WHO’S HOT

Optimizer, the runner-up in the Grade 2, $500,000 Rebel at Oaklawn, remains on target for the Arkansas Derby and could have his final work for the race on Tuesday, said his trainer, D. Wayne Lukas. Optimizer had a major work here Monday, going six furlongs in 1:12.60 under jockey Jon Court.

“It was an outstanding work,” said Lukas. “I wanted it to be a little more significant, not a maintenance work. I wanted him to finish and he did. He came home in 23 and change.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Undefeated Gemologist drew post 6 in a field of eight 3-year-olds entered Wednesday for Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.

[WOOD MEMORIAL: News updates, contender replays, watch the race live]

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The connections of Isn’t He Clever would like to see the horse advance to the Kentucky Derby, but with $188,000 in graded earnings he’s a bubble-type prospect, so plans have been made to run him in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 14.

“That’s mainly the reason we’re going,” said Henry Dominguez, who trains Isn’t He Clever, the runner-up in last month’s Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby. “He came back out of his last race real well, and hopefully, he’ll show up in this race like he always does so we can proceed on to the big dance.”

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum’s previous attempts to win the Kentucky Derby came with the caveat the horse come from his homeland of the United Arab Emirates.

So, while a horse may have campaigned with success in North America as a 2-year-old, that horse would, after doing a period of quarantine, ship to Dubai for the winter where he would run in one, possibly two preps, then return to the United States for the first Saturday in May.

But while Dubai’s ruling leader still covets America’s most prestigious prize, he is less stringent on how to achieve the goal.

ARCADIA, Calif. – An altered training schedule worked successfully for Creative Cause in March, and has led trainer Mike Harrington to try to replicate that schedule in advance of Saturday’s $750,000 Santa Anita Derby.

[SANTA ANITA DERBY: Early look video, news updates, watch the race live]

ARCADIA, Calif. – Brother Francis was a colt in need of an identity last weekend, as the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on Saturday drew closer.

Last Sunday morning, a trackside conversation between trainer Jim Cassidy and a few of his colleagues turned to Brother Francis, who has placed in two graded stakes but is still a maiden after four starts.

Cassidy was asked how his maiden was doing when fellow trainer Jack Carava jumped in.

“Mr. Cassidy would request that you call him his Derby horse and not his maiden,” Carava said.

Jockey Ramon Dominguez will take his comeback from a separated collarbone conservatively, riding just two days a week for the next two weeks before attempting to return to a full-time schedule on April 18.

On Monday, Dominguez got clearance from his doctors to resume riding Friday. He is named on two horses at Aqueduct. He will ride Alpha in Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial and participate in a few other races. He will then ride Havre de Grace in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn on April 13 and Hansen in the Blue Grass at Keeneland on April 14.

The connections of Swale Stakes winner Trinniberg are more likely to point to the Preakness Stakes than the Kentucky Derby, owner Shivananda Parbhoo said Monday. Toward that end, Parbhoo chose to run his 3-year-old in Saturday’s $250,000 Bay Shore at seven furlongs as opposed to the Illinois Derby at 1 1/8 miles.

“I don’t think he’s ready to go a mile and an eighth right now,” Parbhoo said Monday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The connections of Tiger Walk could have shipped their 3-year-old to Hawthorne this weekend if they were looking for an easier spot in which to try to accrue enough graded stakes earnings to qualify for the Kentucky Derby.

But in opting to take on the undefeated Gemologist and the highly regarded Alpha in Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, trainer Ignacio Correas IV thought it better to find out sooner than later if he should make a run for the roses on May 5.