Wild On Ice upset the Grade 3, $600,000 Sunland Park Derby at 35-1 on Sunday and, while he picked up 50 Kentucky Derby points, his status for the race is to be determined, according to trainer Joel Marr.  

Wild On Ice is not currently nominated to the Triple Crown. Late nominations for the race close Monday at a cost of $6,000. Marr said in a post-race interview broadcast by Sunland that he did not know yet whether the horse would advance to the May 6 classic at Churchill Downs.  

“We weren’t thinking about any of that until a few minutes ago,” Marr said.  

When the principals of Spendthrift Farm sent Kingsbarns to Todd Pletcher last October, they weren’t necessarily thinking he was going to have time to develop into a Kentucky Derby horse.

Kingsbarns, a son of Uncle Mo, was purchased for $800,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream auction after breezing a quarter in 20.60 seconds, and needed some time to get over some seemingly minor issues.

HALLANDALE  BEACH, Fla. - The road to the Kentucky Derby got a little trickier for the undisputed division leader Forte early Saturday afternoon after the reigning 2-year-old champion drew post position 11 in a surprisingly full field of 12 3-year-olds entered for next Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby.

Horses breaking from post position 11 in races run at the Florida Derby distance of a mile and one-eighth over the main track at Gulfstream Park have won just 2 of 49 starts, due in large part to the short run to the first turn since the track was reconfigured in 2006.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Dirt racing is a second-class citizen in Japan, where turf is king, but Japanese dirt horses are doing just fine in Dubai. A year after Japan-based Crown Pride won the UAE Derby, Japan-based Derma Sotogake dominated the 2023 renewal, breaking from the rail and leading from start to finish under Christophe Lemaire en route to a 5 1/2-length victory. 

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The complexion of the starting lineup for next Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby took a turn for the better Friday with confirmation that Fort Bragg and Mage are now both being pointed to the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby prep.

Fort Bragg was one of seven 3-year-olds entered in Sunday’s Sunland Park Derby before his connections called an audible and decided to re-route him to Gulfstream Park six days later. Fort Bragg is coming off a fifth-place finish behind stablemate Practical Move in the Grade 2 San Felipe at Santa Anita in his only start this season.