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.

 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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – One hundred days after winning his maiden under a $16,000 claiming tag, Maximum Security became a Grade 1 winner and established himself as one of the leading contenders for the Kentucky Derby after cruising to a relatively easy 3 1/2 length victory over the 71-1 Bodexpress in Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.