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)
Grade 2, $401,000 San Felipe Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Santa Anita, March 7, 2020
(50 Derby qualifying points for a win, 20 for second, 10 for third, 5 for fourth)
Winner: Authentic, by Into Mischief
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Drayden Van Dyke
Owners: SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Fred Hertrich III, John D. Fielding, and Golconda Stables
The mutuel field, the 24th or “all others” option, closed as a lukewarm favorite over Authentic and Tiz the Law after three days of betting into Pool 3 of the 2020 Kentucky Derby Future Wager. The pool opened Friday at noon Eastern and closed Sunday evening when coinciding with the only futures pool toward the 2020 Kentucky Oaks.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Authentic and Honor A. P., the one-two finishers in the San Felipe Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, both emerged from the race well and are scheduled to meet again in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 4, their trainers said Sunday morning here at Santa Anita.
The Santa Anita Derby, which has a purse of $1 million, will be their final prep before the Kentucky Derby on May 2 at Churchill Downs.
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Fourteen of the last 20 winners of the Tampa Bay Derby have run back in the Kentucky Derby. Destin in 2016 was the only one of them not to have a race in between, and he finished sixth behind Nyquist prior to losing a tight photo in the Belmont Stakes.
Trainer Juan Carlos Avila, a relative newcomer to the American racing scene, will be looking to do even better when King Guillermo goes eight weeks without a race. The Uncle Mo colt will train into the May 2 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs after posting a runaway victory Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs.
Mischevious Alex came out of his victory in Saturday’s Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct in good order and all options are open for him including potentially training up to the Kentucky Derby on May 2, trainer John Servis said Sunday morning.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mischevious Alex doesn’t know his name is spelled incorrectly. He doesn’t know that he’s not really bred to be a Kentucky Derby horse.
Mischevious Alex does know how to win, though, a trait he demonstrated for the third consecutive time Saturday at Aqueduct, taking the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes by two lengths. Fellow South Florida shippers Untitled and Attachment Rate, separated by a head, finished second and third, respectively.
