Oaklawn Park

THE Kentucky Derby trials ramp up a notch this weekend with the reappearance of two of last season’s top two-year-olds who take each other on in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park. The race is two weeks later than usual due to severe weather in the state cancelling the last two weekends of racing.

Godolphin’s Essential Quality won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Stakes in Keeneland and then the Eclipse Award. As the even-money favourite that day, Jackie’s Warrior was a bit disappointing when fading to fourth. He had won two Grade 1s in Belmont and Saratoga by wide margins in the autumn.

Jackie’s Warrior and jockey Joel Rosario should be able to go to the front here, as he did in three graded victories last year, including in the Hopeful Stakes and Champagne Stakes.

“He has worked impressively,” Asmussen said of the Maclean’s Music colt who will be trying the mile and half a furlong trip for just the second time.

Essential Quality and Luis Saez will likely sit closer than he did in the Juvenile when he closed from eighth. He had won the Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland off slow fractions. Both his wins have come at this distance which is to the Tapit colt’s advantage over Jackie’s Warrior.

Bob Baffert’s California invader Spielberg also has blacktype in winning the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity last year and was fourth most recently in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

The outstanding mare Monomoy Girl’s 2021 campaign was also ready to start at Oaklawn two weeks ago.

Now rerouted to the Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes tomorrow, Brad Cox is still on track to prepare the daughter of Tapizar for the $1 million Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap, also at Oaklawn in mid-April.

Cox said: “I don’t believe the delays have affected her at all. She’s doing really well.”

Monomoy Girl won the Grade 1 Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff last November and was expected to be retired when then sold for $9.5 million to Spendthrift Farm from the ELiTE consignment at The November Sale, Fasig-Tipton’s breeding stock sale. Under regular rider Florent Geroux, she faces five rivals.

Gulfstream Park

Some of Florida’s top prospects on the Kentucky Derby trail meet in the $300,000 Grade 2 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes with a field of 10 for the mile and half a furlong contest. Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes winner Greatest Honour is the likely favourite in a race that includes stakes winners Drain The Clock and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Fire At Will.

Greatest Honour impressed winning by over five lengths in the Holy Bull and bids to give trainer Shug McGaughey his third win in the Fountain of Youth following Derby winner Orb (2013) and Code Of Honor (2019).

Drain The Clock stretches out from a wide margin win here over seven furlongs and with Holy Bull runner-up Tarantino and Todd Pletcher’s Prime Factor also in the line-up.

Drain The Clock has won his four races at Gulfstream but pressed the pace and led from three out last time and is bred for speed.

Though Fire At Will has a turf pedigree, his sire Declaration At War performed well on dirt, and he won the Juvenile Turf by three lengths from Battleground. He makes his three-year-old debut and has won once before on dirt.

It’s a high class card at Gulfstream with a host of graded stakes races and also sees the reappearance of the year’s champion two-year-old filly Vequist in the Grade 2 Davona Dale Stakes over a mile. The daughter of Nyquist won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Her main danger seems to be Curlin’s Catch, trained by Mark Casse. Curlin’s Catch, an easy Tampa Bay stakes race winner last time.