Well, for true disciples of Tolkein, you understand the 'Two Towers' reference is a major theme in the trilogy, but for our purposes it simply denotes coverage.

This Saturday, both Oaklawn Park and Gulfstream Park are those poles of power when it comes to authoring graded stakes. Their cards feature Kentucky Derby and Oaks points races.

So, get your palantir ready–alright, alright–here is the slate for Saturday.

The Eye of Timberlake

The GI Arkansas Derby offers 100 Derby points to the winner at Oaklawn as the town of Hot Springs will be invaded by horse enthusiasts who are keen to watch a pair of 'TDN Rising Stars' do battle.

Timberlake (Into Mischief) earned that merit badge at second asking as a 2-year-old. Though he was fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the Brad Cox trainee certainly came out of the break to put on a show in last month's GII Rebel S. The WinStar and Siena-owned colt has the Beyer figures to prove he belongs among the top contenders for the first Saturday in May.

“I really like the timing of the Arkansas Derby to the Kentucky Derby,” said Cox. “Obviously, he has the experience there now after winning the Rebel. I kind of thought the Rebel was the spot when we were getting started this winter. That worked out well and it leads nicely to the Arkansas Derby.”

Muth | Benoit

Opposing him are some other strong candidates like the winner of the GIII Southwest S. Mystik Dan (Goldencents), as well as Liberal Arts (Arrogate) and Time for Truth (Omaha Beach), but Timberlake's main rival is Zedan Racing's Muth (Good Magic). The $2-million 2023 OBS March topper is the latest shipper to Oaklawn for trainer Bob Baffert. Though his connections cannot collect Derby points, his front-running speed makes him a threat. The 3-year-old began his career with a 'Rising Star'-effort at Santa Anita back in June. After running second to Fierceness (City of Light) in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, he cut back to take the GII San Vincente S. in early January.

The road to the GI Kentucky Oaks travels down Central Avenue and through the GII Fantasy S. The top three finishers from the GIII Honeybee S. return in Lemon Muffin (Collected), Tapit Jenallie (Tapit) and West Omaha (West Coast), but there are some true 'x-factors' drawn. One of them is Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna), who was last seen as the runner-up in the GII Golden Rod S. at Churchill Downs in November. Also making the Fantasy gate are the top two runners from the Sunland Park Oaks–undefeated Recharge (Gun Runner) and Candy Aisle (Gun Runner).

One other graded race on Saturday in Hot Springs is the GIII Oaklawn Mile.

Fierceness In His Voice

Coming into the GI Curlin Florida Derby, champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness is looking to get back to the winner's circle after running third in his only start this year. Owned by Repole Stable, the Todd Pletcher trainee is going to get another crack at the horse that won the GIII Holy Bull S. Feb. 3, Hades (Awesome Slew).

Fierceness | Ryan Thompson

“Normally I'd be afraid of the outside post but Forte won from the 11 last year so you can overcome that,” said Pletcher. “Everybody knows Gulfstream two-turn races are tricky and I think that's why the start is so important, getting away cleanly. I think what happens in a lot of these two-turn races is the jockeys are so conscious of having to get to the first turn in good position that it can get a little rough leaving the gate sometimes. … The horse gives you a lot of confidence watching him breeze. It seems like he's in really good form, so we're expecting a good performance from him.”

Among the other challengers who are chasing the 100-point Churchill Downs offering is another 'Rising Star'. Conquest Warrior (City of Light) garnered honors from the paper when he won by five lengths going nine furlongs against optional claimers in Hallandale Mar. 1.

“I feel good,” said Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey about Conquest Warrior. “We've had two good races here and I still have a pretty fresh horse. He's trained good over it. He's had a race going a mile and an eighth here, which he handled, obviously, very easily. He came out of it good. I don't think we took anything out of him.”

In the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks–the local 100-point Kentucky Oaks feeder–'TDN Rising Star' Ways and Means (Practical Joke) gets back on track for trainer Chad Brown. The Klaravich homebred debuted a winner by 12 3/4 lengths at Saratoga last summer and was last seen running second in the GI Spinaway S. upstate.

Standing in her way is the heroine of the GII Davona Dale S., Fiona's Magic (St Patrick's Day), and Power Squeeze (Union Rags), who returns to South Florida after raiding the Suncoast S. at Tampa Bay Downs.

