HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla – A field of 10 topped by Holy Bull winner Greatest Honour and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf hero Fire At Will was drawn Wednesday for Saturday’s $300,000 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park. The Grade 2 Kentucky Derby prep tops a card that will feature seven other graded stakes, highlighted by the appearance of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and 2-year-old filly champion Vequist in the Grade 2 Davona Dale.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Wipe the Slate will cut back to one turn when he ships cross-country from California to run in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes on March 6, trainer Doug O’Neill confirmed Wednesday.
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jackie’s Warrior established himself as an elite member of his division last year and on Saturday he’ll be looking to pick up where he left off when he launches his 3-year-old season against champion Essential Quality in the Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
“He’s an awfully nice horse that we’re very fortunate to get the chance to run,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Jackie’s Warrior.
Fire At Will already has proven he’s a terrific grass horse, highlighted by his victory last year in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. But there’s only one time in his lifespan when he’ll be a 3-year-old in the springtime, and that requires serious consideration for the Kentucky Derby.
That time is now, so Fire At Will is going to be given an opportunity to see if he can compete with some of the division’s best dirt runners when he takes on the likes of Greatest Honour, the Holy Bull winner, in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
Fire At Will
Declaration of War – Flirt, by Kitten’s Joy
Bred in Kentucky by Troy Rankin ($97,000 purchase by Three Diamonds Farm at 2019 Keeneland September yearling sale
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Fire At Will is expected to make his 3-year-old debut on the main track in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park in a bid to step onto the Kentucky Derby trail.
The John Battaglia Memorial Stakes already held an important place on Turfway Park’s winter calendar as a springboard to the track’s signature Kentucky Derby prep, the Jeff Ruby Steaks. This year, following Turfway’s acquisition by Churchill Downs, it has added importance with Derby qualifying points of its own, as Churchill has bolstered the prep series at its northern Kentucky track.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- Essential Quality, the 2020 male juvenile champion, will break from the rail when he launches his 3-year-old season in the seven-horse Southwest Stakes on Saturday at Oaklawn Park.
The Grade 3, $750,000 race was drawn Tuesday. It will go as the 10th race on an 11-race card that has a special first post of 12:15 p.m. Central. The program also includes the Grade 3, $600,000 Razorback Handicap and the $200,000 Spring Fever.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Keepmeinmind, the top 3-year-old based at Oaklawn Park, will bypass an intended start in the track’s Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest Stakes on Saturday and instead point to its Rebel Stakes, trainer Robertino Diodoro said Tuesday.
The Grade 2, $1 million Rebel will be run March 13 at Oaklawn. It awards its winner 50 points for the Kentucky Derby.
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.”
