Tue, 04/02/2019 - 11:32

Game Winner, Maximum Security co-favorites in Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 4

Ronnie Betor
Luis Saez guided Maximum Security to a 3 1/2-length victory in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on Saturday at Gulfstream.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ten new names are in the lineup for the fourth and final pool in the 2019 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Friday at noon Eastern for the customary three-day run.

The morning line for Pool 4 as set forth by Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia shows 8-1 co-favorites in Game Winner and Maximum Security – but with three major Derby preps to be run Saturday, there figures to be plenty of movement in odds by the time the pool closes Sunday.

Mon, 04/01/2019 - 14:20

Owner Randy Hill gearing up for a big day Saturday

Annette Jasko/NYRA
Withers winner Tax (No. 1) had his first work since that victory on Saturday at Belmont Park.

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – When Maybry’s Boy won the Spectacular Bid Stakes at Gulfstream Park in the winter of 2002, his neophyte owner Randy Hill thought, “This game’s not that hard.”

Over the last 17 years, Hill, like most owners, has learned just how hard it can be to own horses. For all the difficult times, though, there is the anticipation for days like this coming Saturday that make it all worthwhile.

Saturday, Hill will be part-owner of three horses running in major Kentucky Derby preps and another in a high-class sprint stakes.

Mon, 04/01/2019 - 08:15

Road to the Derby: Florida Derby analysis

Ronnie Betor
Luis Saez guided Maximum Security to a 3 1/2-length victory in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on Saturday at Gulfstream.

 Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby; 1 1/8 miles; Gulfstream Park; March 30, 2019

 (100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)

Winner: Maximum Security, by New Year’s Day

Trainer: Jason Servis

Jockey: Luis Saez

Owner: Gary and Mary West

Beyer Speed Figure: 101

Sun, 03/31/2019 - 18:01

Road to the Derby: UAE Derby analysis

Erika Rasmussen/Dubai Racing Club
Plus Que Parfait and jockey Jose Ortiz win the UAE Derby at Meydan on Saturday.

Group 2, $2.5 million United Arab Emirates Derby; 1,900 meters (about 1 3/16 miles); Meydan, March 30, 2019

 (100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)

Winner: Plus Que Parfait, by Point of Entry

Trainer: Brendan Walsh

Jockey: Jose Ortiz 

Owner: Imperial Racing LLC

Beyer Speed Figure: N/A

Sun, 03/31/2019 - 15:42

Al Ain by a neck in Osaka Hai

Al Ain won his first Grade 1 race in nearly two years with a 21-1 upset in Sunday’s $2.09 million Osaka Hai at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Hanshin Racecourse in Japan.

Ridden by Yuichi Kitamura, Al Ain, a 5-year-old by Deep Impact, finished a neck in front of 3-1 Kiseki, who was a neck in front of 7-1 Wagnerian.

Kiseki was second to Almond Eye in the Japan Cup last November. Almond Eye won Saturday’s Group 1 Dubai Turf in the United Arab Emirates. Wagnerian won the 2018 Japanese Derby.

Blast Onepiece, the 2-1 favorite, finished sixth of 14 in the Osaka Hai.

Sun, 03/31/2019 - 14:58

Tacitus breezes for Wood Memorial

Tom Keyser
Tacitus, ridden by Jose Ortiz and trained by Bill Mott, wins the Tampa Bay Derby on March 9.

INDIANTOWN, Fla. – There was little time for trainer Bill Mott to wallow in the disappointment that was Hidden Scroll’s sixth-place finish in Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby.

Twelve hours after one of his horses stepped off the Kentucky Derby trail, Mott watched another, Tacitus, put in his final workout for next Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.

Sun, 03/31/2019 - 14:27

Extra Hope, Roadster, Synthesis drill for Santa Anita Derby

Emily Shields
Roadster scores an allowance victory last Friday at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Extra Hope, Roadster, and Synthesis – half the probable starters for Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby – had their final prerace workouts on Sunday.

Roadster, who won an allowance race with an $80,000 claiming option at a mile in his 3-year-old debut on March 1, worked six furlongs in 1:12.60, the fastest of 19 works at the distance. The time was quicker than Roadster’s preceding workout – six furlongs in 1:14 – on March 26.

Sun, 03/31/2019 - 14:16

Maximum Security, Bodexpress to stay in South Florida until week of Derby

Ronnie Betor
Maximum Security earned a 101 Beyer Speed Figure for his front-running win Saturday in the Grade 1 Florida Derby.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Jason Servis said all was well Sunday morning with his undefeated Florida Derby winner, Maximum Security, who earned a 101 Beyer Speed Figure for his relatively easy, wire-to-wire victory in the Grade 1 fixture here Saturday.

Sun, 03/31/2019 - 10:48

Watchmaker: When Derby preps disappoint, so does points system

Mathea Kelley/Dubai Racing Club
Plus Que Parfait and jockey Jose Ortiz win the Group 2 United Arab Emirates Derby by three-quarters of a length.

Like cherry blossoms annually blooming in the spring, it has become a rite rather than an exception that the number of horses with designs on the Kentucky Derby exceeds the 20 who are allowed to start. Because of that, the system used to cap the starting Derby field – a points system first employed in 2013 – itself becomes critical and open to scrutiny.

Sun, 03/31/2019 - 10:09

Thunder Snow, paid in full, targets return trip to Breeders' Cup Classic

Neville Hopwood/Dubai Racing Club
Thunder Snow (left) was up for a nose victory over Gronkowski at the wire in Saturday's Dubai World Cup.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Saeed bin Suroor, the trainer of two-time Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow, isn’t a huge one for pulling back the curtain on his training operation, but whatever he and his team have done to harness the difficult personality that is Thunder Snow, it has worked.

Thunder Snow showed just what can happen when his inner demons bubble to the surface when he bucked and refused to race just after the start of the 2017 Kentucky Derby. Those who’ve been around him during his trips to the U.S. describe a horse who takes a lot of attention.