ARCADIA, Calif. - Bayern, the unbeaten 3-year-old who has yet to run in a stakes, worked a half-mile in 47.40 seconds Thursday, preparing for a possible start in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 5.
Bayern has led or disputed the pace in his two starts – a maiden race and an allowance race. He worked in company Thursday.
“He sat behind a horse, and he relaxed,” trainer Bob Baffert said.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
FLORENCE, Ky. – Winter at Turfway Park is never easy, but the one that ended Thursday with the arrival of spring was particularly brutal. It wasn’t just the nasty weather but also the way Turfway continues to struggle mightily with putting out a decent racing product and dealing with incessant rumors of its imminent demise.
ARCADIA, Calif. - California Chrome, the easy winner of the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 8, is being prepared for the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 5.
Trainer Art Sherman said Wednesday that the Santa Anita Derby over 1 1/8 miles gives California Chrome an important prep for the Triple Crown races. After the San Felipe, Sherman said he was considering skipping the Santa Anita Derby and going straight to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 3.
“I’m looking toward the Santa Anita Derby,” Sherman said. “We’ll give it a shot and we’ll see where we’re at.”
Commissioner, who earlier this year won an allowance over the well-regarded Top Billing, will add blinkers for the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby on Sunday, said his trainer, Todd Pletcher. The horse was one of nine entered in the 1 1/8-mile stakes when the field was drawn Wednesday. Others set to start include the Pletcher-trained Global Strike; Southern California invaders Midnight Hawk, Chitu, and Garen; and local stakes winner Rebranded.
CINCINNATI – Tamarando was pegged as the 3-1 morning-line favorite after being assigned post 4 in a full field of 12 for the Grade 3, $550,000 Spiral Stakes, the annual Turfway Park signature event, set for Saturday in Florence, Ky.
The Spiral, currently sponsored by Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati but sponsored by a variety of other entities since its 1972 inception, offers 85 points toward eligibility to the Kentucky Derby, including 50 to the winner.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bond Holder, the winner of the Grade 1 FrontRunner Stakes at Santa Anita last September, is being treated at a veterinary clinic in Florida for laminitis, trainer Doug O’Neill said Wednesday.
Bond Holder has been at the Ocala clinic for the last two weeks since he missed a start in the Tampa Bay Derby on March 8.
“We’re dealing with laminitis in his hind left foot,” O’Neill said. “We’re guardedly optimistic. The doctors said it’s day-to-day. It can go the other way real quick. It takes a while to go the right way. He’s in good hands.”
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – “I have to find the right spot for Spot.”
So says trainer Nick Zito, who is looking at several options for recent acquisition Spot, a 3-year-old son of Pulpit he purchased privately for owner Joseph Moss prior to his upset victory in the Grade 2 Swale on March 1 at Gulfstream Park. Leading the list of options is the March 29 Florida Derby, a race Zito has won three times with High Fly (2005), Ice Box (2010), and Dialed In (2011).
Two of the leading local hopes for the $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 29 had major workouts for the race Monday, and both Albano and Gold Hawk went fast.
Albano, who finished second by a nose in the Feb. 22 Risen Star Stakes, had a five-furlong, in-company workout that was timed in 59.60 seconds, the fastest of 23 works at the distance Monday.
Gold Hawk, third in the Lecomte and fifth in the Risen Star, had a solo drill, going six furlongs in 1:12, a very fast time for Fair Grounds, particularly on a morning when the track surface wasn’t especially glib.
