HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Adirondack King, who shipped in Oaklawn from Florida for trainer John Servis, closed from ninth for third in the second division of the Southwest on Monday. He finished six lengths behind Secret Circle and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 91.
“As of right now, I think we’re going to leave him out here and try the Rebel,” Servis said Tuesday.
Adirondack King broke from post 2 in a field of 10, and was ridden by Stewart Elliott.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Scatman, who finished a half-length behind Secret Circle in second in the Southwest, will likely make his next start in the Rebel, his trainer, Mike Lauer, said on Tuesday.
Scatman took the Southwest field through an opening half-mile in 46.80 seconds, was joined by Secret Circle to midstretch, then was overtaken. For the effort, Scatman earned a Beyer of 101.
“It was his first time two turns and he ran very good,” Lauer said. “I hope there’s improvement there.
“He seems to have come out of the race good and the logical spot is the Rebel.”
The atmosphere around the Larry Jones barn on Tuesday morning at Fair Grounds was decidedly more calm than the morning previous, and that was not just because everyone had wandered off to watch Zulu and Rex, the major Mardi Gras Day parades, roll down into the French Quarter. Monday was a major work day in the Jones barn, with all three of his 3-year-olds intended for Saturday stakes races in action, making Tuesday a quieter walk day for many of the horses.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Rafael Bejarano swept both divisions of the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Monday, after Secret Circle drove to about a three-quarter-length win over Scatman. One race earlier, Castaway took the first division, by 3 3/4 lengths. Both races carried Grade 3 status, and the purse for each was $250,000.
A special daily double covering the two races paid $26. The winning numbers were 11-9.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Wherever one-mile stakes for 3-year-olds are run this spring, Drill will be a nominee.
A day after Drill won his second stakes in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita, trainer Bob Baffert said no plans have been made for the colt’s next start, but that races around one turn, particularly at a mile, will be given extra consideration.
“I think he’s a middle-distance horse, a one-turn horse,” Baffert said. “We’ll nominate to everything.”
Some of the winter snowbirds are returning north early. Chief among them is Hansen, the juvenile champion of 2011 who suffered his first setback in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream on Jan. 29. Hansen is scheduled to make his next start in the Grade 3, $400,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct on March 3 and is expected to control the press clippings, and the pace, for that race.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher took a slightly different approach on Monday morning to get his two undefeated 3-year-olds Algorithms and Discreet Dancer to the same place, the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on Sunday at Gulfstream Park.
Algorithms and Discreet Dancer turned in their final workouts Monday at Palm Meadows for the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth, a major step towards Gulfstream Park’s marquee race, the $1 million Florida Derby on March 31.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Drill, who had fallen on hard times since being ranked last summer as the best of trainer Bob Baffert’s 2-year-olds, returned to his best form on Sunday with a hard-fought victory in the Grade 2, $147,000 San Vicente Stakes, nosing out American Act, with highly regarded Creative Cause just a length away.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Sabercat, the winner of the Delta Jackpot last fall, is making rapid progress toward his expected 2012 debut in next month’s San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita, and on Sunday morning, he worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 in his third drill here in the past 13 days.
Sabercat had a pair of half-mile works earlier this month, and will have time for two more works before the San Felipe on March 10.