The Gulfstream Park undercard has three other graded races as part of the program, including the GII Pan American S., the GIII Ghostzapper S. and the GIII Orchid S.

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An admission donation is set at $25, while the restaurant is giving 10 percent of its bar business during the Derby Week event to Second Stride. Also, there will be the Smoke Easy Cigar Lounge, along with both live and silent auctions of racing memorabilia and experiences.

As in the past, the centerpiece will be the Kentucky Derby and Oaks handicapping panel, which this year includes Byron King, Andie Biancone, Steve Byk and Doug Nachman.

“Aftercare is no longer an afterthought, as the industry has embraced its obligation to take care of the horses who take care of so many of us at the track and breeding farm,” said Kim Smith, Second Stride's founder and executive director. “Every dollar raised on Champions Night will go to helping off-the-track racehorses and other Thoroughbreds in need such as broodmares and horses that never made it to the races.

Click here for more information.

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Since his two length score in the first leg of the Florida series, Hades has worked twice at four furlongs and at a mile, which prompted the connections to give the second leg some consideration before deciding to pass.

“He's doing great, that's the problem. It's hard to sit still,” Orseno said. “But in the grand scheme of things and what we're trying to accomplish, it's probably the right thing to do. I've seen too many people try to run in all three races here and then you have nothing left. We're just trying to do right by the horse.”

Potentially, Hades could be Orseno's second GI Kentucky Derby starter. He entered Thunder Blitz in 2001, who was fourth behind Monarchos.

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And the Derby race/event has grown to such importance for the entire industry (the hoopla around the Derby as an event got bigger in the preceding years even while horse racing has been struggling), that its import flows far beyond the private parameters of ownership of Churchill Downs, Inc. Derby day is an industry-wide event even though it is run by a private entity. And herein emerges the problem that begs for a resolution.

The owners of horses trained by Bob Baffert, in refusing to switch barns in order to get their horses eligible to the Derby race, are, in essence, calling out the management of the Derby race by Churchill and boycotting the race.

I write this from the perspective of years of graduate study in political economy during my Ph.D. work. These owners have made (and undoubtedly not deliberately so) a huge first step in challenging the balance of power in the industry between owners/breeders and the racetracks.

Churchill, in arbitrarily extending the ban on their trainer and shortening the time for the required transfer of their horses from their chosen trainer to someone else (the transfer date was conspicuously set days before the Robert Lewis prep race at Santa Anita), had, apparently gone too far. Churchill was intrinsically questioning both the owner's management and judgment in the care of their horses. The owners, in turn, by not transferring their horses to another trainer and thus choosing not to run in the Derby, are questioning the management of the Derby race itself by Churchill Inc.

The implications from this small group of owner's decisions go far beyond themselves, their trainer and Churchill itself. Not only are these owners challenging Churchill's authority to interfere with the management and use of their property rights, by boycotting this year's Derby, they are preventing (again not deliberately) the breeders of the horses in question from participating in the Derby.

This battle of the power of Churchill Inc. over the Derby race with these owners has rippling effects on the breeding industry itself.  You breed a top horse, it gets sold and then doesn't get to participate in the Derby because of a battle between Churchill Inc. and a specific trainer that leads to the owners withholding the horse.

This situation needs to be resolved.

And the power of Churchill Inc. over a race that is now, de facto, an industry race (while proprietary to Churchill Inc.) needs to be curbed so that any similar situation doesn't re-occur. Decisions directly impacting the Derby race need to be subject to countervailing power by the key interest groupings in the industry-with representatives actually in the boardroom concerning key decisions on the Derby race. Such arrangements are not uncommon in business. Even the trainers do not have a voice regarding their own eligibility and seemingly arbitrary decisions regarding their participation.

The Derby is the Derby because everyone wants to run their top horses if they are ready for the race. As soon as capable, top horses are not put on the path to the Derby, the race can lose its significance before too long. The Derby race is too important to the industry to be allowed to be run without Industry-wide input to assure its continued impact.
–Armen Antonian Ph.D

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The trail to Derby 150 begins a much steeper ascent on Saturday at Fair Grounds in New Orleans as the GIII Lecomte S. offers 3-year-old colts 20-10-6-4-2 that can be applied to Bank of Churchill.

This year's edition pits a field of eight against one another with the central question being: what happened to Nash (Medaglia d'Oro) in the December running of the Gun Runner S.?

