HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The fields for the seven stakes races making up the $3.45 million Racing Festival of the South, which runs Thursday through Saturday at Oaklawn, are taking shape, with a large group of 3-year-olds anticipated for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby.
“It’s looking like 10 or 11,” Pat Pope, racing secretary at Oaklawn, said Friday. “That’s what we know of.”
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mo Town and Irish War Cry seek rejuvenation. Battalion Runner and Cloud Computing seek validation. All four are seeking an invitation to the Kentucky Derby when they meet in Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
ARCADIA, Calif. – What a difference a month makes.
Just weeks ago, as Mastery crossed the wire in the San Felipe Stakes, he looked as if he would be a heavy favorite in the Santa Anita Derby, similar to the status that was to be afforded the filly Unique Bella for the Santa Anita Oaks. Now the day has arrived when both of those races are run, and both won’t leave their barns on Saturday, with injuries knocking them to the sidelines and their trainers hoping to salvage the day with understudies.
Upon initially examining the past performances for Saturday’s Grade 2 Blue Grass Sakes at Keeneland, my gut feeling was that the absence of pace in the race could give Tapwrit an advantage over probable favorite McCraken, with Tapwrit seemingly being able to sit in midpack while McCraken would be rallying from the back, perhaps even from last.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – There’s only one way for the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the downgrading of the Blue Grass Stakes to die down, and that’s for the 2017 edition of the Keeneland spring showcase to ultimately prove itself worthy of being a Grade 1 again.
The morning after Nyquist won the Kentucky Derby last year, giving Doug O’Neill his second Derby win in the last five runnings, the trainer was informed that he had just equaled the likes of Woody Stephens and Charlie Whittingham with two Derby wins each.
“Wow. That’s crazy,” O’Neill said.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Irish Freedom is in, while West Coast is off the list of probable starters for Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby.
Trainer Bob Baffert said on Wednesday that he plans to have three runners in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby – American Anthem, Irish Freedom, and Reach the World. West Coast was considered a candidate as recently as last weekend.
Baffert said he would prefer to give West Coast an easier race for his next start instead of pursuing the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 6.
