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‘Improving’ Known Agenda Records Final Florida Work Before Shipping To Churchill Downs

Known Agenda recorded his first workout since the Florida Derby this Friday, breezing a half-mile in :50.37 in company with Pegasus Turf Winner Colonel Liam at Palm Beach Downs. According to the Daily Racing Form, trainer Todd Pletcher was pleased with what he saw from the 3-year-old son of Curlin.

The St. Elias Stable homebred has been a different horse since the addition of blinkers in a Feb. 26 allowance race at Gulfstream Park, which he won by 11 lengths. In his next start, the Florida Derby, Known Agenda post a 2 3/4-length upset at odds of 5-1.

“I think he's a horse who is improving, and the blinkers have kept him a little more focused and a little more engaged in the race,” Pletcher told DRF. “I think without the blinkers in the Florida Derby he might have been a little intimidated with the position he was in and he might not have made the progress he made from the five-eighths pole to the half-mile pole without them. But experience has also helped him. Time has helped him. The mile and an eighth certainly doesn't bother him. And I believe the added distance in the Derby is something we feel good about for all our horses.”

Pletcher's quartet of Kentucky Derby contenders and Longines Kentucky Oaks runner are scheduled to arrive at Churchill Downs over the course of Sunday afternoon.

Pletcher is scheduled to have his Keeneland-based horses van from Lexington to Churchill Downs Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. and arrive just past noon. His South Florida-based runners are scheduled to arrive later in the afternoon along with his New York-based horses, according to Senior Director of the Stable Area Steve Hargrave.

Among the horses Pletcher is scheduled to send to Churchill Downs are Derby contenders Bourbonic, Dynamic One, Known Agenda and Sainthood and Oaks runner Malathaat.

Australia: Four Group 1 Races Friday Night In The Championships At Randwick

Australia's equivalent of the Breeders' Cup commences this Friday night, as Day One of “The Championships” at Randwick features a quartet of rich Group One races. Sky Racing World's racing expert Jason Witham will be trackside at Randwick for live crosses to the TVG broadcast (First Post: 9:35pm ET / 6:35pm PT).

Just as America's season-defining event takes place in the Fall, a couple of months before the season concludes, The Championships fall within Sydney's “Autumn Racing Carnival” a few months before the end of the Southern Hemisphere racing season. Like the Breeders' Cup, The Championships is a two-day event, except the two days are staged a week apart. More than $21 million in purses are up for grabs across the next two Friday nights, and each day of The Championships features an eagerly awaited rematch. Next week's Queen Elizabeth Stakes will be the culmination of a pulsating rivalry between Australian mare Verry Elleegant and English stayer Addeybb. In the meantime, two world-class sprinters will knock heads again this Friday night in the G1 TJ Smith Stakes (Race 8).

Nature Strip, Australia's reigning Horse of the Year, is 5-2 favorite to repeat in the $2.5 million equivalent of the Breeders' Cup Sprint. However, he will need to overturn a narrow loss five weeks ago to the rejuvenated Eduardo (7-2). The pair knuckled out a thrilling finish in track record time for five furlongs at Randwick (watch replay), and the stage is set for Friday's rematch at six furlongs. Eduardo is a lightly raced 7-year-old who had shown flashes of promise at Group level. In the 12 months since transferring to Joe Pride, a trainer who has worked wonders with older “tried” horses, Eduardo has blossomed to the point that Pride believes “he's the best sprinter in Australia and might be the best sprinter in the world.” While Nature Strip has been trained up to the TJ Smith by Chris Waller, Eduardo scored a runaway win in a 5-1/2 furlong G1 race two weeks ago.

Nature Strip's rider, James McDonald, sits on the cusp of becoming the youngest jockey to reach 50 Group One wins and could achieve the feat in the first feature race of The Championships. The 29-year-old New Zealander has the mount on Godolphin colt Anamoe, 6-5 favorite for the Sires Produce (Race 6). The seven-furlong distance will be ideal for the son of Street Boss, whose runner-up performance in the Golden Slipper was exceptional from a horror post position draw. The $1 million Sires Produce provides an enticing blend of Golden Slipper participants and fresh faces, with potential to excel over increasing distances.

Increased distance is also the theme for 3-year-olds contesting the $2 million Australian Derby (Race 7). This test of stamina at 1-1/2 miles has two traditional prep races, each at 1-1/4 miles. Last week's G2 Tulloch Stakes has produced the past four Derby winners, but its trifecta horses (Yaletown, Prompt Prodigy and Young Werther) are all double-digit odds. The G1 Rosehill Guineas is perceived to be the stronger prep this year, providing three of the top four contenders in Derby wagering. Montefilia (5-2 favorite) will strive to become only the 10th filly to capture the Australian Derby, and already boasts a Group One victory against colts – one of her two G1 successes at Randwick early this season. Montefilia's 3rd-place finish in the Rosehill Guineas was full of merit, considering it was just her second run this campaign and the race had been delayed a week. Guineas runner-up Skylab (4-1) is yet another strong mount for James McDonald, while Lion's Roar (8-1) stays under notice after a checkered passage in the same race.

