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.
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DRF Past Performances
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.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Bayern could make his stakes debut in the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes on March 8 after a 15-length win in an allowance race Thursday at Santa Anita.
Trainer Bob Baffert said Friday that he will make a final decision on Bayern’s participation in the San Felipe in coming weeks.
“I’ll either run in the San Felipe, or skip it and wait for the Santa Anita Derby,” Baffert said. “He’s happy. He looked good after the race.”
The Grade 2 San Felipe is run over 1 1/16 miles and is a prep race for the $1 million Santa Anita Derby over 1 1/8 miles April 5.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Last Sunday morning at Santa Anita, the day after winning the Robert Lewis Stakes with Candy Boy, trainer John Sadler was reviewing the status of his top three 3-year-olds. Candy Boy had risen to the top of the list, and Kristo wasn’t too far behind, having finished second in the Sham Stakes last month.
Eight 3-year-olds take what could be their first step toward Kentucky on Saturday at Golden Gate Fields in the 33rd running of the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby. On the line in the 1 1/8-mile race are a $200,000 purse and 17 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, including 10 to the winner.
“We’re at a ‘Y’ in the road,” said trainer Frank Lucarelli, who will saddle the improving Infosec, who finished third, beaten two lengths, in the California Derby on Jan. 18.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Honor Code, one of the leading contenders for the 140th Kentucky Derby, had his first breeze since he missed about a week of training when going three furlongs on a warm Wednesday morning at Gulfstream Park.
As Honor Code was cooling out, trainer Shug McGaughey confirmed that the son of A.P. Indy most likely will make the first start of his 3-year-old season in the March 15 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, “mostly because of the timing. That way, there’s seven weeks until the [May 3] Derby, and we can get a second prep in there somewhere.”
Noble Moon returned to the work tab Wednesday morning for the first time since he won the Jerome Stakes on Jan. 4, breezing three furlongs in 38.95 seconds over the Belmont Park training track.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Tapiture will be a regular on Oaklawn Park’s road to the Kentucky Derby this spring, with the Grade 2 winner to launch his season Monday in the Southwest Stakes. The Grade 3, $300,000 race is the second stakes in the local series that continues with the Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel on March 15 and the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 12.
Trainer Bob Baffert is considering jumping into the Louisiana Preview Day card on Feb. 22 at Fair Grounds and could have horses for both the Risen Star Stakes and the Rachel Alexandra Stakes, he said Wednesday.
Baffert could send Grade 1 winner Streaming for the Grade 3, $200,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes, while Hoppertunity, a maiden winner, could start in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes.
“It’s not etched in stone yet, but I’m looking at it seriously,” Baffert said.
No one knows better just how difficult it is to win the Kentucky Derby than trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. A member of racing’s Hall of Fame, Hollendorfer has won the Kentucky Oaks three times. The first Friday in May – or, in some years, the last Friday in April – he’s got that down. The first Saturday in May – that’s been more challenging.
Hollendorfer has run in the Derby five times without winning, including fifth-place finishes by Eye of the Tiger in 2003 and Chocolate Candy in 2009. But he’s also had particularly cruel setbacks the week of the race.