Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby, 1 3/16 miles, Fair Grounds, March 21, 2020
(100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)
Winner: Wells Bayou, by Lookin At Lucky
Trainer: Brad Cox
Jockey: Florent Geroux
Owners: Clint Gasaway, Lance Gasaway, Madaket Stables LLC, and Wonder Stables
Beyer Speed Figure: 91

Trainer Brad Cox saved the best for last. On what turned out to be the final day of the Fair Grounds meet, Cox holed out the card by sweeping the final three Grade 2 stakes, including the $1 million Louisiana Derby with Wells Bayou, whose front-running victory gave Cox four victories out of the day’s 12 races.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Gulfstream Park announced Saturday it will cut the purses for five stakes races on next Saturday’s card, including the Grade 1 Florida Derby, which will be reduced from $1 million to $750,000. Other cuts will be made for the Grade 2 Pan American and Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks, both reduced from $250,000 to $200,000, as well as the Sanibel Island and Cutler Bay stakes, both down from $125,000 to $100,000.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission in a special meeting Thursday approved a request by Churchill Downs to run from Sept. 1-Sept. 5 in order to accommodate the rescheduled date of the Kentucky Derby.

Churchill Downs announced Tuesday that it had postponed the Kentucky Derby until Sept. 5 due to the coronavirus outbreak. The track was not approved to race on that date, but Churchill officials had said Tuesday that the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission had backed the postponement and was expected to approve a request for additional dates.

Before the long Fair Grounds season started, both the Risen Star Stakes and the Louisiana Derby had their distances increased for this year’s Kentucky Derby prep season. In the past week, that has turned out to be a metaphor for this unprecedented Derby season. Who can go the distance? We’ll find out, in the long run.

Churchill made the decision to keep the pari-mutuel bets in play after “numerous internal and external discussions,” according to Darren Rogers, the track’s senior director of communications. On Tuesday, Churchill postponed the Derby until Sept. 5 due to the upheaval caused by the coronavirus outbreak, raising questions about the fate of the bets in the future pools.

Grade 3, $217,010 Jeff Ruby Steaks, 1 1/8 miles (all-weather), Turfway Park, March 14, 2020

(20 Derby qualifying points for a win, 8 for second, 4 for third, 2 for fourth)

Winner: Field Pass, by Lemon Drop Kid

Trainer: Mike Maker

Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.

The road to the Kentucky Derby just got longer, and with that trainers will have to adjust their preparation for a race postponed by four months, including those with horses scheduled to run Saturday in the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds.

“We had been gearing our horses to be ready for the first Saturday in May,” said Mark Casse, who sends out Enforceable and Lynn’s Map in the Louisiana Derby. “This is new territory for all of us. But we’ll get through it.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Jockey Jose Ortiz will take the remainder of the Gulfstream Park Championship meet off after reporting he still felt some discomfort in his right wrist, injured in a post parade mishap here last month, his agent, Jimmy Riccio, said on Wednesday.

Riccio said Ortiz made the decision after riding Basha in Wednesday’s third race.

When the calendar flipped to 2020, one might have imagined trainer Brad Cox having Taraz or British Idiom, both Fair Grounds-based at the time, in the Fair Grounds Oaks and Mr. Monomoy in the Louisiana Derby. None of those horses will start Saturday on the biggest card of the Fair Grounds meet, but Cox still will be well represented in both races.

Bonny South, who looks like second choice to Finite, starts in the Fair Grounds Oaks, while Cox runs two, Wells Bayou and Shake Some Action, in the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby.