The improving 3-year-old Hollywood Handsome will have his first chance at a starring role April 1 in the $1 million Louisiana Derby.
After another strong workout from the colt Friday, trainer Dallas Stewart said he would send Hollywood Handsome out for his stakes debut in two weeks.
“We’re going to run him,” Stewart said. “I think he’s going to be ready and that the [1 1/8-mile] distance is going to be in our favor. We’re going to give him a chance and find out more about him.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It’s a 90-minute drive – on a good day – from Payson Park to Gulfstream Park. That’s a long road to travel for less than 74 seconds of work, but well worth the trip for trainer Tony Dutrow and his Kentucky Derby prospect Mo Town, who came down the turnpike to breeze here Thursday in preparation for a possible start here April 1 in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby.
Santa Anita has the highest-graded stakes event Saturday with the Grade 1, $400,000 Santa Margarita, which features an interesting matchup between Finest City, last year’s champion female sprinter who is stretching out on dirt, and Vale Dori, who is looking for her fourth straight graded stakes victory. But there is also important stakes action at Oaklawn in the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel; the Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri; and the $250,000 Essex Handicap. The remaining graded event Saturday is the Grade 2, $200,000 Inside Information at Gulfstream.
Rebel Stakes
When American Anthem goes to the post in the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel Stakes on Saturday at Oaklawn Park, he’ll do so as the best chance for trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Mike Smith to win this year’s Kentucky Derby now that the unbeaten Mastery has been removed from the picture following his injury in the San Felipe Stakes last Saturday.
Sunland Park officials anticipate drawing 3-year-olds from California, Florida, and the Midwest for the New Mexico track’s richest Thoroughbred offerings, the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby and the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks. The races will anchor a card of seven stakes on March 26.
There were 458 nominations, which were free, for the 1 1/8-mile Sunland Derby in February, and this week the track had a working list of 13 probables. Entries will be taken next Wednesday, said Dustin Dix, director of racing operations for Sunland. The maximum gate is 12.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 1 status of the $1 million Santa Anita Derby, coupled with the defection of Mastery from the potential lineup, has caused trainer Todd Pletcher to consider the race for a couple of his Kentucky Derby prospects, he said on Wednesday.
The top 3-year-old colt Mastery, who suffered a condylar fracture to his left front leg on Saturday at Santa Anita, underwent surgery on Monday afternoon at Santa Anita that "went very well," his trainer, Bob Baffert, said early Monday evening.
Mastery returned to his stall in Baffert's barn at Santa Anita following the surgery.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Classic Empire and McCraken have a lot in common. The two top-ranked 3-year-olds on this week’s Derby Watch list have spent the winter at the Palm Meadows training center, where they’ve both encountered minor issues that forced them to miss some training time.
Both are being pointed to the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes on April 8, and both turned in important works over the weekend that had their connections smiling.
