Horse Racing News

The $1 million Florida Derby was shaping up to be the most intriguing Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands prep of the season anyway. With speedball Flashpoint now involved, it has become a must-watch race for all those handicapping the Triple Crown.

With or without Jaycito, the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on April 9 is likely to have a large field.

Flashpoint is scheduled to run Sunday at Gulfstream Park. The question is will he go postward as the odds-on favorite in the seven-furlong, Grade 2 Swale or as the one to catch later that afternoon in the $1 million Florida Derby?

Elite Alex, the well-regarded 3-year-old who finished fourth in the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby last Saturday, is back at his Oaklawn base and pointing for the Arkansas Derby, said his trainer, Tim Ritchey.

It's Tricky, unbeaten in three starts, will try to prove herself worthy of being considered for the Kentucky Oaks when she makes her graded stakes debut in Saturday's Gulfstream Oaks, a 1 1/8-mile race that drew a field of seven.

Subscribing to the theory that familiarity breeds success, the connections of defending Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic winner Unrivaled Belle chose the Grade 2, $300,000 La Troienne Stakes at Churchill Downs over the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park.

Repole Stable's unbeaten champion Uncle Mo, who has yet to be challenged in his four career races, looms as a strong favorite when the third and final betting pool in Churchill Downs' Kentucky Derby Future Wager opens its three-day run on Friday.

Jockey Eibar Coa proved miracles can happen when he arrived at the Woodmont Country Club in Tamarac, Fla., late Tuesday afternoon to attend a benefit golf tournament held in his honor.

Zenyatta's racing manager Dottie Ingordo Shirreffs wrote on Zenyatta's Web site Tuesday that a recheck by officials at Lane's End, where she is stabled, revealed she had a miscarriage.

In an announcement that figures to meet with disagreement with some horsemen's groups, the outgoing and incoming leaders of the Association of Racing Commissioners International have called for a five-year phase-out of equine medication in horse racing.