HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Before saddling Prime Factor for the Fountain of Youth, trainer Todd Pletcher will have a busy Saturday with some of his other stakes runners.
One of his top hopes is Fearless in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile, which Pletcher has won a record five times. Fearless, last seen finishing sixth behind Tom’s d’Etat in the Stephen Foster last summer at Churchill Downs, will be returning from an eight-month layoff when he faces the heavily favored Performer.
Lucky Stride “looked good” after her victory in last Saturday’s Nellie Morse at Laurel Park, according to trainer Michael Trombetta, and will probably head to New York.
“Nothing’s stamped in stone, but I think she’s been included in the invitations for the Heavenly Prize,” he said. “But that’s [only] two weeks and it’s probably too soon. The one that comes back on April 10, the Top Flight Invitational, might be a much better option.”
Trombetta credited the mare’s toughness as one of her best attributes.
Street Lute emerged from her Wide Country victory at Laurel Park in “great” shape, according to trainer John Robb, and might be headed out of town.
“There’s really nothing else here,” said Robb. “That’s why I stayed because they had this string of races that I didn’t want to miss. But now I’m going to have to think of either stretching her out or going somewhere else. There’s nothing else here until August.”
Less than 24 hours after Justin Nixon saddled Edward Seltzer and Beverly Anderson’s homebred Hibiscus Punch to upset last Saturday’s Grade 3 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie Stakes at Laurel Park, he grabbed the opening race at Laurel with the Seltzer-owned Lucre.
This has been a consistent theme. Going into Thursday, Nixon had prevailed with his last three starters and is clipping along at an 8-for-15 rate since Nov. 15.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Champion sprinter Whitmore is still scheduled to launch his season in the $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes on March 13 at Oaklawn, but the start is not set in stone after a winter storm system led to 11 days of lost training over the local track.
Whitmore has won the Hot Springs each of the last four years. He last raced in November, winning the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
“We definitely want to be going for five in a row in the Hot Springs, but obviously we’ll do what’s best for him,” trainer Ron Moquett said Monday. “We were sucker-punched with the weather.”
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Keepmeinmind, the top 3-year-old based at Oaklawn Park, will bypass an intended start in the track’s Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest Stakes on Saturday and instead point to its Rebel Stakes, trainer Robertino Diodoro said Tuesday.
The Grade 2, $1 million Rebel will be run March 13 at Oaklawn. It awards its winner 50 points for the Kentucky Derby.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The field for the Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest Stakes rescheduled for Saturday at Oaklawn Park could be larger than initially anticipated as new nominees like Southern California-based Spielberg have committed to the points race for the Kentucky Derby.
“We’re going,” trainer Bob Baffert said Monday. “We’ll see what he does over there. He’s been training well.”
Run Classic scored a sharp second-start win Feb. 13 at Fair Grounds, going from a promising runner-up finish in his sprint debut Jan. 17 to a 3 1/2-length dirt-route maiden win that produced an 85 Beyer Speed Figure. His trainer, Bret Calhoun, saw enough in the recent performance to aim Run Classic for the Louisiana Derby.
“They only run 14, so I don’t know if we’ll get in, and it’s obviously a big jump in class, but we’ve been pretty high on this horse and we’re pointing that direction,” said Calhoun, who trains Run Classic for Tom Durant.
The trainer Brad Cox had not one, but two 2020 champions all dressed up and ready to go to their first race of 2021. Then winter hit Arkansas with a fury.
Instead of shipping from New Orleans, where they have been based all winter, to Oaklawn for the Feb. 15 Bayakoa Stakes and Southwest Stakes, Monomoy Girl and Essential Quality remained at Fair Grounds when those races were postponed because of the inclement weather.
