HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Blind Luck, The Factor and Sway Away all rolled through the Oaklawn Park backstretch around 5:15 p.m. Central on Wednesday, in town for stakes races on Saturday. The horses flew in from Southern California along with Grade 1 winner Smiling Tiger, who is being pointed for the Grade 3, $200,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn on April 14, said his trainer, Jeff Bonde.

Trainer Nick Zito said his top Kentucky Derby prospect Dialed In will have his final major work for the Grade 1 Florida Derby sometime next week. Dialed In won the Grade  3 Holy Bull in his 3-year-old debut before finishing second behind his older stablemate Equestrio when sent nine furlongs for the first time earlier this month.

KENTUCKY DERBY NEWS: Track all the 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail

Mike Stidham-trained horses are possible runners in major upcoming graded stakes races, including Willcox Inn, who finished second last Saturday in the Grindstone Stakes, his first race since a third-place finish last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

Willcox Inn closed well through the stretch, unable to catch Great Mills, who coasted through soft splits on an uncontested lead.
“Considering everything, short of him winning, I was very pleased,” Stidham said. “I knew going in the seven and a half [furlongs] was far shorter than his best distance.”

A couple weeks ago the Fair Grounds racing office was anticipating a large field, maybe 10 or 11 horses, for the $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 26, but recent defections from the race have pushed the projected number of starters down to barely half that number.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The tempo of Oaklawn’s series for 3-year-olds will quicken Saturday, when speedsters The Factor and Sway Away invade from Southern California for the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel.

But awaiting them is J P’s Gusto, a former California resident who is proven at the pace of racing out west. He defeated Sway Away by a half-length in the Grade 2 Best Pal last summer, then, one start later, was a front-running winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity.

Garrett Gomez has picked up the mount on To Honor and Serve for the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on April 3, his agent, Ron Anderson, said Wednesday.

John Velazquez had ridden To Honor and Serve in his first start of the year, a third-place finish in the Fountain of Youth Stakes.

Sweet Ducky and Gourmet Dinner, two of the prominent members of this year’s 3-year-old class, may be off the Kentucky Derby trail, but for completely different reasons.

Sweet Ducky on Tuesday was purchased by Ramzan Kadyrov, the controversial president of Chechnya, in order to run in the United Arab Emirates Derby on March 26. Kadyrov uses Herman Brown as his trainer, and Kelly Breen, the former trainer of Sweet Ducky, said Tuesday that Brown had contacted him in regards to Sweet Ducky.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.- Despite a record in which he has won two stakes in four career starts, Archarcharch finds himself needing a big effort Saturday in the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel at Oaklawn to be looked upon as one of the nation’s top 3-year-olds. And he probably won’t be the favorite in the 1 1/16-mile race that serves as a springboard to the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby.