OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Led by Grade 1 winners Firenze Fire and Free Drop Billy and Grade 2 winner Enticed, a field of at least 10 3-year-olds is expected to be entered Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Dale Romans has so much depth to his 3-year-olds this spring that he was able to scratch the best of his three runners entered Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes, yet still win the race while turning back last year’s divisional champion.

At the end of a long, long day at Gulfstream Park, Romans stood tallest of all in the winner’s circle after the last of 14 races, basking in the glow of the 18-1 upset pulled off moments earlier by his colt Promises Fulfilled. But he was exhausted.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Enticed, the beaten favorite in the Grade 2 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park last month, worked five furlongs in 1:01.85 Friday morning at the Palm Meadows training center in south Florida, his final serious move before he starts in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham at Aqueduct next Saturday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Ayacara closed with interest to finish second in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Feb. 3 in his 3-year-old debut. Next for Ayacara is the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes next Saturday, a key prep for the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 7.

Ayacara will be a longshot in the race, expected to include the Grade 1 winners Bolt d’Oro and McKinzie. But Ayacara belongs in the race, according to trainer Keith Desormeaux.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is changing plans with his 3-year-olds, opting to keep Kanthaka in Southern California for the Grade 2, $400,000 San Felipe at Santa Anita and deciding to ship Afleet Ascent to New York for the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct. Both races are March 10.

The 2018 portion of the European Road to the Kentucky Derby is off to a rocky start.

The Patton Stakes scheduled for March 2 at Dundalk was postponed until March 9 owing to a wintry blast sweeping across England this week. Thursday’s Road to the Kentucky Derby Conditions Stakes at Kempton hadn’t been called off as of late Wednesday morning, but a Thursday inspection of the course could lead to a postponement.

Also of note: The Kempton race attracted no final entrants that to date could be considered serious candidates to actually make a trip to Churchill Downs in May.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Good Magic is the reigning juvenile champion and likely odds-on favorite in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park. He Takes Charge has won just once in five career starts and will go postward among the longest-priced members of the field.

But the two horses will have one thing in common when they square off in the important Kentucky Derby prep and final major local tune-up for the $1 million Florida Derby on March 31: both are coming off a maiden win.

Reride improved his record to 4 for 5 with his win in the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby at Sunland Park last Sunday, and the success he is having on the track is no surprise given his family tree.

Trainer Steve Asmussen said the horse has ties to several notable runners for Reride’s breeder and owner, Winchell Thoroughbreds.

“I’m a huge fan of the whole family,” Asmussen said. “His mother, Remit, is a full sister to Tapiture. I’ve been fortunate to have so many from that family that have been so good.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Javier Castellano has gone from New Orleans to Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale, with a final destination of Louisville.

It looks like one of those wacky routes on Southwest Airlines. But it’s the many steps Castellano is going through this spring to try to land in the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs after the Kentucky Derby, one of the few places he hasn’t been in his brilliant career.

Marconi

Tapit–Ponche de Leona, by Ponche

:: ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays, and analysis

Bred in Kentucky by Brushwood Stable ($2 million Keeneland September yearling purchase by Bridlewood Farm and Coolmore)