LEXINGTON, Ky. – Todd Pletcher confirmed Monday that he will have three starters in the Blue Grass Stakes as he tries to increase his numbers for the Kentucky Derby.
The Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes, the annual spring meet highlight at Keeneland, is expected to have a full field of 14 for its 90th running Saturday. Entries will be drawn Wednesday morning at a media breakfast that will be televised live on TVG from 11:30 a.m. to noon Eastern.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Tapiture breezed for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on Monday, going a half-mile in 50.80 seconds in the second set of workers at Oaklawn Park. He is one of the favorites for the mile and an eighth race that closes out the meet Saturday.
The track Monday was rated sloppy, and was sealed. It was a clear but damp morning, and temperatures were in the high 40s.
Grade 1, $1 million Santa Anita Derby, 1 1/8 mi., April 5, 2014.
100 Derby qualifying points for a win, 40 for second, 20 for third, 10 for fourth.
California Chrome easily won the Santa Anita Derby by 5 1/4 lengths over Hoppertunity on Saturday for his fourth straight victory. His dominating performance also stamped him as a likely betting favorite for the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby, May 3.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
CYPRESS, Calif. – They have been running Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos since 1951, have mixed in Thoroughbreds over the years, and once had harness racing here, too. But when you drive down Katella Avenue and reach the turnoff for the racetrack, an electronic sign at the corner boasts that Los Alamitos is the “home of California Chrome.”
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Wicked Strong came out of his 3 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct “a little tired” but otherwise in good order, according to trainer Jimmy Jerkens, who added that he will wait until as late as possible to ship his horse to Louisville for the May 3 Kentucky Derby.
Rick Violette, the trainer of Wood runner-up Samraat, also said his horse came out of the race well and he too would wait until the Monday before the Derby to ship his horse to Churchill Downs.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Ride On Curlin completed his major preparations for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on Sunday morning, when he breezed seven furlongs in 1:26.80 at Oaklawn Park. He will come into the 1 1/8-mile race off a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Rebel at Oaklawn. The Arkansas Derby closes out the Oaklawn meet Saturday.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
ARCADIA, Calif. – It has been 59 years since Art Sherman first went to the Kentucky Derby as an 18-year-old exercise rider for 1955 Derby winner Swaps. After that, he was a jockey, then a trainer, but never has he returned to the Derby. But now he has a good reason to go back, and no one is riding higher.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Coming off a third-place finish in the Remsen Stakes here last fall, Wicked Strong left New York for south Florida a horse who could be considered one to watch on the Triple Crown trail.
But after two dull performances at Gulfstream Park this winter, Wicked Strong fell off the radar of Kentucky Derby contenders.
He obviously was homesick for Aqueduct.
