Handsome Mike, fourth in Saturday’s Grade 3 Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park, is scheduled to make his next start in the $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on April 14, a last chance to gain a spot in the Kentucky Derby on May 5.

Handsome Mike was en route to Arkansas on Sunday, trainer Doug O’Neill said between races at Santa Anita.

“He’s headed to the Arkansas Derby as long as he’s training good,” O’Neill said.

A colt by Scat Daddy owned by Paul Reddam, Handsome Mike was beaten 6

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -   El Padrino’s final work for Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby may not have gone quite as planned at the beginning. But in the end, trainer Todd Pletcher got just what he was looking for from the Risen Star winner, who figures to be the second choice behind Union Rags in the Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. 

ARCADIA, Calif. - Empire Way, runner-up in the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes in February, but ninth in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 10, is off the Kentucky Derby trail, trainer Mike Harrington said on Sunday.

Empire Way is likely to make a start in an allowance race later this spring, Harrington said.

“I backed off him a little while,” he said. “He needed a little time.

He’s definitely off the Derby trail.

“When he comes back, I’ll run him in an allowance race. I still think he’s a good horse. He’s still training.”

Bourbon Courage could be headed for the Derby Trial after scoring a second-straight flashy six-furlong win at Fair Grounds on Saturday, trainer Kellyn Gorder said Sunday.

In his career debut on Feb. 3, Bourbon Courage won a maiden race by 4 ¼ lengths, running six furlongs in 1:09.28 and earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 103. Saturday, facing other winners for the first time, he scored by 6 ½ lengths, running six furlongs in 1:09.42 and earning an initial Beyer of 101.

Cigar Street, a blowout two-turn Fair Grounds maiden winner in his most recent race, green-lighted his entry into next Sunday’s $1 million Louisiana Derby with a good five-furlong workout in 1:01.20 Sunday morning.

“Our main question was how was he going to look doing it, and I think the question was answered,” trainer Steve Margolis said Sunday morning. “Right now, all systems are go. We’re going to enter tomorrow.”

FLORENCE, Ky. – The 3 1/2-length victory by Went the Day Well in the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes on Saturday at Turfway Park certainly has his connections pumped for the 138th Kentucky Derby on May 5. What remains to be answered in the coming weeks, however, is whether the colt will have another race in the interim before proceeding to Churchill Downs.

FLORENCE, Ky. – Team Valor International president Barry Irwin was enjoying a heavy dose of déjà vu in the immediate aftermath of the Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes on Saturday at Turfway Park.

“That wasn’t horrible, was it?” a giddy Irwin asked rhetorically after watching Went the Day Well carry the Team Valor silks to a 3 1/2-length triumph in the Grade 3, $500,000 Turfway showcase.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Hansen, last year’s champion juvenile, breezed an easy five furlongs in 1:01.20 at Churchill Downs Trackside Saturday in preparation for an expected start in the April 14 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Five of the seven prospective starters for next Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby worked at three different venues on Saturday morning, including division leader Union Rags, who went an easy but visually impressive half-mile in 49.10 seconds shortly after sunrise at Palm Meadows.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While many of his colleagues were at Palm Meadows in Florida on Friday morning watching 2-year-olds breeze for an upcoming auction, trainer Kelly Breen was at Belmont Park watching a breeze show of his own.

Breen flew in from south Florida to watch My Adonis, runner-up in the Gotham Stakes three weeks ago, work five furlongs over the Belmont Park training track in preparation for a start in the $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 7.