Midway through the second of four days of wagering, High Fly was the very lukewarm favorite in Pool 3 of the .
As of 5:30 p.m. Eastern on Friday, High Fly was the 9-1 choice, followed closely by Consolidator (10-1), High Limit (10-1), Noble Causeway (11-1), Sun King (11-1), Sweet Catomine (12-1), Bandini (12-1), and the mutuel field (12-1) of all other 3-year-olds.
Blues and Royals, the colt owned by Godolphin Racing who won the UAE Derby by 12 lengths two weeks ago in Dubai, opened as a slight favorite during the early hours of wagering into Pool 3 of the , which began its four-day run Thursday at noon Eastern.
As of 5 p.m. Eastern, Blues and Royals was the 7-1 favorite over the mutuel field, also 7-1. The field, the "all others" alternative to 23 separately listed betting interests, closed as the favorite in Pool 1 in February and Pool 2 in March.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Sweet Catomine is behaving with her usual aplomb this week, but her trainer is washing out. Julio Canani never before has run a horse in the Kentucky Derby, or the Santa Anita Derby, let alone a filly, let alone the favorite, which is what Sweet Catomine will be when the Grade 1, $750,000 Santa Anita Derby is run for the 68th time on Saturday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Eight new names are among the 23 separately listed interests in the third and final pool of the , which opens for its four-day run Thursday at noon Eastern.
Blues and Royals, a 12-length winner of the UAE Derby, is foremost among the 3-year-olds joining the Pool 3 lineup. Also, Closing Argument, who was a separate interest in Pool 1 in February but was lumped into the mutuel field for Pool 2 last month, is once again being offered separately in Pool 3.
You have to be pretty quick to keep up with trainer Nick Zito this spring. Fresh off his one-two finish on Saturday in the with High Fly and Noble Causeway at Gulfstream Park, Zito on Monday already was at Churchill Downs, where another of his top Kentucky Derby contenders, Sun King, had his penultimate workout for next week's Blue Grass Stakes.
You see it every year. There is a reason coaches like Rick Pitino and Roy Williams frequently return to the NCAA Final Four, and a reason why trainer Nick Zito has his own final four pointing for this year's Kentucky Derby. They've been there before and know how to get back.
Fourteen 3-year-olds, including Blues and Royals, the winner of the United Arab Emirates Derby last Saturday, were made late nominees to the Triple Crown at a cost of $6,000 by last Saturday's deadline, Triple Crown Productions announced Wednesday.
There were another 358 horses made eligible for the Triple Crown in January for a one-time early payment of $600.
Rockport Harbor missed training on Friday after his right hind foot flared up again, prompting trainer John Servis to fly in noted blacksmith Ian McKinlay from New York to do some corrective work on the hoof. Saturday, Servis said Rockport Harbor remained on course for the $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 16.
"I feel we've got it nipped in the bud," said Servis.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Pat Byrne has been one step from the mountaintop. As someone who came within one vote of winning the Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer in 1997, Byrne knows what it's like to experience spectacular success in the racing game.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Close your eyes, and listen to the voices of D. Wayne Lukas and Bobby Knight. They are practically indistinguishable from each other. The cadence, the inflection, the air of confidence, all sound similar. Both had plenty to talk about after this past weekend. Knight moved on to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA basketball tournament with Texas Tech, and Lukas advanced on the road to the Kentucky Derby with the weekend's best performance among the 3-year-olds, a runaway victory by his trainee Consolidator in the at Santa Anita.