The heavy favorite was unable to build on his Nov. 12 'TDN Rising Star' performance under the Twin Spires at second asking when he powered to the lead, torched a field of maidens by 10 1/4 lengths and posted a 97 Beyer for trainer Brad Cox.

The race shape in the Gun Runner was nothing of the sort for the Godolphin homebred, as he was forced to watch Track Phantom (Quality Road) take control towards the end of the backstretch and never relinquish the lead.

Track Phantom (center) with Nash (along the rail) | Hodges Photography/Amanda Hodges Weir

“It was great to see him [Track Phantom] win the race against a talented field, but especially with going as fast as they did early and showing enough quality to still respond,” said the winner's trainer Steve Asmussen. “I love how he's doing, very happy with him and how he's trained since the Gun Runner. I feel good about the draw and excited to run him again. Past success from there so we'll see what we can do.”

Of course, the pair will have others to contend with in this spot and chief among them is Lat Long (Liam's Map). The dark bay trained by Ken McPeek was never out of the money in all five of his juvenile starts against maiden special weight company starting at Churchill back in September. Facing the likes of GSW Dornoch (Good Magic) and Track Phantom himself, Lat Long broke through at Oaklawn Dec. 17 against his stablemate and next-out winner Common Defense (Karakontie {Jpn}).

“[Lat Long] has been a horse who is still trying to figure it out a bit,” McPeek said. “He's not all there yet. But we're going to try him at a higher level and see how he handles tougher company.”

Also after points is Can Group (Good Samaritan), who was last seen running fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita for trainer Mark Casse. Joining him will be two more Cox runners in Ethan Energy (Uncle Mo), who broke his maiden by 5 1/4 lengths at second asking over this surface Dec. 23, and Awesome Road (Quality Road). Bred by Claiborne Farm, the latter was a $600,000 Keeneland September purchase by Albaugh Family Stables and Donegal Racing.

Saudi Crown Kick Starts His 4-Year-Old Campaign

Preceding the Lecomte is the GIII Louisiana S. for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/16th on the main track. This race marks the return of Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming). Now a 4-year-old, the gray debuted a winner by 4 3/4 lengths at Keeneland last April, then won against allowance company at Churchill Downs a month later.

Saudi Crown | Sarah Andrew

Finishing over the summer as the runner-up by a nose in the GIII Dwyer S. at Belmont Park and in the GII Jim Dandy S. at Saratoga, the Brad Cox trainee set the pace en route to the winner's circle in the GI Pennsylvania Derby at Parx in September. A popular pick in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, the colt finished a well-beaten 10th to close out his year.

“I'm not treating it like he has to be on the lead,” Cox said. “He's a smart horse. He's capable of sitting off. When he broke his maiden, he sat off horses. I really don't think he has to be on the lead. It probably will be a situation where he will have to take a breath at some point, you can't just run all-out throughout.”

After Cox watched Saudi Crown drill five furlongs behind Nash Jan. 13 (1:00.20, 3/51), the trainer said, “It didn't quite set up as well as we expected. There were other horses out there and we got caught up with a little more company than we wanted. I was very, very happy with the breeze. He was a little wide through the lane and around the turn. Plenty fit. He had a good work the week before last. We just wanted him to cruise along the other day and he did. I think he's set up for a big spot.”

Opposing him in New Orleans are a number of seasoned challengers looking to set the tone for their own campaigns. Smile Happy (Runhappy) has not been seen since he ran fifth in the GI Stephen Foster S. at Ellis Park in July. The 'TDN Rising Star' has a resume which includes a pair of Grade II wins in the Kentucky Jockey Club S. as a juvenile and in last year's Alysheba S.–both at Churchill Downs.

Making the gate is deep closer GSW Red Route One (Gun Runner), defending winner and GISP Happy American (Runhappy) and GII Rebel S. hero Confidence Game (Candy Ride {Arg}).

Midnight Memories Faces Desert Dawn Once Again

Swinging out to Santa Anita Park on Saturday afternoon, the GIII La Canada S. has MGSW Midnight Memories (Mastery) taking on MGISP Desert Dawn (Cupid). The last time these two met as 4-year-old fillies in the GIII Bayakoa S. at Los Alamitos Dec. 15, it was Midnight Memories who got the best of her rival by a length. Favored at 6-5 on the morning line, the Bob Baffert trainee will also have to contend with, among others, GISP Musical Mischief (Into Mischief) and Coffee in Bed (Curlin).

The post ‘Rising Star’ Nash Faces Track Phantom In Lecomte Rematch Headlining Saturday Graded Races appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The early nomination phase will close Monday, Jan. 29 with the $600 payment only available to be made online. Horses not nominated by Jan. 29 can still enter with a $6,000 payment due Monday, Apr. 1. Last year's early Triple Crown nominations attracted 369 horses and 13 late nominees.

Horses under the care of any trainer suspended from competing in the 2024 GI Kentucky Derby or the 2024 GI Kentucky Oaks (as applicable) must be transferred to a non-suspended trainer by Jan. 29 to become eligible for the applicable race.

Horses under the care of a suspended trainer will become eligible to earn qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby or Road to the Kentucky Oaks on a forward-looking basis after the transfer is complete so long as it is by the deadline.

The post Early Noms For Triple Crown Open; Horses Under Suspended Trainers Must Be Transferred By Jan. 29 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Other horses who attracted mild interest included Dornoch (Good Magic) (19-1), a full brother to this year's Kentucky Derby winner Mage, and GI Champagne S. winner Timberlake (Into Mischief) (20-1).

Total handle for the Oct. 31-Nov. 2 KDFW pool–the first of six–was $164,278 ($132,033 in the Win pool and $32,245 in Exactas), a 43% jump from last year's $114,910 ($90,007 in the Win pool and $24,903 in Exactas).

Click here for full results and the schedule.

The post Derby Future Wager Pool 1 Concludes With ‘All Others’ At 4-5, Locked Runner-Up At 14-1 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Joining Day, the other new Derby Museum board members include:

• Mark Bacon, SVP Managing Director – Super Premium American Whiskey
• Ashley Davis Sigman, Vice President of Davis Jewelers
• Eamon O'Brien, General Manager of Omni Louisville

Outgoing board members Brandy Harmon, Michael Judah, and Loren Hebel-Osborne were honored during the meeting for completing their terms of service. The late Clinton Glasscock was also recognized for his 12 years of service to the board.

A new board chair was unanimously approved. The board's vice chair, David Nett, was then selected to replace outgoing chair Glenn Haygood. Haygood served two years in that position and is now Immediate past chair.

“I'm pleased to see the incredible success that is a result of the board's collaboration and partnership with the Kentucky Derby Museum over the years,” said Haygood. “The Museum is on track to hit record attendance for 2023, and that momentum will only continue through what is expected to be an epic Derby 150.”

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The Road to the Kentucky Derby, which debuted in 2013, annually awards a sliding scale of points to the top five finishing positions in select qualifying races. At the conclusion of the series, the leaderboard will determine the preference list for entries into the 20-horse Kentucky Derby.

Second-place points in all qualifying races have been increased to create added separation from second and third-place finishers. Additionally, third and fourth-place points in races that award 100 points to winner have been decreased.

Series Races:
Early Prep Season
Last Year: 10-4-3-2-1, This Year: 10-5-3-2-1

Breeders' Cup
Last Year: 30-12-9-6-3, This Year: 30-15-9-6-3

Late Prep Season
Last Year: 20-8-6-4-2, This Year: 20-10-6-4-2

Early Championship Series
Last Year: 50-20-15-10-5, This Year: 50-25-15-10-5

Late Championship Series
Last Year: 100-40-30-20-10, This Year: 100-50-25-15-10

In other changes:

• The GIII Street Sense S. scheduled for Oct. 29 at Churchill Downs has been added to the Early Prep Season;
• The GIII Sunland Park Derby has been decreased in value from 50-20-15-10-5 in 2023 to 20-10-6-4-2 in 2024.

Similar changes were made to the 32-race Road to the Kentucky Oaks series, which awards points to fillies to qualify for the 150th GI Longines Kentucky Oaks on Friday, May 3, 2024:

• The Rags to Riches S. to be run Oct. 29 at Churchill Downs has been added to the Early Prep Season;
• The Sunland Park Oaks has been decreased in value from 50-20-15-10-5 in 2023 to 20-10-6-4-2 in 2024; and
• The GII Beaumont S. at Keeneland has been removed from the Championship Series.

Click here for a complete schedule.

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