A notable absentee from the Australian Derby is Rosehill Guineas winner Mo'unga. Fresh off celebrating her first Group One success, trainer Annabel Neasham has decided to bring her star colt back in distance to the mile of the $3 million Doncaster Handicap (Race 9). However, the 3-year-old's chances were dealt a blow when drawing post position 19 in the capacity field of 20. Consequently, Mo'unga's odds have drifted to 7-1 but 3-year-olds have a good record in the Doncaster under its handicap conditions. Mo'unga will carry 14 pounds less than co-highweight and favorite Mugatoo (7-2). Just as the “50 Group One” milestone is imminent for James McDonald, Mugatoo's jockey Hugh Bowman is two short of becoming the third Australian rider to amass 100 Group One wins. Bowman, who has the great Winx to thank for significantly bolstering his total, has engagements in each feature race this Friday. Apart from the Doncaster favorite, he bears watching on 4-1 shot Bivouac in the TJ Smith Stakes and 7-1 chance Tiger of Malay in the Sires Produce.

The Randwick card will be broadcast live on TVG this Friday night (First Post: 9:35pm ET / 6:35pm PT) alongside cards from Doomben, Newcastle and Gold Coast. All races will be live-streamed in HD on the new Sky Racing World App, skyracingworld.com and major ADW platforms such as TVG, TwinSpires, Xpressbet, NYRABets, WatchandWager, HPIbet, and AmWager. Wagering is also available via these ADW platforms. Fans can get free access to live-streaming, past performances and expert picks on all races at skyracingworld.com.

A native of Brisbane, Australia, Michael Wrona has called races in six countries. Michael's vast U.S. experience includes; race calling at Los Alamitos, Hollywood Park, Arlington and Santa Anita, calling the 2000 Preakness on a national radio network and the 2016 Breeders' Cup on the International simulcast network. Michael also performed a race call voiceover for a Seinfeld episode called The Subway.

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‘Really Good Horse’ Hit The Road Ships East For Friday’s Maker’s Mark Mile

In 2013, in his second year of training on his own, Dan Blacker saddled four runners during Keeneland's Spring Meet.

“I didn't have the right horses then,” the 39-year-old Blacker said Thursday, the morning after he arrived here with what would qualify as a “right horse” in Hit the Road. The Grade 1 winner looms as one of the favorites for Friday's 33rd running of the $300,000 Maker's Mark Mile (G1).

Owned by the partnership of D K Racing, Radley Equine, Taste of Victory Stables, Rick Gold, Tony Maslowski and Dave Odmark, Hit the Road galloped on the main track Thursday.

A Keeneland sales graduate, Hit the Road brings a four-race win streak into the Maker's Mark Mile. That skein includes a victory in the Thunder Road (G3), which gave Blacker his first graded stakes triumph, and a narrow win in the Frank Kilroe Mile (G1) for Blacker's initial Grade 1 tally.

“He's a really good horse. He's a Grade 1 winner and there is not much better than that,” Blacker said.

The Maker's Mark Mile represents the first venture outside California for Hit the Road.

“A couple things I am looking for is to see how he handles the ship, and I am doing my anti-rain dance,” Blacker said. “I would prefer for it to be firm (turf) tomorrow.”

Heavy rain is forecast for Lexington beginning Thursday afternoon and going until midnight.

Blacker said Hit the Road likely would return to his home base at Santa Anita following Friday's race and he would not consider the $1 million Old Forester Turf Classic (G1) at 1 1/8 miles May 1 at Churchill Downs.

“My gut feeling is that he is a miler,” Blacker said. “Most likely we'd wait for the ($500,000) Shoemaker Mile (G1) on Memorial Day (May 25). If I did (run him) a mile and eighth, it would be at Santa Anita.”

Florent Geroux, who was aboard for the victory in the Kilroe, has the mount Friday.

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Nine Races Carded For April 13 Opening Day At Indiana Grand

Nine races will kick off the 19th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing Tuesday, April 13. The program features eight Thoroughbred and one Quarter Horse race with a first post time of 2:25 p.m.

Featured on the card is a $37,000 Indiana sired allowance in the sixth race. The eight-horse field brings the return of several Indiana winners from last season, including Sudden Shift from the Bob Gorham Stable. The three-year-old Unbridled Express gelding finished second in his final start of 2020 in the $75,000 Indiana Futurity. DeShawn Parker, 2020 leading rider at Indiana Grand, will guide Sudden Shift from post seven.

Parker earned his first leading jockey title at Indiana Grand in 2020 with 106 trips to the winner's circle. The jockey with more than 5,800 career wins adds the title from Indiana Grand to his impressive resume with numerous leading jockey titles from Mountaineer Park. Joining Parker in the race for leading jockey in 2021 is Marcelino Pedroza, Jr., who won his second leading jockey title at Indiana Grand in 2019. Pedroza was sidelined for most of the 2020 season due to injury.

In the trainer category, Genaro Garcia returns seeking his fifth straight title. He topped the standings last year with 43 wins over the shortened 96-day racing season. His stable, Southwest Racing, teamed up with Steve Lewis last year to also win leading owner honors.

The 120-day racing season extends through Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. The stakes schedule has been expanded to include several new stakes, bringing the total count to 40 with purses exceeding $3.6 million. Highlighting the stakes season is the Grade 3 $300,000 Indiana Derby and the Grade 3 $200,000 Indiana Oaks set for Wednesday, July 7. Also featured is the state's richest turf race, the $150,000 Caesars Stakes (Listed) set for Wednesday, Sept. 8.

Live racing is conducted Monday through Wednesday at 2:25 p.m. with first post on Thursday set at 3:25 p.m. Six all-Quarter Horse days have been set beginning with the first one Saturday, June 5 at 10 a.m. More information about the 2021 racing season is available at www.indianagrand.com.

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