind his back.

When Pletcher is inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame later this year – an inevitability, even with voting not having yet begun – his remarkable record at Tampa Bay Downs probably won’t even get a mention because his innumerable feats elsewhere will take precedence.

Like most other trainers based on the Atlantic Coast at this time of year, Dale Romans ships the occasional runner across the Florida peninsula to Tampa Bay Downs, mostly for stakes. Predictably, the results have been a mixed bag.

“My history of going over there isn’t all that great, actually,” said Romans, “but I think we might do some good Saturday.”

A wide-open field is expected when entries are taken Wednesday for the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes, with Boca Boy, Smiley Sobotka, and Known Agenda among the 3-year-olds set to clash Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla.

The Sam Davis is one of two designated preps for the May 1 Kentucky Derby this weekend, along with the Withers on Saturday at Aqueduct. Points for both races will be awarded on a 10-4-2-1 scale.

Grade 3, $200,000 Holy Bull Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Gulfstream Park, Jan. 30, 2021
(10 Derby qualifying points for first, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)

Winner: Greatest Honour, by Tapit
Trainer: Shug McGaughey
Jockey: Jose Ortiz
Owner: Courtlandt Farms
Beyer Speed Figure: 89

Grade 3, $100,500 Robert Lewis Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Santa Anita, Jan. 30, 2021
(10 Derby qualifying points for first, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)

Winner: Medina Spirit, by Protontico
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Abel Cedillo
Owner: Zedan Racing Stables, Inc.
Beyer Speed Figure: 91

Remember when people were toasting the end of 2020? Jury’s out, but so far, ’21 feels a lot like ’20. It’s almost like flipping a calendar doesn’t stop the actual world from going round.

Five times in the last nine years, the Kentucky Derby winner has been trained by Bob Baffert or Doug O’Neill. They combine to send out four of the eight runners on Saturday at Santa Anita in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes, a Derby prep that finds the top-rated 3-year-old in California looming large, even though he’s sitting this one out.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – While Saturday’s Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes may not have been the first option for either Prime Factor or Greatest Honour’s 3-year-old debut, the two recent maiden winners will likely vie for favoritism in the first of two major preps leading up to the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 27 at Gulfstream Park. The Grade 3 Holy Bull also will be the last of five stakes for 3-year-olds on Saturday’s 12-race program, with first post at 11:45 a.m.

The Holy Bull offers 17 points toward the Kentucky Derby to the first four finishers on a 10-4-2-1 basis.