ARCADIA, Calif. – The hits just keep on coming for trainer John Sadler. Eight days after winning the Robert B. Lewis Stakes with Candy Boy, Sadler won another important 3-year-old stakes race at Santa Anita when Kobe’s Back rallied from last to beat five rivals in the Grade 2, $200,250 San Vicente Stakes on Sunday.

Grade 3, $200,000 El Camino Real Derby, 1 1/8 miles, Golden Gate Fields, Tapeta surface, Feb. 15

(10 Kentucky Derby eligibility points to the winner, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)

If the Kentucky Derby were to be run on a synthetic track – which it will not – Tamarando automatically would be a very serious contender.

Tamarando’s half-length victory over Dance With Fate on Saturday was his fourth win, including three stakes, from seven tries on three different synthetic surfaces.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Mike Maker said all systems are go for General a Rod, who’s expected to be part of a large and very competitive field for Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes. The $400,000 Fountain of Youth is the final major prep at Gulfstream Park for the meet’s marquee event, the $1 million Florida Derby, on March 29.

ALBANY, Calif. -- Tamarando was content to sit last through the first six furlongs, but then unleashed a strong closing run to score a solid victory in the Grade 3, $200,000 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday.

Tamarando, winner of last year's Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, was not exactly a last-minute replacement for his unbeaten stablemate Exit Stage Left, who suffered a tendon injury one week earlier.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

Corey Nakatani will ride Withers Stakes runner-up Uncle Sigh in the Grade 3, $500,000 Gotham Stakes on March 1 at Aqueduct, replacing Pablo Morales, trainer Gary Contessa said Saturday.

Contessa said the decision, made in tandem with owner Chip McEwen - who races under the moniker Wounded Warrior Stable - was to go with a more experienced rider and was “no knock whatsoever on Pablo Morales,” Contessa added.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

Tom Amoss put several stakes horses through timed workouts Saturday morning at Fair Grounds, including Risen Star hopeful Rise Up, who whizzed through a half-mile in a near-bullet 47.40 seconds.

Other prominent Amoss workers included Mylute, whose half-mile in 49.20 seconds was his first published racetrack work since he went to the sidelines following the Jim Dandy Stakes last July; and Delaunay, who went a half-mile in 48.60, his first drill since he won the Gaudin Stakes last month at Fair Grounds in his first race in about five months.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Last summer at Saratoga, Strong Mandate and Tapiture ran one-two in a maiden special weight sprint. Both have since won major stakes races, and on Monday the pair will meet again in the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Cairo Prince had his first workout since his 5 3/4-length romp in the Holy Bull when going an easy half-mile Saturday in 48.60 seconds over a fast track at the Palm Meadows training center.

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said he was very happy with how Cairo Prince proceeded through the breeze, which came on a bright, brisk morning at a little before 9 a.m. Eastern and with exercise rider Rob Massey aboard.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Strong Mandate will break from post  8 in a field of 12 on Monday, when he makes his first start since the Breeders’ Cup in the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest at Oaklawn Park. The 1 1/16-mile race is the first major local prep for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 12.

Things are starting to get a little dizzy around the Lee and Susan Searing household, what with Candy Boy winning the Robert B. Lewis Stakes last weekend and Kobe’s Back primed for the San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita on Sunday. Good 3-year-olds in February will do that to you.