A total of three Kentucky Derby qualifying races each offering a total of 170 points are scheduled for Saturday with the Grade 1 Florida Derby and Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks taking place at Gulfstream Park and Turfway Park, respectively, while the Group 2 UAE Derby is part of the Dubai World Cup card at Meydan Racecourse.
The UAE Derby precedes the Dubai World Cup, a $12 million test that has drawn U.S.-based horses Mystic Guide, Jesus' Team, Sleepy Eyes Todd, and Title Ready.
The Florida Derby will be televised by NBC Sports as part of their “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series during a program airing on NBCSN and beginning at 6 p.m. ET.
The UAE Derby and Dubai World Cup will be televised on the NYRA-produced America's Day at the Races show presented by Claiborne Farm and America's Best Racing as part of the Saturday broadcast. Coverage of the Dubai World Cup undercard, featuring six stakes races, will air live from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on FS1. The 'Golden Hour' telecast, featuring live coverage of the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic and Group 1 Dubai World Cup, will air from noon-1 p.m. on FS1.
Fans of Australian racing can wager with confidence on Friday night's rescheduled Golden Slipper (Group 1) card in Sydney, as drying conditions were expected across the second half of this week. And, if every cloud has a silver lining, the Rosehill program boasts even more star power after fields were redrawn for the four other G1 races on the card. The “Slipper” card is available to stream on the new Sky Racing World App and will be broadcast live on TVG (First Post: 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT).
America's Day at the Races will also broadcast Saturday from 2:30-7:30 p.m. ET with coverage for the first half hour on FS2 before shifting to FS1 from 3-4:30 p.m. FS2 will pick up coverage from 4:30-7:30 p.m. Saturday's broadcast will air stakes action from all four tracks, led by the Florida Derby.
Saturday's Jeff Ruby Steaks will be televised on TVG as part of their usual comprehensive racing coverage.
TVG will be live from Gulfstream Park with expanded coverage of the Florida Derby card. Fans of international racing can also tune in at 7:30 a.m. ET/4:30 a.m. PT as coverage of the Dubai World Cup card begins.
In addition to racing from Gulfstream, Santa Anita and Turfway Park, TVG will feature racing from Oaklawn Park, Aqueduct and more. Fans can tune in on TVG, TVG2 and the Watch TVG app which is available on Amazon Fire, Roku and connected Apple TV devices.
Saturday, March 27
10:05 a.m.—$750,000 Group 2 UAE Derby at Meydan Racecourse on FS1 and TVG
Trainer Doug O'Neill's barn will be represented in the UAE Derby with Ambivalent, who broke his maiden in his seventh career start last month by 1 ½ lengths in a turf race at Santa Anita Park. The son of Constitution placed third in the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar last November and will be making his fifth appearance against stakes company when he goes to post Saturday.
Entries: http://www.dubairacingclub.com/race/racing-info/racecards
12:50 p.m.—$12,000,000 Group 1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse on FS1 and TVG
Multiple graded stakes winner Mystic Guide heads up the American contingent aiming to conquer the Dubai World Cup over 2,000 meters (about 1 ¼-miles). Owned and bred by Godolphin and trained by Michael Stidham, Mystic Guide comes into the $12 million Dubai World Cup off a victory in the Grade 3 Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn Park on February 27. The son of Ghostzapper won the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes last season and capped his sophomore campaign with a runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup last October.
Entries: http://www.dubairacingclub.com/race/racing-info/racecards
1:57 p.m.—$100,000 Grade 3 Appleton Stakes at Gulfstream Park on TVG
Multiple turf stakes winner Seismic Wave, unraced in five months, is set to launch his 5-year-old campaign running first time for new connections in Saturday's one-mile Appleton Stakes. Seismic Wave had three wins in 16 starts for Juddmonte Farms and Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott before fetching $60,000 at Keeneland's November 2020 breeding stock sale from the partnership of Michael Dubb, Nice Guys Stables and Bethlehem Stables. In two previous starts at Gulfstream, Seismic Wave broke his maiden and captured the Cutler Bay by a neck on the Florida Derby undercard in successive efforts to open his 2019 season.
Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/GP032721USA6-EQB.html
2:57 p.m.—$100,000 Grade 3 Ghostzapper Stakes at Gulfstream Park on TVG
Salerno Stables and Madaket Stables LLC's War Stopper will seek to earn graded stakes credentials in Saturday's Ghostzapper with a return to action at Gulfstream Park. The 4-year-old son of Declaration of War demonstrated a distinct fondness for the Gulfstream racing surface while winning back-to-back optional claiming allowances earlier in the 2020-2021 Championship Meeting. The Todd Pletcher trainee ventured to Tampa Bay Downs, where he didn't flash his natural early speed while racing evenly to finish third in the March 6 Grade 3 Challenger.
Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/GP032721USA8-EQB.html
4:09 p.m.—$200,000 Grade 2 Pan American Stakes at Gulfstream Park on TVG
Four years after earning the first graded-stakes victory of his long career in the same race, Woodslane Farm's Grade 1 winner Sadler's Joy returns looking to snap a nine-race losing streak in Saturday's Pan American Stakes. Now 8, Sadler's Joy won the Pan American in 2017 and was fourth in 2018, but did not run in either of the past two years as trainer Tom Albertrani has looked to spread out his stable star's races. The Kitten's Joy gelding has started once this year, closing to be fourth by 2 ¼ lengths in the 1 ½-mile Grade 3 W.L. McKnight Stakes January 23.
Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/GP032721USA10-EQB.html
5:17 p.m.—$200,000 Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks at Gulfstream Park on FS2 and TVG
Trainer Kenny McPeek will be on a quest to win back-to-back runnings of the Gulfstream Park Oaks when he saddles Crazy Beautiful for the 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Last year, McPeek saddled Swiss Skydiver for a 9-1 upset victory in the Gulfstream Park Oaks that would set the tone for an Eclipse Award-winning campaign. Crazy Beautiful is coming off a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream in February. The daughter of Liam's Map rallied from well off the pace in her 2021 debut to finish a distant second to going-away winner Wholebodemeister.
Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/GP032721USA12-EQB.html
5:55 p.m.—$100,000 Grade 3 Orchid Stakes at Gulfstream Park on TVG
He's had a quiet Championship Meet by his standards, with seven wins from 54 starters, but trainer Christophe Clement is hoping to make some noise with European import Sorrel (Ire) in the Orchid Stakes. Bred in Ireland by owners George Strawbridge and James Wigan, Sorrel will be making her first North American start in the Orchid. The 4-year-old daughter of Group 3 winner and five-time Group 1-placed Dansili comes in on a three-race win streak, all at 1 ½ miles or more, the most recent October 29.
Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/GP032721USA13-EQB.html
6:25 p.m.—$250,000 Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park on FS2 and TVG
Joseph P. Morey Trust's Hush of a Storm, along with Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gary Barber's Grade 1-winning colt Gretzky the Great top a field of 12 3-year-olds that were entered in the 50th running of the Jeff Ruby Steaks. Hush of a Storm was the 1 ½-length winner of the February 26 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes, the local prep for the Jeff Ruby Steaks. Hush of a Storm is a perfect 3-for-3 over the Tapeta surface at Turfway.
Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/TP032721USA11-EQB.html
6:40 p.m.—$750,000 Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on NBCSN, FS2 and TVG
Courtlandt Farms' Greatest Honour will have a lot going for him in Saturday's Florida Derby as the 3-year-old son of Tapit has shown a distinct fondness for the Gulfstream Park racetrack, over which he has won all three of his races. Greatest Honour, who followed up a December 26 maiden score with victories in the January 30 Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes and the February 27 Grade 2 Fountain of Youth was installed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite. After graduating by 1 ¼ lengths, the Kentucky-bred colt employed a furious stretch run to win by 5 ¾ lengths in the Holy Bull. Five lengths back in mid-stretch, Greatest Honour unleashed an eye-catching surge to catch frontrunner Drain the Clock and go on to score by 1 ½ lengths.
Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/GP032721USA14-EQB.html
8:25 p.m.—$100,000 Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes at Santa Anita Park on TVG
George Krikorian's multiple graded stakes winning homebred Mucho Unusual heads a solid field of eight older fillies and mares in Saturday's Santa Ana Stakes. A two-time graded stakes winner at the current meeting for trainer Tim Yakteen, Mucho Unusual, a 5-year-old mare by Mucho Macho Man, comes off a solid second going one mile on turf behind rising star Charmaine's Mia in the Grade II Buena Vista on February 20 and will appreciate the additional quarter mile on Saturday.
Entries: https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/SA032721USA9-EQB.html
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