The field for the Grade 3 Holy Bull on Jan.  26 at Gulfstream Park gained another player Friday after Tulira Castle worked a strong six furlongs in 1:14.18 for trainer Jim DiVito.

With jockey Javier Castelllano aboard, Tulira Castle completed his final quarter-mile in 25.48 seconds into a stiff headwind before galloping out seven furlongs in 1:26.58.

The eighth season of Countdown to the Crown returns as one of the most comprehensive handicapper’s scouting reports of the 3-year-old scene. Posted each Friday at DRF.com from Jan. 4 through the Belmont Stakes, Countdown keeps you apprised of the rising stars of the 3-year-old class from the maiden ranks through the Grade 1 stakes. You can access daily updates, opinions and interactive features at Countdowntothecrown.com as well.

Straight from the gate

NEW ORLEANS – Stakes winners Tour Guide and Avie’s Quality are among 10 3-year-olds under consideration for the Lecomte, the first two-turn stakes prep for the Louisiana Derby.

Entries will be taken Wednesday for the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte, a mile-and-70 yard race next Saturday. The race is in the first level of races offering Kentucky Derby points – 10 for winning, 4 for finishing second, 2 for third, and 1 for fourth – as part of Churchill Downs’s new qualifying system if the Kentucky Derby overfills.

Trainer Chad Brown said it is unlikely his top Kentucky Derby prospect Normandy Invasion will run here this winter. Normandy Invasion was beaten a nose by Overanalyze in the Grade 2 Remsen to conclude a 2-year-old campaign that also included a 9 1/4-length maiden win. A son of Tapit, Normandy Invasion is owned by Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms.

Goldencents, the winner of the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Jan. 5, is likely to make his next start in the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on March 9, trainer Doug O’Neill said on Thursday.

“I like the timing,” O’Neill said. “It’s nine weeks. We’re looking toward the San Felipe as a stepping-stone for the Santa Anita Derby.”

The $750,000 Santa Anita Derby is on April 6, and is the final local major prep for the Kentucky Derby on May 4.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Isolating the chief contenders for the Kentucky Derby can be difficult even after post positions are drawn, let alone roughly four months before the race.

At this stage in early January, most of the leading 2-year-olds of 2012 have yet to race as 3-year-olds, and those currently in action, with the exception of recent Sham winner Goldencents, typically are inexperienced horses competing in allowances.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – On Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, 3-year-olds will take what their connections hope are the first steps to the Grade  2 Tampa Bay Derby and Grade 3 Florida Oaks when they go postward in the $100,000 Pasco and $100,000 Gasparilla Stakes, both at seven furlongs.

Zeewat looks like a standout as 3-year-olds take their first steps along the Derby trail Saturday in the $100,000 California Derby at Golden Gate Fields.

Zeewat added blinkers and scored a resounding victory in the one-mile Gold Rush, Golden Gate’s prep for Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile California Derby, defeating rivals Condiment by 3 1/4 lengths and My Best Bet by 4 1/4 lengths. He did it by settling behind a slow early pace, taking the lead on his own, and pulling away when jockey Russell Baze finally asked him to run in the stretch.

Jockey Kevin Krigger could have stayed in Northern California and ridden a lot more winners than he rode the past year in Southern California. None of those Golden Gate winners would have put the 29-year-old rider on a trail to the Kentucky Derby.

It took Krigger less than one year in Southern California to find a dream mount – four rides on Goldencents produced three wins, including last weekend’s Grade 3 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita. If Goldencents makes it, Krigger will try to win the Kentucky Derby with his first Derby mount.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said that Jerome fourth-place finisher Long River and recent maiden winner Valid are both possible for the Withers.

In his first start against winners, Long River raced inside of horses for a good part of the trip, but only showed modest acceleration when he got in the clear in the stretch.

“He ran well for just breaking his maiden,” McLaughlin said. “His best race he was out in the clear; this race he was opposite.”