BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – A veteran of Triple Crown delight and disappointment, trainer Todd Pletcher knows as rosy as things look right now for his 3-year-olds, they can get thorny in a hurry.
That’s why even as loaded as Pletcher appears to be for this year’s Kentucky Derby, he is doing his best to temper his enthusiasm.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Ever So Lucky, who made everybody’s Kentucky Derby watch list immediately after his sensational maiden win last fall at Churchill Downs, will launch his 3-year-old campaign in the seven-furlong Hutcheson on Feb. 11, trainer Jonathan Sheppard confirmed Monday.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Eclipse Award winner Hansen may have been the center of attention, but it was Algorithms who stole the show in Sunday’s $400,000 Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park, cruising to an easy five-length victory over the reigning 2-year-old champion in the first major local prep on the Kentucky Derby trail.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Add another horse, El Padrino, to trainer Todd Pletcher’s steadily growing list of Kentucky Derby prospects.
El Padrino may have actually moved to the top of that list following his extremely impressive two-length victory over Take Charge Indy on a good and sealed racetrack Sunday at Gulfstream Park. The entry-level allowance race was the first start for El Padrino since his third- place finish in the Grade 2 Remsen two months earlier.
ARCADIA, Calif. – It’s a good thing the 3-year-old colt Chips All In is a better racehorse than he is work horse.
The two-time stakes winner worked seven furlongs in 1:29 at Santa Anita on Saturday, a slow time that would send some trainers into a panic. Not Jeff Mullins, who timed the colt in 1:30.80. Mullins considers Chips All In to be a candidate for Saturday’s $200,000 Robert Lewis Stakes over 1 1/16 miles, and was not concerned about the slow workout time.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Pee H Dee is one of two promising 3-year-olds the owner-trainer team of Jim McIngvale and trainer Chris Richard have in the hopper for upcoming stakes at Oaklawn Park. Pee H Dee has put himself under consideration for next month’s Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest Stakes following a recent allowance win. Ring It Up, meanwhile, is a horse that could develop into a candidate for the Grade 2, $500,000 Rebel in March.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The depth of trainer Bob Baffert’s 3-year-old division will lead to multiple starters for the Hall of Famer in the $200,000 Robert Lewis Stakes next Saturday at Santa Anita.
Baffert will run Liaison, winner of the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park on Dec. 17, and Sky Kingdom, who was fourth in the CashCall and winner of an allowance race here Jan. 12.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Augustin Bezara said immediately after Reveron upset the Gulfstream Park Derby here on New Years’ Day that the Grade 3 Holy Bull was not in his plans. And the Venezuelan-born horseman was true to his word.
Reveron is not among the six 3-year-olds entered in Sunday’s one-mile Holy Bull. Instead, Bezara is planning to ship Reveron, a son of Songandaprayer, to Tampa Bay Downs for next Saturday’s Grade 3 Sam F. Davis.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It isn’t a stakes race, but it could be. When Sunday’s seventh race at Gulfstream Park is over, one or more of the nine 3-year-olds entered will be stakes bound in a bid to get on the Triple Crown trail.
A trio of stakes-placed 3-year-olds – Casual Trick, Take Charge Indy, and El Padrino – will meet in a $53,000 first-level allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on Sunday’s card at Gulfstream, which is highlighted by the Grade 3, $400,000 Holy Bull Stakes, also for 3-year-olds.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Hansen has kept a pretty low profile throughout his brief but successful racing career, doing the majority of his training in the relative anonymity of the Trackside Training Center in Kentucky prior to his victory in the Breeders’ Cup and under the cloak of darkness since arriving in south Florida last month.
