HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. has some key decisions to make regarding the future itineraries of his Kentucky Derby-bound 3-year-old Ny Traffic and Kentucky Oaks-bound 3-year-old filly Tonalist’s Shape, with the pair sharing top billing on Sunday’s work tab at Gulfstream Park.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – You might say Bruce Lunsford has expanded his horizons since he got into racing in the mid-1980s by partnering on lower-level claiming horses trained by Phil Thomas Jr.

WHO’S HOT

ELMONT, N.Y. – Mischevious Alex, winner of the Grade 3 Gotham on March 7, worked five furlongs in 59.80 seconds Tuesday morning over the main track at Parx Racing. He is preparing for a start in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens on June 20 at Belmont Park.

Servis said he worked Mischevious Alex behind another horse “more than anything to get a good work in him,” he said.

Servis said he wanted Mischevious Alex to have a good gallop-out but the rider had to pull him up shortly past the wire because there was a loose horse on the track at the time.

In a year where the events in the world, let alone racing, are dizzying, the Kentucky Derby now has as a top contender in a horse who didn’t even make his debut until the day the final leg of the Triple Crown was supposed to be run.

Cezanne

Curlin – Achieving, by Bernardini

Bred in Kentucky by Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings and St. Elias Stables ($3.65 million Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream 2-year-old purchase by M.V. Magnier)

The pricey Cezanne, who won his highly anticipated career debut last weekend at Santa Anita, sports the definition of a classic pedigree. The colt’s sire and broodmare sire both won the Preakness Stakes; his sire is already represented by a pair of American classic winners; and he is from the extended family of a pair of Belmont Stakes winners.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Maxfield, one of the top contenders for the 146th Kentucky Derby, has been declared out of the Sept. 5 race after exiting a Wednesday breeze at Keeneland with a condylar fracture of his right front cannon bone.

Future plans for Kentucky Derby hopefuls Sole Volante, Ete Indien, and Shivaree should come into sharper focus after the trio of highly regarded 3-year-olds square off at a mile in Wednesday’s $55,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park. The race is the penultimate leg of a Rainbow 6 sequence that offers a guaranteed jackpot of $2.3 million. First post for the 10-race card is noon.

The top two finishers from the Santa Anita Derby – Honor A. P. and Authentic – both came out of the race in good order, and both remain on the trail to the Kentucky Derby, but how both get there is uncertain owing to the new path all 3-year-olds must navigate toward the delayed Sept. 5 Derby this year.

The postponed Derby does, though, offer a chance for glory for the maiden winner Cezanne, who was an impressive winner on debut on the undercard Saturday, five weeks after the Derby would have been run.

Grade 1, $401,000 Santa Anita Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Santa Anita, June 6, 2020
(100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)
Winner: Honor A. P., by Honor Code
Trainer: John Shirreffs
Jockey: Mike Smith
Owner: C R K Stable LLC
Beyer Speed Figure: 102