(Edited Santa Anita Park report)

ARCADIA, Calif. – Some six hours after entering heavily favored Lookin At Lucky in Saturday’s Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, Bob Baffert took Wednesday’s Santa Anita feature with a horse named Never in a finish so close the trainer said just afterward that he would have been willing to “split” the purse and accept a dead heat.

Penelope P. Miller
Tampa Bay Downs

OLDSMAR, Fla. – The FlameStone Grill Trainer of the Month is Dale Bennett, who in the week of March 24 – 30 has conditioned six winners, four second-place finishers and one third place finisher form seventeen starters at average odds of 3.3-1. 

Bob Hill
Staff writer
Tracksideview.com 

As has been the case in recent Derby prep races, post-time favorites other than Lookin At Lucky have disappointed.  In the case of Connemara, third in the Grade 2 Lane’s End, his finish probably means the end of his run at making the Derby field.  He already would be in jeopardy, and with large amounts of stakes earnings still to be won by others the prospects for him are dimming.

Amy Gregory
Keeneland Association Inc.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Peter Callahan’s Beautician returned to Keeneland late Tuesday from Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, where she had spent the past three weeks.

“You could flip a coin as to which race is better and this (the Central Bank Ashland) is a Grade 1 and the Fantasy (at Oaklawn) is a Grade 2,” trainer Ken McPeek said. “Plus, she runs well on the Poly.”

(Edited Keeneland Association Inc. report)

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland officials today announced that former trainer Frank Brothers will join the sales staff as a member of the yearling inspection team. Brothers will replace Dr. A. Gary Lavin, who will be retiring this year after 16 years.

Jim Miller
Hawthorne Race Course

STICKNEY, Ill. – On Saturday, April 3, a field of eight will line up to start in the Grade 3, $500,000 Illinois Derby as the one of the strongest casts of runners in the history of the race has been assembled.  The Illinois Derby will be run as the seventh race of 11 for the Saturday card with a post time of 4:37 p.m.  First post for Saturday is 1:35 p.m.

$500,000 Illinois Derby Showcases 2 Days of Parties, Sports Entertainment and Big Money

(Edited Hawthorne Race Course report)

Stickney, Ill. — The road to the Kentucky Derby continues to run through Chicago, as Hawthorne Race Course again prepares to host the only area prep race for the world’s most famous race.  On Saturday, April 3, Hawthorne will hold the 53rd running of the $500,000 Grade III Illinois Derby, which has produced 13 starters for the Kentucky Derby in the last…

Amy Gergory
Keeneland Association Inc.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Zayat Stables’ Macias, a three-time stakes winner at Santa Anita, and owner-trainer Wesley Ward’s Strike the Tiger, a stakes winner on grass in England and the United States, headline a field of nine 3-year-olds entered Tuesday for Friday’s 22nd running of the $100,000 Transylvania Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.

(Edited NYRA/Aqueduct Racetrack report)

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Tampa Bay Derby runner-up  Schoolyard Dreams comes into Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct Racetrack carrying the, well, schoolyard dreams of owner Eric Fein.

Nationally Televised $750,000 Toyota Blue Grass

Amy Gregory
Keeneland Association Inc.  

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland opens its spring meeting on Friday, April 2, and will present 15 days of world-class Thoroughbred racing featuring some of the nation’s richest purses, leading trainers and jockeys, and an exciting schedule of special events.