HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - As well as El Areeb performed on a wet surface dominating the Grade 3 Jerome Stakes by 11 1/4 lengths at Aqueduct last month, his connections believe the 3-year-old is better on a dry surface.

El Areeb certainly gave credence to that theory Saturday with another strong performance, taking over from True Timber in upper stretch and drawing off to a 4 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at chilly Aqueduct. True Timber, who set the pace after stumbling badly at the start, held second by a half-length over J Boys Echo.

ARCADIA, Calif. – If we’re approaching springtime, jockey Victor Espinoza must have prospects for the Kentucky Derby. He has won it three times, twice in the last three runnings, with California Chrome and American Pharoah, and he is moving forward again this year, with Gormley and Royal Mo, both owned by Jerry and Ann Moss, both trained by John Shirreffs, and both now graded stakes winners this meet at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Doug O’Neill will be dividing up his 3-year-olds among several races locally and out of town in the upcoming weeks, with the newly acquired Iliad remaining home while So Conflated and the filly Shane’s Girlfriend will head to Fair Grounds.

Though the three stakes horses I am eager to bet on Saturday at Gulfstream Park quite possibly aren’t the best horses in their races, they do seem to be the runners best played given the circumstances.

All three – Gunnevera in the Holy Bull, Compelled in the Sweetest Chant, and Kitten’s Cat in the Kitten’s Joy – seem probable to start as mild overlays, and the race conditions favor them too. Let’s take a look at the races, beginning with the richest stakes of the day, the Grade 2, $350,000 Holy Bull.

Holy Bull

ARCADIA, Calif. – The understudy among the 3-year-olds trained by John Shirreffs gets top billing on Saturday, as Royal Mo seeks to join stablemate Gormley as a viable Kentucky Derby candidate when he takes on four rivals in the Grade 3, $150,000 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita.

Classic Empire, the winner of the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and last year’s 2-year-old male champion, was assigned 126 pounds to top the annual Experimental Free Handicap, a ranking of the top juveniles to run in North America last year.

Classic Empire, by Pioneerof the Nile, was rated one pound higher than Not This Time, the second-place finisher in the Juvenile who was retired last year after sustaining a soft-tissue injury. Oscar Performance, the first-place finisher in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, was assigned 123 pounds.

Trainer Joe Sharp and owner Brad Grady’s pair of talented 3-year-olds, Girvin and Cool Arrow, are entered in the $50,000 Keith Gee Memorial, a one-mile grass race on the Saturday card at Fair Grounds.

Both horses had been stuck at the Evangeline Downs training center in Lafayette, La., unable to race at Fair Grounds because of the equine herpesvirus event that had put Fair Grounds under quarantine until Jan. 21.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Classic Empire will be an odds-on choice when the Gulfstream Park trail to the Kentucky Derby starts Saturday with the Grade 2, $350,000 Holy Bull Stakes. And he should be, considering that the colt is the reigning divisional champion and was the favored individual betting interest in the first two pools of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

But if Classic Empire somehow stubs his toe in the Holy Bull, Irish War Cry or Gunnevera could be there to pull an upset in the 1 1/16-mile race.

The mutuel field, the 24th or “all others” option, closed Sunday as the 5-2 favorite over divisional champion Classic Empire (5-1) in Pool 2 of the 2017 Kentucky Derby Future Wager. The pool opened Friday at noon Eastern and ran through 6 p.m. Sunday.

Total handle for Pool 2 was $330,042, down 25 percent from the corresponding pool in 2016. Win handle was $227,880 and exacta handle was $102,162.