I just spent days poring over the past performances of each of the 398 Triple Crown nominees, searching for the first Triple Crown winner since 1978. I will settle for the Kentucky Derby winner right now.
I was able to eliminate a few hundred of the horses quickly.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Secret Circle and Longview Drive were among four Southern California-based 3-year-olds who flew into Arkansas on Tuesday in advance of the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn on Monday. The shippers, along with local stakes winner Junebugred, who breezed a bullet half-mile Tuesday, top a list of 21 probables for the one-mile Southwest, which has a good chance of being split into two divisions. If it is, each division will be a Grade 3, and each will have a purse of $250,000, said David Longinotti, the assistant general manager for racing at Oaklawn.
The Feb. 25 Risen Star has picked up another likely local runner in Afford, who won a first-level route allowance race by a nose Feb. 9. Afford, a Jim Tafel homebred by Street Sense, is a half-brother to Fast Alex, who is scheduled to start in the Mineshaft Handicap on the same day. Greg Geier trains both horses.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A rebuilding year has also become a season of firsts for Southern California trainer Jack Carava.
In the last three months, Carava’s stable has been halved from approximately 40 horses to 20 following the abrupt departure from racing of Ron Valenta’s La Canada Stable last November. In the wake of that development, Carava reassembled a list of clients, some old and some new.
ARCADIA, Calif. – An impressive maiden race win by Bodemeister at Santa Anita last Saturday will result in a stakes appearance in March. The race and date have yet to be finalized, trainer Bob Baffert said Tuesday.
Baffert is loaded with Triple Crown hopefuls and is likely to use stakes at Santa Anita and other tracks such as Oaklawn Park to avoid running too many of his horses in the same race.
“I’ll have to give extra time and run him back in March somewhere,” Baffert said. “I’ll have to find a spot.”
Since its first running in 1982, the El Camino Real Derby has often been a springboard to success.
From 1984 to 86, the Preakness winner competed in the El Camino. The 1984 Preakness winner, Gate Dancer, ran second to French Legionnaire in the El Camino in 1984, and 1985 Preakness winner Tank’s Prospect and 1986 winner Snow Chief each won the El Camino Real.
In 1994, El Camino winner Tabasco Cat won the Preakness and Belmont. In 1999, Charismatic was second in the El Camino before winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.
We know the most unbreakable of all Kentucky Derby “rules.” Any aspirant that failed to race at 2 need not apply for a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May. The last horse to win the Kentucky Derby without the benefit of at least one race as a juvenile was Apollo in 1882, 21 years before the very first World Series was played. For the last century, it is this juvenile foundation, or so it seems, that aids a Derby prospect through the winding road to Louisville.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Union Rags, Algorithms, and Discreet Dancer, the three leading contenders for the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth here at Gulfsream Park a week from Sunday, all turned in their penultimate works for the race on a very chilly Monday morning at Palm Meadows.
Union Rags, with his new rider Julien Leparoux aboard, worked an easy five-eighths in 1:03.08, according to track clocker Bryan Walls, much to the delight of trainer Michael Matz. Union Rags has not started since finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For the 14th time in as many years, the mutuel field is the favorite in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which closed Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern following a three-day run that set a record for highest handle since Churchill Downs first began offering parimutuel futures in 1999.
