1 of 2 | Kentucky Derby hopeful Sovereignty, shown winning the Grade II Street Sense Stakes in October, returns in the Grade II Fountain of Youth Saturday at Gulfstream Park. Photo courtesy of Churchill Downs
Feb. 28 (UPI) — Three major Kentucky Derby preps, from New York to Florida and California, are the feature on the weekend horse racing menu, with side dishes that include Dubai’s “Super Saturday” and the middle leg of the Hong Kong Derby series.
Diving right in with the Derby doings …
The Road to the Roses
This weekend’s action stretches from New York south to Florida and west to California, with several major contenders in action. Each race affords the winner 50 points on the Churchill Downs “Road to the Kentucky Derby” leaderboard.
The Fountain of Youth
Four of the eight entries for Saturday’s $415,000 Grade II Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park are returning from stakes victories and another looks to be at least their equal.
The stakes winners are Burnham Square, a Liam’s Map colt trained by Ian Wilkes who was last seen winning the Grade III Holy Bull; Gate to Wire, a Munnings colt who won the 7-furlongs Swale Stakes for trainer Todd Pletcher; Sovereignty, an Into Mischief colt from the Bill Mott barn who has been on the sidelines since October; and Keep It Easy, by Hard Spun, who won the Ed Brown Stakes at Churchill Downs by 5 1/4 lengths in his last race.
A wild card in the Fountain is River Thames, a McLean’s Music colt, also trained by Pletcher, who is 2-for-2.
The San Felipe
Barnes and Rodriguez, two of trainer Bob Baffert‘s top Derby hopes, are entered for Saturday’s $300,000 Grade II DK Horse San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita. Barnes puts his undefeated record on the line against five rivals.
The Into Mischief colt won at first asking at Churchill Downs in November, and then romped home first by 6 1/2 lengths in the Grade II San Vicente on Jan. 4. The 1 1/16-mile San Felipe will be his first test around two turns. Rodriguez comes off a second-place finish in the Grade II Robert B. Lewis on Feb. 1.
The main opposition in the San Felipe would appear to be Journalism, a Curlin colt from the Michael McCarthy barn who was last seen winning the Grade II Los Alamitos Futurity.
The Gotham
The top prospects for Saturday’s $300,000 Grade III Gotham at Aqueduct appear to be those stepping up to open company for the first time after beating up on fellow New York-breds.
Sand Devil has been impressive enough in the state-bred ranks, with three wins from three starts. Sacrosanct, by Honest Mischief, is 4-for-4 in that restricted company including three stakes wins.
Meanwhile …
A potential star for Godolphin, Opera Ballo, improved to 2-for-2 with an easy win Wednesday night in the Road to the Kentucky Derby Stakes on the all-weather surface at Kempton Park in England to take the lead in the “Euro / Mideast Road to the Kentucky Derby” series.
Godolphin now must decide between the Kentucky Derby on dirt and the European Classics on turf.
The Road to the Oaks
Nine are in for Saturday’s $200,000 Busher at Aqueduct. La Cara and Ballerina D’Oro star in Saturday’s $215,000 Grade II Fasig-Tipton Davona Dale at Gulfstream Park. Baffert holds three of the six entries for Sunday’s $100,000 Grade III Fasig-Tipton Santa Ysabel at Santa Anita — Cipriani, Maysam and Howin.
Classic
Invaders from Florida take the favorite roles in Saturday’s $300,000 Grade I Santa Anita Handicap, “The Big Cap” of yore. Todd Pletcher ships Locked and Brad Cox has Hit Show. Among the locals, Katonah and J B Strikes Back are recent stakes winners. Baffert sends out lightly raced, but promising, New King for a massive class test.
Turf
Saturday’s $165,000 Grade III Canadian Turf at Gulfstream Park came up tough with the likes of Major Dude, Fort Washington and Irish Aces set to go 1 1/16 miles.
Grand Sonata is the morning-line favorite in a pretty well-matched field of 12 to go 1 3/8 miles in Saturday’s $215,000 Grade II Mac Diarmida Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Saturday’s $100,000 Black Gold for 3-year-olds at Fair Grounds has a field of eight with Chasing Liberty the 2-1 favorite.
Filly & Mare Turf
Vixen and Civetta look to be logical choices in Saturday’s $215,000 Grade III Herecomesthebride Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Gulfstream Park.
In Our Time is favored in the $165,000 Grade III Honey Fox Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Saturday’s $165,000 Grade III The Very One Stakes at Gulfstream Park and Saturday’s $200,000 Grade II Buena Vista at Santa Anita look like wide-open affairs.
Turf Mile
El Potente and Mi Hermano Ramon loom large over six rivals in Saturday’s $300,000 Grade I Frank E. Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita.
Mi Bago has won three of his last four starts and ranks the 2-1 favorite in a field of 10 3-year-olds going 1 mile in Saturday’s $215,000 Colonel Liam Stakes at Gulfstream Park.
Sprint / Dirt Mile
Mindframe, second in the both the Belmont Stakes and the Grade I Haskell a long time ago last spring, finally returns as the even-money pick in Saturday’s $215,000 Grade II Gulfstream Park Mile.
At Aqueduct, Saturday’s $165,000 Grade III Tom Fool is 6 furlongs and the $150,000 Stymie is 1 mile.
Around the world, around the clock
Dubai’s “Super Saturday” has been upstaged a bit by the emergence of the Saudi Cup program, but it remains a proving ground, especially for locals, for World Cup night. Saturday’s card has five Group stakes that point in that direction.
Stars on the evening’s program include Tuz, clearly the best sprinter in the Middle East, in the Group 3 Mahab Al Shimaal. The Godolphin team seems to have a lock on most of the night’s turf events with runners destined for World Cup night and more glory back in Europe and/or on the global scene.
Hong Kong
Sunday’s Hong Kong Classic Cup is the second leg of the series that ends March 23 with the BMW Hong Kong Derby — a race every local owner and trainer wants to win.
The series is designed to push the envelope, with the Hong Kong Classic Mile rewarding speedy types, the Classic Cup advancing the distance to 1,800 meters, or 1 1/8 miles, and the Derby calling for 2,000 meters, or about 1 1/4 miles.
My Wish defeated Divano by a neck in the first leg of the series, the Hong Kong Classic Mile, with the favorite, Packing Hermod (AUS), another 1/2 length back in third.
My Wish has never gone beyond 1,600 meters and Divano has not won beyond 1,200 meters, giving trainer Tony Cruz hope that one of his two, Californiatotally or Stunning Peach, can pick up the baton.
There will be plenty of other chances in what looks like a wide-open affair.
Eight Kentucky Derby hopefuls will battle it out on Saturday at the 2025 Fountain of Yo
Smarty Jones, the Pennsylvania-bred horse that captured the hearts of sports and horse fans across the world during his historic race for the Triple Crown
Santa Anita Park is known for introducing racing fans to Kentucky Derby contenders, and
Sandman will continue his chase for Kentucky Derby qualifying points at Oaklawn in the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby on March 29, trainer Mark Casse sai
