ARCADIA, Calif. -- Kentucky Derby aspirants Dortmund and Firing Line worked shortly after 7:45 Saturday morning at Santa Anita.
Dortmund broke off first, and went five furlongs in 58.80 seconds under jockey Martin Garcia for trainer Bob Baffert. He had a couple of tag-team workmates -- one early, one late -- who couldn't keep up.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Two weeks away from the Kentucky Derby, the activity from Derby hopefuls is picking up at Churchill Downs. Three potential Derby starters, International Star, Danzig Moon, and Keen Ice, recorded workouts Saturday morning – with each work noticeably different than the others.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Carpe Diem, who figures as the third or fourth wagering choice in the upcoming Kentucky Derby, had his first breeze since winning the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, going a half-mile Saturday morning in 48 seconds over a fast track at Keeneland.
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. -- Trainer Todd Pletcher had a plane to catch. So the action started early, before dawn, at the Palm Beach Downs training center on Saturday where Pletcher worked three of his Kentucky Derby candidates -- Materiality, Stanford, and Itsaknockout -- shortly after which he boarded a private jet which got him to Lexington in time to see one of his leading Derby hopefuls, Carpe Diem, breeze at Keeneland later that morning.
\ELMONT, N.Y. -- Tencendur began his career as a horse that looked like he was going to be a one-run closer. Over the course of the winter and into the spring he has done a transformation of sorts.
Whether it’s the addition of blinkers or maturity -- or a combination of the two -- Tencendur has started to become more tactical.
At Palm Beach Downs on Friday, trainer Todd Pletcher sent out his Kentucky Oaks hopeful Eskenformoney to breeze an easy four furlongs in 49.58 seconds in company with Curalina.
The pair cruised through an easy opening quarter-mile in 26.06 with Eskenformoney nearest the rail. Pletcher asked his riders to pick up the pace at that point, the duo coming home in 23.55 with Curalina sticking her head in front right at the wire but while under considerably more pressure to finish than Eskenformoney, who was well held at the end. The pair then galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.63.
BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Any reservations trainer Rick Violette had regarding how his Kentucky Derby hopeful Upstart would be affected by the sinus infection he contracted over the weekend were erased in 59.47 seconds, the time it took the Florida Derby runner-up to work a half-mile and gallop out five furlongs Friday at Palm Meadows.
Los Alamitos has reduced the purse for the Los Alamitos Derby and the number of stakes for its two-week Thoroughbred meeting in July.
The eight-day meeting July 2-12 will have four stakes worth $750,000 in total, compared to seven races worth $1,150,000 in 2014, the first year the meeting was conducted. Los Alamitos significantly overpaid purses during the 2014 meeting.
The highlight of the July meeting will be the $350,000 Los Alamitos Derby at 1 1/8 miles on July 4, a race worth $500,000 last year. Shared Belief won the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Derby in 2014.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – In each of the first four races Sunday at Keeneland, Mike Maker and his former assistant, Joe Sharp, both have scheduled starters. Maker has the morning-line favorite in every one of those races, while Sharp has the second choice in three of the four.
Sharp has enjoyed an extraordinarily hot start to his training career since going solo last September, having won with 48 of his first 183 starters (26 percent) while steadily expanding his roster of clients.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Forever Unbridled is on the alternates list for the Kentucky Oaks, but what? Is Dallas Stewart supposed to be worried?
The last two years, Stewart sent out longshots to run second in the Kentucky Derby only after they made the field because of defections of horses with higher preference. Those Stewart-trained colts were Golden Soul, second at 34-1 to Orb in 2013, and Commanding Curve, second at 37-1 to California Chrome in 2014.
