WHO’S HOT

The one-two finishers from both the Louisiana Derby and Sunland Park Derby last weekend are the four newcomers to this week’s Derby Watch top 20, which is increasingly driven by the points list as Derby Day draws closer because you can’t win it if you’re not in it. By My Standards and Spinoff, the top two in the Louisiana Derby, are both 20-1 on the Kentucky Derby line set by Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper. Watchmaker has both Cutting Humor and Anothertwistafate, the top two in the Sunland Park Derby, at 30-1.

Trainer Todd Pletcher’s 3-year-olds are starting to come to hand, punctuated by Cutting Humor’s track-record win Sunday in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby. 

Pletcher on Saturday sent out Spinoff to a close runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds and, on March 9, the promising Outshine was second in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Downs Derby. 

The horses are Pletcher’s leading Kentucky Derby points earners, with Cutting Humor sitting fifth with 50 on the latest list put out by Churchill Downs. Spinoff is ninth with 40 and Outshine is 20th with 20. 

Jose Ortiz will take over as the rider on Improbable when he makes his final start before the Kentucky Derby in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 13 at Oaklawn Park, said Elliott Walden, the president and chief executive of co-owner WinStar Farm, on Tuesday.

Improbable won all three of his starts last year, including the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity. He suffered the first loss of his career in his most-recent start, his first start at 3, when narrowly losing a division of the Rebel at Oaklawn. He has been ridden in all his starts by Drayden Van Dyke.

Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby; 1 1/8 miles; Sunland Park; March 24, 2019

(50 Derby qualifying points for a win, 20 for second, 10 for third, 5 for fourth)

Winner: Cutting Humor, by First Samurai

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Jockey: John Velazquez

Owner: Starlight Racing

Beyer Speed Figure: 95

Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Fair Grounds, March 23, 2019
(100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth)

Winner: By My Standards, by Goldencents
Trainer: Bret Calhoun
Jockey: Gabriel Saez
Owner: Allied Racing Stable, LLC
Beyer Speed Figure: 97

ARCADIA, Calif. – Gunmetal Gray, who won the Grade 3 Sham Stakes in January, was diagnosed with a condylar fracture after a workout at Santa Anita on Sunday and was scheduled to undergo surgery later in the day.

Terry Finley, president and chief executive of West Point Thoroughbreds, which co-owns the colt, said the injury was diagnosed at the barn in the minutes after the workout and “doesn’t appear to be career-threatening.”

“It looks fixable,” Finley said.

NEW ORLEANS – Although they will take different paths to get there, the top two finishers in Saturday's Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds are set to make their next starts in the Kentucky Derby on May 4, and the beaten favorite, War of Will, still has the Derby in play following a freak incident leaving the gate.

NEW ORLEANS - War of Will, who finished ninth as the favorite in the Louisiana Derby on Saturday at Fair Grounds, was reported "much improved this morning" on Sunday by his trainer, Mark Casse, who had said Saturday night following the race that War of Will was "off significantly." 

"It's pretty clear he strained something," said Casse, who theorized War of Will strained ligaments when he caught his patella. That would be one step removed from a stifle locking up, which would have prevented War of Will from continuing with the race.

NEW ORLEANS – A little more than 48 hours prior to the Louisiana Derby, jockey Gabriel Saez was about as far from the winner’s circle as could be, lying face down in the dirt on the Fair Grounds backstretch Thursday. He had been dislodged from a horse who shied when he got close to the rail, banged into the rail, and sent Saez flying.

“I thought I had broken my elbow,” Saez said Saturday afternoon. “I thought, ‘This is not happening two days before the Derby.’ I thank Jesus. I pray to him every day.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Omaha Beach, who won one of the two divisions of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 16, will return to that track for the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on April 13, while stablemate Extra Hope will be pointed for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 6.

Trainer Richard Mandella confirmed those plans on Saturday. Omaha Beach and Extra Hope represent Mandella’s chances for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4.