HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - King Guillermo and Attachment Rate, 3-year-olds with possible designs on the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on May 2, topped a very busy work tab Saturday morning at Gulfstream Park.
Sir Rick, who was entered in last month’s canceled Grade 3, $700,000 Sunland Park Derby, still has a mile and an eighth stakes start on his dance card. It will come in next Saturday’s $200,000 Oaklawn Stakes, according to trainer Robertino Diodoro.
The race will share a card with the $150,000 Oaklawn Mile, which will draw Diodoro trainee Pioneer Spirit.
Sir Rick worked at Oaklawn Park on Friday, going five-eighths in 1:03. The Oaklawn Stakes will be his first start since capturing the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby on Feb. 23 at Sunland Park.
Postponing the Kentucky Derby until Sept. 5 has obviously changed the future plans and schedules of dozens of 3-year-olds stabled around the country.
Take Americanus, for instance.
Originally, trainer Mark Hennig was thinking about running his up-and-coming War Front colt in one of the Kentucky Derby preps, possibly the Grade 1 Florida Derby here last Saturday. But with the Kentucky Derby now five months away, Hennig didn’t feel the need to push Americanus, who won a loaded entry-level allowance race going seven furlongs here Feb. 22.
Honor A. P.
Honor Code–Hollywood Story, by Wild Rush
Bred in Kentucky by George Krikorian ($850,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling purchase by C R K Stable)
:: KENTUCKY DERBY 2020: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more
Wednesday was supposed to be entry day for the Santa Anita Derby. And the Blue Grass Stakes. And the Wood Memorial. All would have been run Saturday, all as final major preps for the Kentucky Derby four weeks later on May 2 at Churchill Downs.
Now, all three are at best postponed – for weeks or months – or at worst canceled. The uncertainty over those races is but a microcosm of what the sport is going through owing to the coronavirus pandemic, which as of Wednesday has shuttered all but a handful of tracks, including Santa Anita, Keeneland, and Aqueduct.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – One locally based 3-year-old committed to the May 2 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park is King Guillermo, upset winner of the Tampa Bay Derby on March 7. Trainer Juan Avila said King Guillermo is scheduled to have his first work since that 4 3/4-length victory here Saturday, when he’ll go five furlongs immediately after the renovation break.
Trainer Patrick Biancone said Monday that his Tampa Bay Derby runner-up Sole Volante is still on target for the $750,000 Arkansas Derby on May 2 at Oaklawn Park. Sole Volante, winner of the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis at Tampa earlier this winter, has had just one work since the Tampa Derby, an easy half-mile in 50 seconds on March 15 at Palm Meadows.
“Since we had no intention of running in the Florida Derby, I gave him a little break,” Biancone said. “He’s in good condition, but he’ll be back on the work tab this week with the Arkansas Derby the plan, if the race goes.”
Everyone is looking for something – important stuff like a return to normal, or less important stuff like a horse to bet.
Jockey Manny Franco was looking for something Saturday afternoon at Gulfstream Park. Franco was riding favorite Tiz the Law in the Florida Derby, when he snuck a peak over his right shoulder at the five-sixteenths pole and again at the eighth pole.
