WHO'S HOT

In the 28 times the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile has been run since 1984, only once, with Street Sense, did the winner also come back six months later and take the Kentucky Derby. Only four other Derby winners – Spend a Buck, Alysheba, Sea Hero, and Mine That Bird – even ran in the Juvenile.

Fed Biz, an impressive allowance race winner, will miss the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday, trainer Bob Baffert said Wednesday.

“I had a little setback with him, not bad, though,” Baffert said. “It’s nothing serious.

“I don’t know if he got cast or what. He tied up a little on me.”

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Sabercat, the winner of the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot in his last start Nov. 19, will make his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2, $500,000 Rebel at Oaklawn Park, said his trainer, Steve Asmussen. The 1 1/16-mile race is on March 17.

Asmussen said Monday that Corey Nakatani has the mount. The horse was to have flown into Arkansas from Southern California this week. Sabercat, who is owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, had also been under serious consideration for the Grade 2 San Felipe at Santa Anita on Saturday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The problem with Blingo last fall was never an issue of ability.

He won his career debut in a one-mile turf race at Hollywood Park on Thanksgiving weekend and finished a fast-closing sixth in the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity in December, his only other start.

But he was something of a goofball, trainer John Shirreffs says, tough to train.

“He’s a gelding for a reason,” Shirreffs said last weekend.

The talented Blingo is on the Triple Crown trail for a reason, too.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The third-place finish by Rousing Sermon in the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 4 led to a pep talk between owner Larry Williams and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.

The colt had been a fast-closing second in the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park in December, and there were high expectations for his first start of 2012.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said that in light of Hansen’s easy victory in Saturday’s Gotham, he is now more inclined to bring his top Derby contender, Alpha, back in the Grade 1 Florida Derby here at Gulfstream Park on March 31 rather than await the Wood the following weekend in New York. Alpha won both the Count Fleet and Grade 3 Withers earlier this winter at Aqueduct. McLaughlin brought him back to Palm Meadows to continue training following the Withers.

With his stature back intact, champion Hansen left Belmont Park on Monday morning on a van bound for Kentucky, but the winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct is expected to return next month for the $1 million Wood Memorial to be run over Aqueduct’s main track on April 7.

Hansen, who spent the winter in south Florida, was scheduled to arrive Monday night at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky. He will stay there until the end of the week, when he will relocate to Churchill Downs’ Trackside training facility, a few miles away from Churchill itself. Trackside opens Friday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After Hansen’s authoritative three-length victory in Saturday’s Gotham Stakes, there likely will be several new shooters taking him on in next month’s $1 million Wood Memorial. Perhaps one of those new faces will emerge from Wednesday’s $67,000 first-level allowance feature for 3-year-olds going a mile and 70 yards over Aqueduct’s inner track.

With his victory in the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate on Feb. 18, Daddy Nose Best became the first 3-year-old male in 2012 to win a graded stakes at nine furlongs on the main track.

Of course, the El Camino Real Derby was contested over a Tapeta racing surface, a far cry from Churchill Downs dirt. Daddy Nose Best has yet to win from two dirt starts, but those losses occurred sprinting as a juvenile and Daddy Nose Best improved greatly after trainer Steve Asmussen opted to stretch out over a distance of ground.[bc_video_id:244559:]