HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - A day after winning the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, Overanalyze was settled in at Churchill Downs to begin final preparations for next month’s Kentucky Derby. Rafael Bejarano, who rode the horse for the first time in the Arkansas Derby, will have the mount, trainer Todd Pletcher said on Sunday.
Jake Olesiak won six races on Saturday’s 11-race card at Fonner Park to take over the lead from his older brother Jordan in the track’s jockey standings.
Olesiak opened the day with wins in the second, fourth, and sixth races, and then rattled off three straight victories, capped off by a win aboard Diamonds Ace ($5) in the colts and geldings division of the $25,800 Fonner Park Special Stakes.
Jake Olesiak holds a 33-31 edge in the rider standings over Jordan Olesiak as the season heads into its final three weekends.
Lasting Bubbles tracked pacesetter and favored Cowgirl N Up in Saturday’s $50,000 JEH Stallion Stakes at Lone Star Park and proved much the best in the stretch, drawing off for a 5 1/2-length victory.
With Lindey Wade aboard, Last Bubbles, a 5-year-old mare by Pulling Punches, raced 6 1/2 furlongs in a fast 1:16.32. She paid $6.20.
“She ran the lights out,” Wade said.
Cowgirl N Up easily held second, finishing 3 1/2 lengths ahead of Im a Bear.
The JEH Stallion marked the first stakes victory for Lasting Bubbles, who improved her record to 3 for 5 in 2013.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Ken McPeek and Todd Pletcher swapped exactas, so to speak, in the two big Kentucky Derby prep races Saturday.
[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]
Both watched amid a bright and fading spring sun at Keeneland when Java’s War, trained by McPeek, overtook Palace Malice, trained by Pletcher, in the desperate final yards of the Blue Grass Stakes.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Overanalyze gave his trainer, Todd Pletcher, a third major contender for next month’s Kentucky Derby after he cruised to a 4 1/4-length win in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday. Pletcher also trains Verrazano, the undefeated winner of the Wood Memorial, and Revolutionary, the winner of the Louisiana Derby.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Cyber Secret gave his owner, Charles Cella, one of the biggest thrills of his 55 years in racing when he ran down pacesetter Taptowne and then pulled clear by 5 3/4 lengths in the Grade 2, $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap on Saturday. Cyber Secret won before an ontrack crowd of 66,158, on what was the final card of the meet at Oaklawn.
Early in his career, Justin Phillip struggled to master the intricacies of being a racehorse, but at age 5, he has smoothed out the wrinkles.
Justin Phillip was nothing if not professional in winning the Grade 3, $250,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on Saturday at Oaklawn Park. The 6-5 favorite, Justin Phillip got a great trip under leading rider Ricardo Santana, who won the first graded stakes of his career.
Street Girl got past E B Ryder just before the wire to win Saturday’s $100,000 Calder Oaks.
The 1 1/16-mile race, originally scheduled for turf, was shifted to a sloppy and sealed main track. As a result, Summer of Fun, who would have been a heavy favorite, was scratched, along with two other 3-year-old fillies, leaving just five runners.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Java’s War overcame an awful start before gathering himself and streaking down the stretch for a dramatic neck victory Saturday in the 89th running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.
