HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Mr. Z has run too well not to be a stakes winner, having placed in five graded races in his young career. But his status could change Monday, when he starts as the probable favorite in the $150,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park.
The Smarty Jones, a one-mile race for 3-year-olds that ends at the sixteenth pole, is the meet’s first look at horses targeting the Arkansas Derby.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – With five runners nominated to next Saturday’s Grade 3, $400,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin would appear to have a hammerlock on the race. But he said Friday that he will try to divide and conquer with his bevy of 3-year-olds, splitting the quintet among different spots while reserving the Holy Bull for the highly regarded Frosted, who finished second in the Remsen Stakes in his final start at age 2.
Trainer Mike Tomlinson said things couldn’t be better with Barbados, a three-length winner of the Jan. 3 Spectacular Bid at Gulfstream Park, and indicated that the colt will run back in the Grade 3, $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes on the Holy Bull undercard next Saturday.
“I’ll probably do a little something with him Tuesday, maybe breeze him an easy three-eighths,” said Tomlinson. “With just three weeks between races, there’s no need to ask for too much.”
Before we look forward to two stakes Saturday, let’s look back and see what was learned last weekend.
Calculator ran right to his Beyer Speed Figures when he dominated the Sham Stakes. He may have been a maiden, but Calculator was a very distinguished maiden with ascending Beyers of 69, 77, 90, and 95 in four starts. That he was able to win with total ease and get a 97 in the Sham after being away from the races for 100 days is a rather strong hint that this colt might be a serious player in 2015.
There are a couple of tracks vying for the stakes spotlight Saturday, but we will give the nod to Fair Grounds, where the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte for 3-year-olds tops a card that includes four other stakes.
Gulfstream presents its Sunshine Millions program, so that card also is packed with stakes, ostensibly led by the $250,000 Sunshine Millions Classic. The headliner at Santa Anita is the Grade 2, $200,000 La Canada Stakes.
Lecomte Stakes
The early deadline to nominate horses for the 2015 Triple Crown series is Saturday, and nominations cost $600 each. The late nomination period, when nominations cost $6,000 each, is open through March 23. The names of all early nominees will be announced Jan. 31.
In 2014, there were 414 early nominations and 10 late nominations. The total was the highest since 460 horses were nominated in 2008.
The 141st Kentucky Derby opens the Triple Crown series May 2, followed by the May 16 Preakness Stakes and June 6 Belmont Stakes.
The Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte for 3-year-olds and the $125,000 Silverbulletday for 3-year-old fillies are stakes races, but the post position draw, random as it is, treated both races like handicaps.
Eagle, the likely favorite in the Lecomte, and Top Decile, the likely favorite in the Silverbulletday, both drew the far outside post in their respective races. If they are to win, they will have their draws to overcome.
NEW ORLEANS – Perhaps Eagle and Another Lemon Drop will nod at each other or shake hooves in the paddock before the Lecomte next Saturday at Fair Grounds. After all, they have known each other since they were babies being broken at Classic Mile Training Center in Ocala, Fla.
“They’re like grade-school buddies,” said Bill Recio, the trainer who broke Eagle and Another Lemon Drop. “The funny thing is, they were both in the same barn. They trained together.”
Dortmund, considered one of the top 3-year-old prospects of the winter, worked a half-mile in 48.60 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday, his first workout since winning the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 20.
Owned by Kaleem Shah and trained by Bob Baffert, Dortmund is unbeaten in three starts, including a maiden race for sprinters at Santa Anita on Nov. 2, and an allowance race at Churchill Downs on Nov. 29.
ARCADIA, Calif . - A sore foot followed a month later by an illness kept Calculator from starts in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 and the Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 20.
Judging from a six-furlong workout in 1:11.60 at Santa Anita on Sunday, nothing will stop Calculator from playing a leading role in the $100,000 Sham Stakes for 3-year-olds on Saturday.
