WHO’S HOT

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Brendan Walsh got the extra time he needed with Maxfield. Soon it’ll be up to the colt to capitalize on the reprieve.

Maxfield is widely regarded as a major contender for the 146th Kentucky Derby, but only because the coronavirus crisis forced Churchill Downs officials to postpone it from May 2 to Sept. 5. If the race had been run as originally scheduled, Maxfield would have been hard-pressed to make the race – let alone win it.

Nadal

Blame – Ascending Angel, by Pulpit

Bred in Kentucky by Sierra Farm ($65,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Randy Bradshaw, agent; $700,000 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream juvenile purchase by Kerri Radcliffe Bloodstock)

Grade 1, $500,000 Arkansas Derby (Division 2), 1 1/8 miles, Oaklawn Park, May 2, 2020

(100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)

Winner: Nadal, by Blame
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Joel Rosario
Owners: George Bolton, Arthur Hoyeau, Barry Lipman, and Mark Mathiesen
Beyer Speed Figure: 98

Grade 1, $500,000 Arkansas Derby (Division 1); 1 1/8 miles; Oaklawn Park; May 2, 2020
(100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)

Winner: Charlatan, by Speightstown

Trainer: Bob Baffert

Jockey: Martin Garcia

Owners: SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables, Hertrich

Beyer Speed Figure: 96

Bob Baffert had everything but the roses Saturday. The five-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer won the biggest 3-year-old races of the day on the first Saturday in May, and celebrated, as he would have in Louisville, with a steak dinner from his favorite restaurant.

The Arkansas Derby was split into two divisions, enabling Baffert to capture both, with Charlatan and then Nadal. Both were favored, both remained unbeaten, and both emerged from their races in good order, Baffert said Sunday morning.

Saturday was supposed to be the day Authentic and Honor A. P. took their places in the starting gate at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby. Instead, the highly-promising 3-year-old colts worked at Santa Anita over the weekend in preparation for the rescheduled Santa Anita Derby on June 6.

Honor A. P. worked five furlongs in 1:00 on Saturday, a day before Authentic went the same distance in 1:00.40.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - An unprecedented meet at Oaklawn Park ended in unprecedented fashion when Nadal won the second division of the $500,000 Arkansas Derby to give trainer Bob Baffert a sweep of the Grade 1 races. Charlatan won the first division, also worth $500,000 on Saturday.

Nadal won by three lengths over King Guillermo, who finished 1 1/2 lengths in front of third-place finisher Finnick the Fierce. It was another 2 1/2 lengths back in fourth to Farmington Road. The four horses earned Kentucky Derby points on a scale of 100-40-20-10.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Charlatan put in a Division 1 performance in the first division of the Grade 1, $500,000 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on Saturday when he set a quick pace and came home strongly for a six-length win over Basin. 

Charlatan, making his stakes debut after winning the first two starts of his career by a combined margin of 16 lengths, picked up 100 points for the Kentucky Derby, which has been postponed until Sept. 5.

In a world free of the coronavirus, Tiz the Law would have spent Saturday morning at Churchill Downs going through the usual preparations prior to parading postward as the likely favorite in the Kentucky Derby.

Instead, Florida Derby winner Tiz the Law spent Saturday morning at the Palm Meadows training center in Florida where he breezed an easy five furlongs in 1:01.45 under exercise rider Heather Smullen, continuing to bide his time awaiting whatever as yet undetermined race will be his next.