LEXINGTON, Ky. – A handful of hopefuls for the Blue Grass Stakes had their final pre-race breezes on a busy Saturday morning at Keeneland, but it was a workout at a quieter venue some 75 miles away in Louisville that leads the pre-race talk for the main Keeneland stepping-stone to the Kentucky Derby.
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Najjaar, a two-time winner at the meet eyeing the Arkansas Derby, worked five furlongs in company Friday morning at Oaklawn. He went in 1:00 under jockey Calvin Borel, with Oaklawn head clocker Jim Hamilton carrying him through fractions of 12.20 for the opening eighth of a mile, 24.40 for the first quarter, 36.60 for three-furlongs, and galloping out six furlongs in 1:12.20.
Najjaar, who was sixth last out in the Grade 2, $500,000 Rebel, races for Shadwell Stable and is trained by Dan Peitz.
Trainer Bob Baffert will have a busy weekend in Arkansas on April 13-14.
Baffert said he will start Mamma Kimbo and Jemima’s Pearl in the $300,000 Fantasy Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Friday, the same day that 2011 Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty makes her 2012 debut in the $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap. The Apple Blossom is expected to draw 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace.
Next Saturday, Baffert starts Bodemeister and Secret Circle in the $1 million Arkansas Derby.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Joe Talamo did not have to wait long for the 1,000th win of his career on Thursday.
Last Sunday, he won three races to reach 999 wins. With no racing from Monday through Wednesday, Talamo had four chances on Thursday.
After finishing third in Thursday’s third race with Lady Fairbanks, Talamo, 22, hit the milestone with an easy win aboard Splendid Fortune in the fourth race. The victory came five years and nine months after Talamo won his first race at Louisiana Downs in the summer of 2006.
Editor’s Note: Countdown to the Crown returns for a seventh season online as one of the most comprehensive handicapper’s scouting reports of the 3-year-old scene. Posted each Friday at DRF.com from Jan. 6 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 and interactive features at Countdowntothecrown.com as well.
El Padrino was given a clean bill of health following his fourth-place finish in last Saturday's Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park and will continue to point to the Kentucky Derby, his connections said Thursday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Trainer Todd Pletcher comes to the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct with an undefeated horse who ended his 2-year-old season with a graded stakes win at Churchill Downs and began his 3-year-old campaign with a visually impressive victory in a one-turn mile race at Gulfstream Park.
That’s where Pletcher hopes the similarities between Gemologist and Uncle Mo end.
Chances are likely that either Gemologist or Alpha will win Saturday’s Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Similarly, Creative Cause is the most logical winner of the Santa Anita Derby.
However, that doesn’t make them great wagers. Because their virtues are so apparent in the past performances, they are almost assured of going off at odds below their true chances of winning.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Creative Cause will be wearing No. 1 when he enters the gate for the Grade 1, $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on Saturday, an appropriate designation for the colt who has been the West Coast’s top-ranked Kentucky Derby prospect for months.
It is a position Creative Cause claimed when he romped in the Norfolk Stakes here last fall, just before his third-place finish behind Hansen and Union Rags in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.