WHO’S HOT

The plan for Owen Almighty to target the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile on May 3 at Churchill Downs still makes sense, but that plan may have changed after his slow-pace front-running win March 8 in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby. Despite trainer Brian Lynch’s reservations about Owen Almighty getting 1 1/4 miles, the colt’s owners are keen for the Kentucky Derby. Owen Almighty, whose 65 qualifying points ensures a Derby berth, is new to Derby Watch. Daily Racing Form linemaker David Aragona opens him at 40-1.

Brad Cox won a Kentucky Derby the first time he ran a horse in the race.

Granted, Mandaloun’s Derby victory in 2021 did not prove especially satisfying.

Despite Virginia’s long equestrian history, parimutuel racing in the state has a relatively short footprint. That hasn’t stopped many prominent breeders from putting down roots in Virginia and supporting the growth of its Thoroughbred industry.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – While some may be hoping to use Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby as a stepping-stone to the May 3 Kentucky Derby, trainer Brian Lynch is using the 1 1/16-mile race to get Owen Almighty to a different event at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

Lynch feels the Tampa Bay Derby is a good prep to get Owen Almighty to the Pat Day Mile, a one-turn-mile race at Churchill on the Kentucky Derby undercard. The Tampa Bay Derby gives him eight weeks to the Pat Day Mile whereas a race like the Lafayette at Keeneland on April 4 would give him only four.

East Avenue came into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile the first weekend in November looking like the leading member of his generation. Coming into the second weekend of March, his generation less than two months away from their turn at the Kentucky Derby, East Avenue essentially has fallen off the radar.

There are no quiet weekends for the remainder of March for Flavien Prat, the champion jockey of 2024.

After riding at Santa Anita last Saturday, Prat will be on planes each weekend for the rest of the month. This Saturday in the Tampa Bay Derby, he is scheduled to ride Chancer McPatrick, who won the Grade 1 Hopeful and Grade 1 Champagne Stakes last year before finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on Nov. 1 in his last start.

Gaming, who finished eighth in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn in his 3-year-old debut, will make his next start in the $500,000 Virginia Derby on March 15 at Colonial Downs, trainer Bob Baffert said.

“It’s a mile and an eighth, one turn, we’ll give him one more crack at it,” said Baffert, who has Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride. “The Oaklawn race was horrendous. He didn’t get anything out of that. He’s come back and worked well.”

Disappointed, but not discouraged, trainer Ian Wilkes said Burnham Square, fourth as the favorite in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, will continue down the Triple Crown trail and be pointed to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Blue Grass at Keeneland on April 5.

“It’s back home,” Wilkes said “He’s run three times [in Florida]. We’ll get back to Kentucky and just plan on the Blue Grass and see if we can rebound.”