Jenny Kellner
NYRA/Aqueduct Racetrack

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – On the first Saturday in May, only 20 hopefuls will get to line up in the starting gate for the Kentucky Derby. On Saturday afternoon at Aqueduct Racetrack, seven 3-year-olds will try to take a big step on the road to the Derby in the 132nd running of the Grade 3, $200,000 Withers.

“The Withers is an important race because it’s graded and you don’t get to run in the Derby…

(Edited Oaklawn Park report)

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Fifth Season Stakes winner Color Me Blue posted a maintenance breeze Saturday, a week out from the challenge of the next stop on the Oaklawn Handicap trail in the $100,000 Essex Handicap.

Color Me Blue is taking his top form into the Essex Handicap next Saturday

Owned by the Russell Reineman Stable, the 6-year-old gelding breezed five furlongs in 1:03 for trainer Brian Williamson in the only drill he will get before…

(Edited Gulfstream Park report)

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Kendall Hansen and Sky Chai Racing’s undefeated 2011 Eclipse champion 2-year-old Hansen takes his first steps toward the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Triple Crown trail as the flashy roan/gray colt launches his 3-year-old campaign in Sunday’s $400,000 Holy Bull Stakes (G3) going a mile at Gulfstream Park.

Jockey Ramon Dominguez will be back in the saddle on Hansen for trainer Mike Maker after they teamed up for a stunning wire-to-wire victory by…

(Edited Gulfstream Park report)

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Fred and William Bradley’s 4-year-old Kentucky homebred filly Groupie Doll was a very impressive wire-to-wire allowance winner at one mile in a strong field at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 22, and takes on a bigger challenge Friday as she faces five male rivals in another one-mile allowance feature on Friday, including Jay Em Ess Stable and partner’s highly-regarded 4-year-old colt Boys At Tosconova.

Jockey Calvin Borel gets the return call on Groupie…

(Edited Gulfstream Park report)

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla – Perfect.

That’s the word trainer Chad Brown uses to describe the condition of Awesome Feather since her victory Nov. 26 in the Gazelle (G1) at Aqueduct. It’s also the word to describe the 4-year-old filly’s record.

When Awesome Feather makes her 2012 debut Saturday in the $300,000 Florida Sunshine Millions Distaff, she’ll do so with a perfect record – undefeated in all eight of her lifetime starts, seven coming in stakes.…

(Edited Santa Anita Park report)

ARCADIA, Calif. – Pamela Ziebarth’s unbeaten homebred Tiz Flirtatious gets tested for both distance and class among eight 4-year-old fillies entered in Santa Anita’s 38th running of the Grade II, $150,000 La Canada Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Sunday.

The California-bred daughter of Tizbud has methodically ascended the class ladder for trainer Marty Jones with three impressive victories that have seen her odds drop accordingly. She went from 9-1 (maiden win) to 3-1 (allowance…

Jenny Kellner
NYRA/Aqueduct Racetrack

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Named for the venerable gelding whose career spanned eight years, Saturday’s $75,000 Evening Attire at Aqueduct Racetrack has drawn a field of six veterans headed by 2009’s Grade 1 Wood Memorial winner, I Want Revenge.

Now 6, the son of Stephen Got Even is 2-for-2 at Aqueduct, having taken the Grade 3 Gotham and the Wood Memorial before being scratched with an ankle injury from the 2009 Kentucky Derby as the…

Jennifer Hoyt
Oaklawn Park

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Living up to a lofty family name hasn’t been easy for Arienza, but Robert and Lawana Low’s regally bred daughter of 2002 Horse of the Year Azeri will get a chance to end a losing streak by sprinting in Sunday’s $50,000 American Beauty at Oaklawn.

The six-furlong sprint will mark the 4-year-old debut for Arienza as she attempts to get back to the form that saw her start her career in…

(Edited Santa Anita Park report)

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jeranimo, who spoiled Proudinsky’s bid to become the only three-time winner of Santa Anita’s Grade II San Gabriel Stakes, looms a solid choice to become the sixth repeat winner of the $150,000 turf event at 1 1/8 miles on Monday.

B. J. Wright’s 6-year-old bay will again have to take the measure of millionaire The Usual Q. T., who returns from nearly 7½ months on the sidelines to tackle the demanding distance…

Ashley Herriman
NYRA/Aqueduct Racetrack

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Stakes winner Deliburnsky is among a contingent of seven sophomores entered in Aqueduct Racetrack’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day feature, the $75,000, six-furlong Jimmy Winkfield Stakes.

Deliburnsky, a New Jersey-bred son of Flatter, is one of the most experienced in the field with three victories in five starts, two of those in six-furlong stakes. He exits a 2¼-length front-running score in the Dave’s Friend Stakes at Laurel Park on Nov. 26,…