OLDSMAR, Fla. – Tampa Bay Downs’s traditional stage-setters for its top stakes of the meeting were run Saturday, and the results were as different as night and day. Three-year-olds ran in the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam Davis Stakes on Saturday, a prep for the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby, and 3-year-old fillies in the $100,000 Suncoast, a prep for the Grade 3 Florida Oaks. Both the Tampa Bay Derby and Florida Oaks will be run March 8.

Cairo Prince, an impressive winner of the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes last month at Gulfstream Park, is the top individually listed wagering interest behind the heavily favored mutuel field in Pool 2 of the 2014 Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which opens Thursday at noon Eastern for a three-day run.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Jose Garoffalo was forced to skip the Holy Bull Stakes last week with his star 3-year-old Wildcat Red. So he went to Plan B, Saturday’s $200,000 Hutcheson Stakes, and was rewarded when Wildcat Red drew off to a convincing 4 3/4-length victory over C. Zee in the Grade 3 dash for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream Park.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - As impressive as Samraat had been in his first three starts, trainer Rick Violette said his horse needed to be tested before he could consider him a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender.

From the opening bell of Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct, Samraat was indeed tested, and he survived a 1 1/16-mile-long duel with Uncle Sigh to win the Withers by one length and remain undefeated from four career starts.

A change in scenery, a change in surface, and a change in equipment  all added up to a change in finish from Harry’s Holiday Saturday – with the colt proving a runaway winner of the $56,766 96Rock Stakes for 3-year-olds at Turfway Park.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Just a couple hours after it was announced that Todd Pletcher has a record-setting 42 nominees to the 2014 Triple Crown, his powerhouse stable was represented by the top two finishers Saturday in the 34th running of the Grade 3, $200,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Ever since his runner-up effort in the CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park on Dec. 14, everything had gone right for Candy Boy. In fact, his trainer, John Sadler, felt he was ahead of the game in preparation for his next start, the Grade 2, $200,000 Robert Lewis Stakes next Saturday at Santa Anita.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Training hours at Gulfstream Park will get a little more interesting the rest of the winter now that trainer Shug McGaughey has shipped Honor Code down from his Payson Park base to continue preparations for his 3-year-old debut over local soil.

Led by Eclipse Award winner Shared Belief, Holy Bull winner Cairo Prince, and a record-setting 42 nominations from a single trainer, Todd Pletcher, a total of 413 3-year-olds were announced on Saturday by Churchill Downs as the nominees to the 2014 Triple Crown.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Casiguapo has been out of sight and out of mind since finishing second behind Rise Up in the Grade 3 Delta Jackpot Stakes on Nov. 23. But the runner-up in the 2013 Hopeful is ready to launch his 3-year-old campaign and will try to earn himself a spot back on the Kentucky Derby trail when he takes on eight rivals at Gulfstream Park in Sunday’s first-level optional $75,000 claiming feature at six furlongs.

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