HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Grade 2-winning 3-year-old Kobe’s Back lost all chance of winning his two-turn debut last December. He’ll get a second chance at the trip at Oaklawn Park on Saturday, when he runs in the Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel Stakes.

Kobe’s Back will be one of the top choices in the 1 1/16-mile race, which was expected to draw seven to nine horses when entries closed Wednesday. Other leading contenders include Tapiture and Strong Mandate, the one-two finishers in last month’s Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Throughout his four decades in racing – 30 years training horses – John DeStefano Jr. has lost countless horses through the claim box, most often without a second thought.

But there was something about Kid Cruz that made DeStefano, now the managing partner of Black Swan Stable, think twice. So, after losing Kid Cruz for $50,000 via claim Nov. 22 out of a race he won by six lengths, DeStefano made multiple attempts to buy the horse back.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Ask trainer Shug McGaughey which one single factor was most responsible for Orb’s victory in the 2013 Kentucky Derby, and he’d likely say it was the way everything went perfectly for his horse from the time he arrived at Payson Park last winter right up until Derby Day.

“We never missed a work, never missed a race, never had a single setback with Orb all winter,” McGaughey said.

Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, 1 1/16 miles, Tampa Bay Downs, March 8

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

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Tapiture was out for a maintenance move Monday at Oaklawn Park, breezing a half-mile in 50.20 seconds in preparation for the Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel on Saturday.

Tapiture could go favored in the 1 1/16-mile race following his win in last month’s Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest at Oaklawn. He was a 4 1/2-length winner for Winchell Thoroughbreds and trainer Steve Asmussen and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 98.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Despite having a runner at Los Alamitos on Saturday night and losing an hour of sleep because of daylight saving time, trainer Art Sherman was at work before anyone at his Los Alamitos barn Sunday morning, still excited over the victory by his colt California Chrome on Saturday at Santa Anita in the San Felipe Stakes.

“I came here early and checked his legs. They were nice and cold,” Sherman said while watching his trainees at Los Alamitos. “He ate everything up. He’s alert. He wants to bite you.”

Grade 2, $300,500 San Felipe Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Santa Anita Park, March 8.

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

With the early scratch of the undefeated Bayern and the race-day scratches of Home Run Kitten and Rprettyboyfloyd, seven were left in this important stepping-stone to the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 5. 

Graham Motion said a few days before the Tampa Bay Derby was run that he was looking to “find out where we are” with Ring Weekend.

Well, here’s where: the 140th Kentucky Derby.

Ring Weekend, who took five tries to win a maiden race, broke loose Saturday with a front-running triumph at 14-1 in the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, the annual marquee race at the Oldsmar, Fla., track.

ARCADIA, Calif. – California Chrome is training at a place known for horses that run a quarter-mile, but on Saturday at Santa Anita he ran like a horse who wants every part of 1 1/4 miles.

California Chrome crushed his rivals in the Grade 2, $300,000 San Felipe Stakes, a major prep for 3-year-olds for both the Santa Anita Derby and the Kentucky Derby. Under the system used by Churchill Downs to determine the field for the May 3 Derby, California Chrome earned 50 points, which should be enough to make the maximum field of 20.

Trainer Mike Maker had considered several options for General a Rod’s final Kentucky Derby prep but in the end, he opted to avoid the pitfalls of traveling and has decided to keep the Fountain of Youth runner-up at Gulfstream for the Florida Derby. General a Rod won the Gulfstream Park Derby here on New Year’s Day.

General a Rod had his first breeze since the Fountain of Youth on Saturday, cruising an extremely easy half-mile in 51.26 seconds shortly after the first renovation break.