Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes, one mile, Aqueduct, March 7, 2020
(50 Derby qualifying points for a win, 20 for second, 10 for third, 5 for fourth)
Winner: Mischevious Alex, by Into Mischief
Trainer: John Servis
Jockey: Kendrick Carmouche
Owners: Cash Is King LLC and LC Racing
Beyer Speed Figure: 90
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Like everyone else, trainer Mark Hennig doesn’t know what impact the coronavirus outbreak will have on the immediate future of the racing industry or the status of this year’s Kentucky Derby. What he does know for certain is that he has a horse in Americanus who has earned himself a shot at an upcoming Derby prep, although he does not know just where that race will be.
Grade 2, $351,500 Tampa Bay Derby, 1 1/16 miles, Tampa Bay Downs, March 7, 2020
(50 Derby qualifying points for a win, 20 for second, 10 for third, 5 for fourth)
Winner: King Guillermo, by Uncle Mo
Trainer: Juan Avila
Jockey: Samy Camacho
Owners: Victoria’s Ranch
Beyer Speed Figure: 99
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Grade 2, $1 million Rebel on Saturday at Oaklawn Park is a pivotal race for Derby Watch members Nadal and Basin.
Both are stretching out around two turns for the first time and making their first appearance in a Kentucky Derby prep race. The Rebel, which drew eight, including Silver Prospector, American Theorem and No Parole, doles out Derby qualifying points to the first four finishers on a scale of 50-20-10-5.
Most of the entrants in the Grade 3, $250,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks on Saturday at Turfway Park are stepping into the arena of the Kentucky Derby trail for the first time. Not so for Finnick the Fierce. The one-eyed gelding will be making his fourth straight start in a graded stakes race offering Derby qualifying points as he takes to the Polytrack.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Joe Talamo vaulted into a tie atop the stakes standings at Oaklawn Park last Saturday when he won both the Honeybee and Hot Springs. He can add to his totals this week, with key mounts in four stakes.
Talamo, 30, rides Remembering Rita in the Temperence Hill on Friday, then on Saturday will be aboard No Parole in the Grade 2 Rebel, Serengeti Empress in the Grade 2 Azeri, and Night Ops in the Essex Handicap.
Trainer Jeremiah Englehart grew up a fan of the New York Giants football team, which won Super Bowls titles following the 1986 and 1990 seasons, when he was 10 and 14 years old. So imagine Englehart’s excitement when he first met the coach of those teams, Bill Parcells, at Saratoga. Then imagine his excitement when Parcells eventually asked him to train horses for him.
“It’s like training for your boyhood idol,” Englehart said Wednesday.
Now imagine Englehart and Parcells teaming to win racing’s Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby. It’s not a far-fetched scenario.
Three Technique
Mr Speaker – Nite in Rome, by Harlan’s Holiday
Bred in Kentucky by Omega Farm LLC and Bally Breeders ($50,000 Keeneland November weanling purchase by Spin to Win Stables; $180,000 Fasig-Tipton July yearling purchase by August Dawn Farm)
