Stakes Saturday: Derby preps highlight weekend action

Throughout the year, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association will provide a guide to the best stakes races in North America and beyond. Races are listed in chronological order (all times Eastern). More information can be found through the link for each race.

Saturday, April 10

4:24 p.m. $150,000 Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes at Keeneland on TVG

Steve Landers Racing’s 5-year-old Night Ops is slated to face four rivals in the 90th running of the 1 1/8-mile Ben Ali Stakes (G3) at Keeneland. Trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Javier Castellano, Night Ops will seek to improve off his third-place finish in a tough Essex Handicap on March 13 at Oaklawn. Tom Durant’s 7-year-old gelding Silver Dust was third in last September’s Alysheba Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs for trainer Bret Calhoun.

5:30 p.m. $200,000 Lexington Stakes (G3) at Keeneland on TVG

Twenty Kentucky Derby qualifying points go to the winner of the $200,000 Lexington Stakes (G3), and a win by Godolphin’s Proxy or Reddam Racing’s Hockey Dad would theoretically put that horse into the starting gate at Churchill Downs. Godolphin’s Proxy, trained by Mike Stidham, is the 6-5 morning-line favorite in the 10-horse field. The bay son of Tapit comes to Keeneland off a fourth-place finish in the Louisiana Derby (G2). California-bred Hockey Dad is a son of 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, and races for his sire’s same connections of Paul Reddam, trainer Doug O’Neill and jockey Mario Gutierrez. Hockey Dad won three races at Santa Anita before finishing third in the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at Turfway Park on March 27. Another intriguing starter is the Bob Baffert-trained Bezos. Highly touted and heavily wagered in the Derby futures, Bezos faltered at 3-5 in his debut at Santa Anita on Feb. 7, finishing seventh of nine. However, the son of Empire Maker rebounded in a one-mile maiden special weight at Santa Anita on March 26 with a sparkling 4 ½-length win.

5:49 p.m. $400,000 Oaklawn Mile at Oaklawn Park on TVG

Nine are slated to go in the Oaklawn Mile led by Allied Racing Stable’s and Spendthrift Farm’s By My Standards, a winner of three Grade 2 stakes races in 2020, and with career earnings of more than $1.8 million. Trained by Bret Calhoun and ridden by Gabriel Saez, the 5-year-old By My Standards won last year’s Oaklawn Handicap (G2). Florida-bred Rushie, winner of last September’s Pat Day Mile (G2) at Churchill Downs for trainer Michael McCarthy, and the Brad Cox-trained 4-year-old Wells Bayou, figure to be in the wagering picture. Wells Bayou, who won last year’s Louisiana Derby (G2), finished third in the Louisiana Stakes (G3) at the Fair Grounds in his first start of 2021.   

6:03 p.m. $300,000 Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1) at Keeneland on TVG

Trainer Chad Brown is shooting for his fourth consecutive Jenny Wiley (G1) for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on the turf. The four-time Eclipse Award winner sends out Peter Brant, Mrs. M.V. Magnier and Mrs. Paul Shanahan’s Etoile (FR), and Swift Thoroughbreds, Madaket Stables and Wonder Stables’ Tamahere (FR). Etoile will be making her first start since winning the E.P. Taylor (G1) at Woodbine in October. Tamahere, winner of the Sands Point (G2) at Belmont Park in her U.S. debut in October, will be making her first start since finishing sixth in the Matriarch (G1) at Del Mar. Etoile and Tamahere will take on the challenge of race favorite Micheline, owned by Godolphin and trained by Mike Stidham, who opened the season with a win in the Hillsborough (G2) at Tampa Bay Downs, and finished second in last October’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) at Keeneland.

7:05 p.m. $500,000 Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park on TVG

Saturday’s six-furlong Count Fleet Sprint pits the nation’s top sprinters – Whitmore and C Z Rocket – in their third consecutive confrontation. Robert LaPenta, Southern Springs Stables and Head of Plains Partners’ 8-year-old gelding Whitmore defeated C Z Rocket, owned by Madaket Stables, Gary Barber and Tom Kagele, and trained by Peter Miller, in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland last November. Whitmore, who is co-owned and trained by Ron Moquett, was subsequently voted the Eclipse Award male sprinter trophy. The 7-year-old gelding C Z Rocket turned the tables on Whitmore in the six-furlong Hot Springs Stakes at Oaklawn on March 13, coming from last to overtake his rival by a neck. Seven will go to the post in the Count Fleet. The 9-5 Whitmore will be ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr., and Florent Geroux will ride the 2-1 C Z Rocket.

7:41 p.m. $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park on NBCSN and TVG

Gary and Mary West’s undefeated Concert Tour is the even-money favorite in the six-horse, 1 1/8-mile Arkansas Derby (G1), the final Kentucky Derby qualifying points race. Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Joel Rosario, Concert Tour went wire to wire in Oaklawn’s 1 1/16-mile Rebel Stakes (G2) on March 13 with an impressive 4¼-length victory. Baffert, who won a division of last year’s race with Nadal, and also saddled American Pharoah in 2015 and Bodemeister in 2012 to Arkansas Derby triumphs, also trains the 3-1 second choice, Hozier, who was the Rebel Stakes runner-up. Smarty Jones Stakes winner Caddo River, owned by John Ed Anthony’s Shortleaf Stable and trained by Brad Cox, finished fifth as the 6-5 favorite in the Rebel after battling Concert Tour for the lead at the top of the stretch. Gary Barber’s Get Her Number, winner of the American Pharoah Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita last fall, will try to improve upon his seventh-place finish in the Rebel, which was his seasonal debut for trainer Peter Miller.