HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Champion Whitmore and C Z Rocket are scheduled to meet for the third straight race in the upcoming Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park. The six-furlong Count Fleet is on the Arkansas Derby undercard April 10.
Whitmore won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint over runner-up C Z Rocket last November at Keeneland. Both horses launched their 2021 season March 13 at Oaklawn in the $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes, with C Z Rocket a neck winner over Whitmore.
Tap It to Win, unraced since finishing third in the Pat Day Mile in early September, is among the notable Florida-breds ready to go Sunday in the six-race Florida Cup, the final stakes races at a five-month Tampa meet that effectively runs through May 2. All six offer a purse of $110,000, with entries to be drawn Thursday.
Tap It to Win figures as a heavy favorite in the NYRA Bets Sprint at six furlongs, assuming he actually runs. Trainer Mark Casse said he also intends to enter Souper Stonehenge but will only start one of them.
Dayoutoftheoffice remains a prime candidate for the Kentucky Oaks after being sent through a swift breeze Friday at Tampa Bay Downs, although trainer Tim Hamm conceded that “we are getting tight on time” in regard to squeezing in a lone Oaks prep for the star filly.
United, the five-time graded stakes winner on turf, has been considered a potential starter in major dirt stakes by trainer Richard Mandella.
The idea remains one that will be considered, but is not likely to take place this spring, Mandella said Saturday shortly after United won his 2021 debut in the Grade 3 San Luis Rey Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf.
Mandella is pointing the 6-year-old United to the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf on May 29 instead of the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles on dirt two days later.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The absence of top 3-year-old Life Is Good from the Grade 1 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby on April 3 will likely lead to a larger field in the West Coast’s leading prep for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 1.
On Saturday, trainer Bob Baffert said Life Is Good will miss the Triple Crown after emerging from a morning workout with an apparent hind-end injury. Unbeaten in three starts, including two stakes, Life Is Good would have been a heavy favorite in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Nearly eight years to the day from when he made his debut, Mills was officially retired from racing, trainer Eddie Barker said Sunday.
Mills, an 11-year-old gelding by Any Given Saturday, finished fifth in an $8,000 claiming race Saturday. It was his 80th career start. It was his second straight non-effort following a victory at this level on Jan. 18.
“I was disappointed the way he ran,” Barker said Sunday morning at his Belmont Park barn. “He probably just lost a step, or more. He was a cool horse. We’re going to miss him.”
Nicky the Vest, the undefeated New York-bred, worked five furlongs in 1:00.29 Sunday morning at Belmont Park in preparation for a start in the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 3.
His work was the fastest of 29 at the distance that morning.
Nicky the Vest went in company with Utmost, a 7-year-old who won the Grade 2 Sky Classic at Woodbine in 2018. Nicky the Vest actually started out a little in front of Utmost and finished a dozen or so lengths in front.
Risk Taking, the Grade 3 Withers winner, and Crowded Trade and Highly Motivated, the second- and third-place finishers from the Grade 3 Gotham, all put in workouts Sunday morning at Belmont Park as they prepare for their next starts in upcoming Kentucky Derby prep races.
Risk Taking, working toward the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 3, went five furlongs in 1:01.85, outfinishing his workmate Cousin Andrew by two lengths. Risk Taking, working in blinkers as usual, got his final quarter in 25.04 seconds.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Dylan Davis will miss six to eight weeks and Jorge Vargas Jr. will be out at least a few days, perhaps longer, due to injuries suffered by both jockeys in a spill Saturday at Aqueduct.
Davis suffered a broken collarbone when he was thrown from his mount, Tellaperfecttale, who fell over Kiss Me Dave, who collapsed and died entering the far turn of Saturday’s last race. Vargas was aboard Kiss Me Dave. Tellaperfecttale suffered just some cuts and bruises, but was otherwise okay, according to her trainer, Tom Morley.
HALLANALE BEACH, Fla. - Todd Pletcher has won more Florida Derbies, five, than any other trainer. And it’s rare indeed when the Hall of Fame nominee finds himself taking a bit of a back seat in the lead-up to Gulfstream Park’s marquee race for 3-year-olds.
But such is the case this season with Known Agenda, Pletcher’s lone candidate in the 2021 Florida Derby, likely to go postward third or even fourth choice in the wagering behind local division leader Greatest Honour, the upstart Collaborate and Bob Baffert’s West Coast invader Spielberg.
