ARCADIA, Calif. - The two stakes run for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita this weekend may determine whether trainer Bob Baffert has a top-notch candidate for the Triple Crown preps this spring.
Baffert has won the Kentucky Derby three times but has yet to reveal a standout 3-year-old this year.
Saturday's $150,000 San Vicente Stakes and Sunday's $75,000 Sham Stakes could help sort through some of Baffert's hopefuls, but Baffert is downplaying the importance of the two races.
"It's an important month," he said. "Not a weekend, a month."
ALBANY, Calif. - Mid-level claimers offer an attractive wagering proposition in Friday's Golden Gate Fields feature race.
The 1 1/16-mile race for $20,000 claimers brings out 10 runners, five of whom are dropping and four of whom are moving up.
Givemethreedimes, stepping up off a claim by Kent Molinaro, could offer value in the race.
A 6-year-old gelding, Giveme-threedimes was second behind Memphis when he was claimed from a strong $12,500 mile race on Jan. 23. He stalked the wire-to-wire winner and was seven lengths ahead of the third-place horse.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Only two weeks after The Candi Queen won a first-condition allowance race, she takes a one-step jump in class in a $56,000 optional claimer at Santa Anita on Friday.
Trainer Steve Knapp said the opportunity at another lucrative prize was too good to pass.
"She's so sharp right now," Knapp said. "My exercise rider says he's having trouble holding her."
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Tiger Hunt, one of the top 3-year-olds at Oaklawn, on Wednesday had his first work since finishing fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He breezed three furlongs in 39.60 seconds.
"It was a nice, easy three-eighths," said Ralph Nicks, who trains Tiger Hunt for Team Valor. "It was what we were looking for first work back.
"He looked nice and relaxed and finished up the last eighth in 12 and change."
Shannon Zuber, assistant trainer to Nicks, was aboard for the workout, which came shortly after the renovation break.
NEW ORLEANS - Go ahead and handicap the Fair Grounds Friday feature, but be prepared to call an audible.
Race 9, an open allowance, was carded at about 7 1/2 furlongs on turf, but heavy rain is forecast here Wednesday through Friday, and it's likely the race will be moved to dirt.
A surface switch would require a major strategic repositioning, depending on who scratches from the race, and whether the two also-eligibles draw into the field. This pair, and Neon Shadow, are the top dirt horses entered, and both would have an excellent chance on the main track.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Trainer Dick Occhiuto has always appreciated Mythical Road's professionalism and determination, qualities that helped him earn two wins and three stakes placings last year as a 2-year-old.
Those qualities were apparent again last Saturday, when Mythical Road broke through for his first stakes win in the $10,000 Flying Lark Stakes at six furlongs. He needed a little something extra to get up in time to win by a half-length over the pacesetting Keep on Turkin, however, and Occhiuto didn't hesitate to give credit where credit was due.
Tapit, one of the early darlings of the Triple Crown trail, will not make his planned start in the Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 15 at Fair Grounds. Tapit missed a recent scheduled workout at the Palm Meadows training center in south Florida, and is suffering from a sore shin, according to David Fiske, racing manager for Tapit's owner, Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC.