HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby picked up a new player over the weekend when Tampa Bay Derby winner Quip scratched from the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and rolled into the Oaklawn backstretch at 4:30 a.m. Saturday.
Quip tracked Sunday at Oaklawn, where he will start as one of the top choices in the Arkansas Derby, a 1 1/8-mile race that closes out the meet on Saturday. The Arkansas Derby is a points race for the Kentucky Derby.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Good Magic emerged from his Saturday victory in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in excellent shape and will remain stabled here for the foreseeable future before moving down the road to Churchill Downs as one of the top contenders for the May 5 Kentucky Derby.
Brown reiterated Sunday morning what he told the media the previous evening at a post-race briefing – that Good Magic will remain here long enough to have at least one breeze before moving over to Louisville for at least one serious work over the Churchill main track.
For many, the inclination seems to be to stress that he got away with an easy, uncontested early lead over a small field short on real competition, and that circumstances will be dramatically different on many levels in the Kentucky Derby than they were in Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby. And the unmistakable inference here is he will be exposed at Churchill Downs.
But I think that misses the real point, which is that Justify proved in his decisive victory over Bolt d’Oro in the Santa Anita Derby that he is absolutely, without question, the real deal.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Mike Smith, genuine awe in his voice, kept coming back to the same phrase as he walked down the tunnel and past the walking ring after he rode Justify to a victory on Saturday in the Santa Anita Derby.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Vino Rosso finally showed everybody in the afternoon the ability he had been showing his connections in the morning. And while he is far from a finished product, Vino Rosso earned his spot in the Kentucky Derby with a three-length victory over Enticed in Saturday’s Grade 2, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
The victory was not without controversy. Vino Rosso, ridden by John Velazquez, and Enticed bumped twice in the stretch, prompting a steward’s inquiry and an objection from Junior Alvarado, the rider of Enticed.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Good Magic returned to the form that made him a champion when edging away Saturday to a 1 1/2-length victory as the favorite in the 94th running of the Grade 2, $1 million Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.
Ridden by Jose Ortiz, Good Magic now will head to the Kentucky Derby as one of the favorites after rebounding from a third-place finish in the March 3 Fountain of Youth in his only prior start as a 3-year-old. His victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last November earned the colt the Eclipse Award for top 2-year-old of 2017.
Santa Anita | Race 9 | Post Time 3:30 p.m. (PT) | Go to the TimeformUS PPs
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Friday was a busy morning for trainer Todd Pletcher at his winter home at the Palm Beach Downs training center, starting just before dawn with the first of three full sets of workers that included one of his three Kentucky Derby hopefuls, Louisiana Derby winner Noble Indy.
Aqueduct | Race 10 | Post Time 5:55 p.m. (ET) | Go to the TimeformUS PPs
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OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Enticed already has enough points to make it into the field for the Kentucky Derby, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin isn’t viewing the colt’s participation in Saturday’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct as a mere prep race.
“We’re there to win,” McLaughlin said Thursday from South Florida. “It’s a very important race. The Derby is the Derby and it’s hard to win it no matter what. This becomes a million-dollar important race, not just a prep race.”
