LEXINGTON, Ky. – Now comes the final twist on the Kentucky Derby trail for Anothertwistafate, whose journey to Louisville has been anything but a straight line. The colt, whose emerging talent and side-door route have placed him on the threshold of cracking the Derby field, will try to clinch his spot when he faces nine other 3-year-olds Saturday in the Lexington Stakes before a packed house at Keeneland.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Blue Grass Stakes winner Vekoma returned Tuesday to his winter base, the Palm Beach Downs training center in Florida, where the speedy chestnut will do the bulk of his training toward the May 4 Kentucky Derby.

Trainer George Weaver said Wednesday from Palm Beach that Vekoma will have his pre-Derby work in Florida before returning north.

“That’s what won us the Blue Grass, and we’re sticking with what worked,” he said.

Vekoma was scheduled to return to light training Thursday.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Improbable drew the rail for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, which will have a field of 11 for Saturday. Entries for the 1 1/8-mile race were taken on Wednesday.

The Arkansas Derby will be the 11th race on a 12-race program that will have a special first post of 12:30 p.m. Central.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Anothertwistafate drew post 4 in a field of 10 3-year-olds for the Lexington Stakes, a Kentucky Derby points race on Saturday that most likely will determine whether the colt makes the 20-horse cutoff for the May 4 Derby.

The Grade 3, $200,000 Lexington will share top billing Saturday at Keeneland with the $350,000 Jenny Wiley, the last of four Grade 1 races at the 16-day spring meet.

Let’s get to the points.

The long and winding road that leads to the Kentucky Derby on May 4 began with the Iroquois at Churchill Downs last Sept. 15 and concludes Saturday with the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn and the Lexington at Keeneland. Those two races are the final chances for horses to earn enough points to make the field, and the likes of Anothertwistafate, in the Lexington, and Country House, in the Arkansas Derby, are being wheeled back on short rest to try to get in, because if the series ended now, they’d be out.

WHO’S HOT

Omaha Beach
War Front – Charming, by Seeking the Gold
Bred in Kentucky by The Charming Syndicate

Top-flight racemare and broodmare Take Charge Lady had connections to the winners of both divisions of the Rebel Stakes last month at Oaklawn Park. Those winners are expected to meet in the Arkansas Derby on Saturday, as Omaha Beach ships back in from California to face Long Range Toddy in this final major Kentucky Derby prep.

Q. How does a faster race throughout like the Blue Grass get a lower Beyer than the Santa Anita Derby? Always seems like there is a Santa Anita bias?
—Mark Foss

A.  Different tracks may have very different racing surfaces. And the inherent speed of a racing surface can change from day to day. That is why the most important part of making speed figures is to determine the speed of the track.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.– Galilean will be bidding to send West Point Thoroughbreds back to the Kentucky Derby this year when he runs Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

“We’re hoping he takes us there,” said the group’s president, Terry Finley.

West Point Thoroughbreds won the Kentucky Derby in partnership in 2017 with Always Dreaming. The group also raced Commanding Curve, who was second to California Chrome in the 2014 Kentucky Derby, and was partners in My Boy Jack, who was fifth in last year’s Derby, won by Justify.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The fourth and final pool in the 2019 Kentucky Derby Future Wager was reflective indeed of the outlook for the May 4 race, with Roadster a narrow favorite over a cluster of others when the customary three-day wagering window closed Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern.

Roadster closed at 6-1 and was followed closely by Maximum Security (7-1), Game Winner (7-1), Tacitus (8-1), Improbable (8-1), Omaha Beach (10-1), and Vekoma (15-1). The lowest $2 exacta will-pay was Roadster over Game Winner (17-8), worth $72.80.