WHO’S HOT

ARCADIA, Calif. – John Sadler has been trudging through the backstretch at Santa Anita for more than three decades now, steadily rising to the elite among the trainers based in Southern California. He has developed a highly successful stable that competes across all levels, from stakes racing to claimers, turf to dirt, sprinters to routers.

A pair of 3-year-olds who trained all winter at Fair Grounds before shipping out to finish one-two last Saturday in the Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway Park will go next in separate races in Kentucky, trainer Wayne Catalano said Wednesday from Gulfstream Park in Florida.

Solitary Ranger led all the way to finish clear of a sustained late run by his stablemate, Poker Player, in the Battaglia, a 1 1/16-mile Polytrack race at Turfway in northern Kentucky. The Battaglia is a prep for the annual Turfway showcase, the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes on March 22.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Mark Casse and Todd Pletcher’s training operations are different in many ways. Casse bases his stable at Woodbine near Toronto from the time he leaves Florida each winter until late fall, while Pletcher is based in New York at Belmont Park and Saratoga once he leaves Florida each spring.

Most of the horses in Casse’s stable are owned by John Oxley, while Pletcher has a number of different owners and ownership groups for his large string of runners.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Clubhouse Ride, second in the 2013 Santa Anita Handicap, is likely to start in Saturday’s $250,000 San Carlos Stakes over seven furlongs.

Trainer Craig Lewis said Sunday he is considering three races Saturday – the San Carlos, the $350,000 Frank E. Kilroe Mile on turf, or the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap over 1 1/4 miles on dirt.

Clubhouse Ride has started once this year, finishing fifth in the Joe Hernandez Stakes on the hillside turf course Feb. 23. Lewis downplayed the likelihood of a start in the Big Cap.

Grade 3, $500,000 Gotham Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Aqueduct inner track, March 1

(50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner, 20 for second, 10 for third, 5 for fourth.)

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The top three finishers from Saturday’s Grade 3 Gotham Stakes – Samraat, Uncle Sigh, and In Trouble – all seem to have come out of the race in good order and, barring a change of heart or a setback, are expected to return to Aqueduct for the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial on April 5.

Samraat ran his record to 5 for 5 with a neck victory over Uncle Sigh, the same 1-2 finish as in the Grade 3 Withers Stakes here Feb. 1. Uncle Sigh finished a neck in front of In Trouble, who was making his first start since Sept. 29.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Champion Will Take Charge and Southwest Stakes winner Tapiture put in works Sunday at Oaklawn Park before rain moved into the area and temperatures dropped. The track was rated “fast” for workouts Sunday. 

Will Take Charge, preparing for Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap, came out when the track opened at 7 a.m. Central on an overcast, 60-degree morning. He was strong throughout a half-mile work in 47.80 seconds, the fastest of 74 moves at the distance Sunday. 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The mutuel field, the 24th or “all others” option, closed in its familiar spot as the favorite in Pool 3 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which closed Saturday following a three-day run.

The field closed at 3-1, followed by Cairo Prince (9-1), Top Billing (11-1), Honor Code (11-1), Candy Boy (12-1), Shared Belief (15-1), Bayern (17-1), Tapiture (17-1), and Strong Mandate (18-1).

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Two hours before boarding a plane bound for California to attend the Barretts sales, trainer Todd Pletcher was standing in the Gulfstream Park winner’s circle with his latest graded stakes winner, Gala Award, who rallied to a half-length victory over the late-running Mr Speaker in Saturday’s $150,000 Palm Beach Stakes. Storming Inti, the 5-2 favorite, set the pace and gradually weakened to finish third.