HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – State of Honor, flying a bit under the radar on the Kentucky Derby trail despite finishing behind only McCraken and Tapwrit in his last two starts at Tampa Bay Downs, is likely headed back to Gulfstream Park for the $1 million Florida Derby next Saturday.
State of Honor was scheduled to have his final prep for the Grade 1 Florida Derby on Friday, but a sloppy track at Palm Meadows forced assistant trainer Norm Casse to postpone the breeze until Saturday.
Horses from major winter meets around the country will converge on New Mexico on Sunday to chase after the $800,000 purse of the Grade 3 Sunland Derby and its 85 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby.
Bronze Age, a member of Daily Racing Form’s Derby Watch top 20, represents Santa Anita, along with Irap and Kimbear. Hedge Fund has flown in from Gulfstream Park. Balandeen, Dilettante, Hence, and Oxford Lane shipped over from Oaklawn, and Shareholder Value and Total Tap are in from Fair Grounds.
Tony Dutrow thinks a homecoming of sorts can get Mo Town to the Kentucky Derby.
Dutrow confirmed Thursday that Mo Town, the winner of the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct last November, will return to the Big A for the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 8, when he likely will need to finish in the top three to earn enough points to qualify for the Kentucky Derby.
Though Dutrow had considered running Mo Town in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on April 1, he said Mo Town’s success at Aqueduct was his reason to run in the Wood.
Saturday is Dubai World Cup Day, featuring the brilliant Arrogate. But on these shores, a half-million-dollar race puts Turfway Park in the spotlight. Turfway’s Grade 3 Spiral Stakes is the richest race of the day here. The Grade 2, $200,000 San Luis Rey at Santa Anita and the Grade 3, $100,000 Skip Away at Gulfstream are our other graded stakes on Saturday.
ARCADIA, Calif.– The two-time stakes winner Ann Arbor Eddie has been sidelined with a splint-bone injury.
Trainer Doug O’Neill said Ann Arbor Eddie was diagnosed with the injury after a fifth-place finish in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita on March 11.
“I had a splint bone pop up on me,” O’Neill said. “He’ll go to the farm for a couple of weeks.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Doug O’Neill could have as many as four runners in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 8.
Iliad, Milton Freewater, So Conflated, and Term of Art are under consideration for the $1 million race at 1 1/8 miles, the top California prep race for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 6.
Iliad was second to Mastery in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita on March 11. Mastery was pulled up with a leg injury immediately after the San Felipe, a circumstance that leaves Iliad a leading contender for the Santa Anita Derby.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – To date, horsemen have been timid when it comes to committing their 3-year-olds to the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 8 at Aqueduct.
El Areeb, Cloud Computing, and Irish War Cry are the notable names expected to run. Trainer Todd Pletcher, a four-time Wood winner with a plethora of 3-year-olds again this year, would seemingly have to run one or two but has yet to finalize plans.
Todd Pletcher already has won the Southwest Stakes, Rebel Stakes, and Tampa Bay Derby in the past 30 days; has horses running in the United Arab Emirates Derby, Spiral Stakes, and Sunland Derby this weekend; and is preparing runners for the Florida Derby, Louisiana Derby, Santa Anita Derby, Wood Memorial, Blue Grass, and Arkansas Derby over the next few weeks. This logistical challenge has reaped great rewards for his clients while highlighting the trust Pletcher has in personnel who carry out his wishes in his absence.
Long before trainer Bob Baffert was inducted into the racing Hall of Fame, saddled a Triple Crown winner in American Pharoah, and won the world’s richest Thoroughbred race with Pegasus World Cup hero Arrogate, he spent the occasional weekend at Sunland Park in New Mexico.
The teenaged Baffert soaked in stories told by prominent horsemen Bubba Cascio, Walter Merrick, and J.B. Montgomery during visits from Arizona. He would later return to Sunland as a trainer in his own right and experienced a life-changing win at the track in a derby for Quarter Horses.
