HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The field for the Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest Stakes rescheduled for Saturday at Oaklawn Park could be larger than initially anticipated as new nominees like Southern California-based Spielberg have committed to the points race for the Kentucky Derby.
“We’re going,” trainer Bob Baffert said Monday. “We’ll see what he does over there. He’s been training well.”
Run Classic scored a sharp second-start win Feb. 13 at Fair Grounds, going from a promising runner-up finish in his sprint debut Jan. 17 to a 3 1/2-length dirt-route maiden win that produced an 85 Beyer Speed Figure. His trainer, Bret Calhoun, saw enough in the recent performance to aim Run Classic for the Louisiana Derby.
“They only run 14, so I don’t know if we’ll get in, and it’s obviously a big jump in class, but we’ve been pretty high on this horse and we’re pointing that direction,” said Calhoun, who trains Run Classic for Tom Durant.
The trainer Brad Cox had not one, but two 2020 champions all dressed up and ready to go to their first race of 2021. Then winter hit Arkansas with a fury.
Instead of shipping from New Orleans, where they have been based all winter, to Oaklawn for the Feb. 15 Bayakoa Stakes and Southwest Stakes, Monomoy Girl and Essential Quality remained at Fair Grounds when those races were postponed because of the inclement weather.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Less than four weeks ago, Prime Factor was all the rage heading into the Grade 3 Holy Bull here. But after finishing a tiring third as the even-money favorite in his stakes debut, Prime Factor will take a back seat to both Holy Bull winner Greatest Honour and Breeders’ Cup hero Fire At Will when he gets a second chance on the Triple Crown trail in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth.
Kendrick Carmouche, the leading jockey at the Aqueduct meet, will be here Saturday to ride Fire At Will in the Fountain of Youth and at least two other mounts.
Trainer Mike Maker initially arranged for Luis Saez to ride Fire At Will, but Carmouche got the mount after Saez committed to Essential Quality in the Southwest at Oaklawn, which will be run Saturday following several weather-related cancellations from its original Feb. 15 date.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Prevalence, the exciting Godolphin homebred who made a flashy career debut on the Jan. 23 Pegasus World Cup undercard, missed a scheduled workout at the Palm Meadows training center after spiking a temperature recently and will not be in action at Gulfstream Park this week as was hoped.
Trainer Brendan Walsh had intended to have Prevalence make his second start in a weekday allowance or the Fountain of Youth on Saturday, but Walsh and Godolphin’s top American representative, Jimmy Bell, now must come up with other plans for the Medaglia d’Oro colt.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Life Is Good, winner of the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Jan. 2 at Santa Anita in his stakes debut and the most highly-regarded 3-year-old in Southern California, breezed five furlongs in 59.60 seconds on Sunday in preparation for the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 6.
Trained by Bob Baffert, Life Is Good has been given a breezing designation in his last two workouts, including five furlongs in 1:00.80 on Feb. 15. California clockers use the breezing designation to indicate that a horse was working more easily than a horse that was rated as working handily.
Cafe Pharoah earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar with an attractive win in Sunday’s Group 1 February Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse in Japan.
The $1.84 million February Stakes, run at a mile on dirt, was Cafe Pharoah’s fourth stakes win and his first since the Grade 3 Sirius Stakes in October. Cafe Pharoah is a Kentucky-bred by American Pharoah, the prominent stallion’s first Grade 1 winner in Japan.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The top five finishers from the Jan. 30 Holy Bull plus a Breeders’ Cup winner are among the prospective starters for the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes, which will be run next Saturday for the 74th time at Gulfstream Park.
