HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The south Florida road to the Kentucky Derby will kick off in earnest Sunday when six aspiring Derby prospects, including recently crowned juvenile champion Hansen, square off at a mile in the $400,000 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park.
The Grade 3 Holy Bull is the first of three major preps on the Derby trail at Gulfstream, along with the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on Feb. 26 and Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 31.
There will be at least two south-Florida based Kentucky Derby prospects heading to Tampa next week for Tampa Bay Downs' Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes. Trainer Ian Wilkes is pointing his Neck 'n Neck in that direction, as is Jimmy Toner with his recently acquired Chief Energy.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - While Union Rags won't be participating in Gulfstream Park's first graded stakes for 3-year-olds this year, he took another step Tuesday morning to being ready to go for the second.
Union Rags, the Grade 1 Champagne winner and Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up, worked five furlongs in 1:00.82 over the main track at Palm Meadows Tuesday morning. It was the second-fastest of 28 recorded works at the distance on a warm, cloudy, and sometimes rainy morning.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Midnight Transfer has run in his last sprint race for the foreseeable future after winning Sunday’s San Pedro Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita.
Trainer Carla Gaines said after the race that Midnight Transfer will make his next start in the $300,000 San Felipe Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on March 10. The Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes is the final major prep for the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 7.
“He just loves this track,” Gaines said.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Stephanoatsee, runner-up to Alpha in the Count Fleet Stakes at Aqueduct on Jan. 7, is off the Triple Crown trail due to an injured pastern bone, trainer Graham Motion said Tuesday.
Stephanoatsee, a half-brother to 2011 Preakness winner Shackleford, will undergo surgery Wednesday at the New Bolton Equine Clinic in Pennsylvania.
Motion said that Stephanoatsee chipped a piece off the top of the pastern bone in his right foreleg. Dr. Dean Richardson will reattach the piece rather than remove it, Motion said.
Trainer Larry Jones’s pair of 3-year-old stakes winners, Believe You Can and Mr. Bowling, took their Saturday starts well, Jones said Monday morning. Both were scheduled to return to the track for morning training Wednesday, and both are headed to the next round of 3-year-old stakes racing on Feb. 25 in New Orleans – Believe You Can to the Rachel Alexandra Stakes and Mr. Bowling to the Risen Star.
NEW ORLEANS – No one could keep up with the Joneses on Saturday at Fair Grounds.
A couple hours after Believe You Can, bred and owned by a Jones (Brereton) and trained by a Jones (Larry) won the Silverbulletday Stakes, Mr. Bowling marched to victory in the Grade 3, $175,000 Lecomte Stakes for the same Joneses, beating back late runs from Z Dager and Shared Property and putting himself on the path to the $1 million Louisiana Derby.
Kids start getting excited about Christmas before Thanksgiving. Little girls shop for Easter bonnets as the winter snows begin to melt, and there are enterprising young men who stock up on Fourth of July fireworks even as the excitement of Valentine’s Day fades.
There’s no sense in waiting until the last minute, is the point.
Editor’s Note: Countdown to the Crown returns for a seventh season online as one of the most comprehensive handicapper’s scouting reports of the 3-year-old scene. Posted each Friday at DRF.com from Jan. 6 through the Belmont Stakes, Countdown keeps you apprised of the rising stars of the 3-year-old class from the maiden ranks through the Grade 1 stakes. You can access daily updates and interactive features at Countdowntothecrown.com as well.
