ARCADIA, Calif. – Derby sleepers are re-emerging. A closing third by Oviatt Class in the Sham Stakes and a runner-up finish in the Bob Hope and subsequent layoff by Forever Kingdom have not dampened expectations for the Santa Anita-based graded stakes-placed colts.

Keith Desormeaux trains late-running Grade 1-placed Oviatt Class, third in the slow-paced Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Jan. 1.

“How do you go 48 and 4 at that level?” Desormeaux said, referring to the half-mile time of wire-to-wire winner Newgrange. “For us to close on them was pretty cool.”

Listed, $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes, Oaklawn Park, Jan. 1, 2022
(10 Derby qualifying points for first, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)

Winner: Dash Attack, by Munnings
Trainer: Ken McPeek
Jockey: David Cohen
Owner: Catalyst Stable, Magdalena Racing, Kevin Pollard, and Patty Slevin
Beyer Speed Figure: 82

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Led by Courvoisier, the top three finishers from Saturday’s $150,000 Jerome Stakes are expected to meet again in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes on Feb. 5 at Aqueduct.

Courvoisier won the Jerome by 1 1/4 lengths over Smarten Up, who finished three-quarters of a length in front of Cooke Creek. The race was run over an extremely sloppy surface, and jockey Jose Ortiz, riding Courvoisier for the first time, hustled the horse into contention as per instructions from trainer Kelly Breen. It wasn’t until the final sixteenth when Courvoisier began to edge clear.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – If Saturday’s New Year’s Day program here was a hockey game, nobody could argue that the top three stars at the end of the day were Simplification, Lightening Larry, and Kathleeen O. The only discussion, perhaps, would be what order to put them in.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Newgrange gave trainer Bob Baffert his third consecutive win in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita, and the trainer’s sixth win in the last 10 years in the early season one-mile test for 3-year-olds.

Newgrange joins outstanding company as a winner of the Sham trained by Baffert, who has claimed the exacta in the race the last three years.

Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes, Santa Anita, Jan. 1, 2022
(0 Derby qualifying points for first, 0 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)

Winner: Newgrange, by Violence
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: John Velazquez
Owner: Golconda Stable, Madaket Stables, SF Racing, Siena Farm, Starlight Racing, Stonestreet Stables, Waves Edge Capital, Catherine Donovan, Robert Masterson, and Jay Schoenfarber
Beyer Speed Figure: 88

Listed, $150,000 Jerome Stakes, Aqueduct, Jan. 1, 2022
(10 Derby qualifying points for first, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth)

Winner: Courvoisier, by Tapit
Trainer: Kelly Breen
Jockey: Jose Ortiz
Owner: Hill ’n’ Dale Equine Holdings and James Spry
Beyer Speed Figure: 73

ARCADIA, Calif. – Newgrange took advantage of ideal conditions in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sham Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita and strolled to a 2 3/4-length victory, scoring in front-running fashion in a Kentucky Derby prep void of pace other than his stablemate.

That stablemate, 3-2 favorite Rockefeller, set up shop just behind and outside Newgrange early, as the two Bob Baffert trainees led their rivals through dawdling fractions of 24.46 seconds for the opening quarter and 48.94 seconds for the half in the one-mile race.

Dash Attack’s stock is rising quickly.

He picked up 10 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, when he swept through the lane for a two-length victory over Barber Road in the $250,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park.

It was another length back in third to Ignitis, who edged Kavod by a nose. The second- through fourth-place finishers also earned Kentucky Derby points on a scale of 4-2-1.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Simplification made amends and then some for his third as the 1-5 favorite in his 2-year-old finale, kicking off his 3-year-old season with a convincing four-length victory over 4-5 favorite Strike Hard in Saturday’s $150,000 Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream Park. The one-mile Mucho Macho Man was the richest of five stakes on the card, all for 3-year-olds.