Stakes Saturday: Kentucky Derby preps lead weekend action

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

Saturday, Feb. 13

2:34 p.m.—$100,000 Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint Stakes at Gulfstream Park on TVG

Leinster looms as a solid favorite in Saturday’s Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint on the strength of a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland last November. The Rusty Arnold trainee is set to make his 2021 debut in the five-furlong turf sprint for 4-year-olds and up. Leinster, a 6-year-old son of Majestic Warrior, finished a length behind victorious Glass Slippers and a half-length behind runner-up Wet Your Whistle in the 5 ½-furlong Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in his 2020 finale.

3:23 p.m.—$250,000 Grade 3 Barbara Fritchie Stakes at Laurel Park on TVG

With few remaining gaps on Hello Beautiful’s resume, trainer Brittany Russell will seek to achieve a significant milestone for both herself and her stable star when they go up against seven rivals in Saturday’s Barbara Fritchie. A graded win would fill an important blank on an otherwise stellar ledger for Hello Beautiful, a Maryland-bred daughter of Golden Lad that has won five career stakes and takes a three-race win streak into the richest and most prestigious event of the winter meet. Sporting a perfect 7-0 record over Laurel’s main track, Hello Beautiful is three-for-four at seven furlongs including wins in the Maryland Million Nursery and Safely Kept last fall to cap her sophomore campaign.

3:53 p.m.—$250,000 Grade 3 General George Stakes at Laurel Park on TVG

Grade 3 winner Majestic Dunhill, exiting a pair of disappointing efforts off a career-best performance, trades the South Florida sunshine for Maryland’s winter chill as he attempts to regain his winning form in the General George. Majestic Dunhill has placed in three stakes since, including the 2019 Polynesian at Laurel, and beat Share the Ride by a head to capture the Bold Ruler Stakes (G3) in the mud on Halloween at Belmont Park.

5:16 p.m.—$100,000 Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint Stakes at Gulfstream Park on TVG

Multiple graded-stakes winner Mischevious Alex is expected to be a short-priced favorite to capture Saturday’s Gulfstream Park Sprint. Mischevious Alex, who is owned by Cash is King LLC and LC Racing LLC, joined trainer Saffie Joseph’s stable for his 2021 campaign after a productive 3-year-old season that included victories in the Swale Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream and the Gotham Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct. Making his first start since finishing sixth in the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes (G1) last August at Saratoga, the son of Into Mischief made a sweeping move into the stretch and drew off to win by 3 ¾ lengths in a January 10 optional claiming allowance race.

5:44 p.m.—$200,000 Grade 3 Mineshaft Stakes at Fair Grounds on FS2 and TVG

Godolphin's unbeaten homebred Maxfield, who was forced to miss the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2019 and the Kentucky Derby last year, starts as a prohibitive favorite in the Mineshaft at 1 1/16 miles, which should serve as a perfect launching pad for what his connections hope will finally be a season-long campaign. Trainer Brendan Walsh has had to endure some obvious disappointments with Maxfield as he’s started just four times in what is now his third season of racing. The son of Street Sense captured the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) in 2019 but missed the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with a minor foot injury and then got derailed off the Derby Trail last year when he came out of a June workout with a condylar fracture of his right front cannon bone.

6:16 p.m.—$150,000 Grade 3 Fair Grounds Stakes at Fair Grounds on FS2 and TVG

Trainer Brad Cox is hoping a return to Cajun Country will inspire a return to form for Factor This, who figures to start as a solid favorite when he looks to defend his title in Saturday’s Fair Grounds Stakes over the Stall-Wilson Turf Course. Factor This started his rise to national prominence in last year’s Fair Grounds for Cox, as he set the pace and posted a surprise 8-1 win. He used that score as a springboard to another local tally in the meet’s turf highlight, the Muniz Memorial (G2), then followed that up with wins in Churchill Downs’ Wise Dan Stakes (G2) and then the Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup at Ellis Park.

6:47 p.m.—$300,000 Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra Stakes at Fair Grounds on FS2 and TVG

The path to the Kentucky Oaks begins in earnest Saturday at Fair Grounds when Travel Column starts as what figures to be a strong favorite in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes. Travel Column announced her presence in the Golden Rod (G2) when she was sandwiched at the start, raced last-of-9 early, then got caught in traffic entering the far turn. She couldn’t get out until midstretch, then hit another gear in an instant and won going away.

7:18 p.m.—$400,000 Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds on FS2 and TVG

Trainer Todd Fincher rolls into town with the undefeated Senor Buscador, who rates as an exciting newcomer in a sterling renewal of Saturday’s Risen Star. Senor Buscador went from an unraced maiden in early November to a wise guy Kentucky Derby contender a little more than six weeks later, as he parlayed a 5 ½-furlong maiden win at Remington Nov. 6 into a 5 ¾-length win in the Springboard Mile there Dec. 18. Among his chief contenders figures to be Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Midnight Bourbon, who led every step of the way in the Lecomte (G3) on Jan. 16 and has shown plenty of versatility in his career as well.

7:20 p.m.—$200,000 Grade 2 Santa Monica Stakes at Santa Anita Park on TVG

A longshot winner of the opening day La Brea Stakes (G1), trainer Eoin Harty’s Fair Maiden will seek to validate that victory as she heads a solid field of 12 older fillies and mares going seven furlongs in Saturday’s Santa Monica Stakes. Dismissed at 20-1 in the La Brea, Fair Maiden rallied for an emphatic 2 ¼ length win, as a pair of Bob Baffert fillies, Golden Principal and Merneith, ran second and third. She will have to again contend with those two plus yet another Baffert runner, Qahira, who will be making her first Grade 1 appearance on Saturday.

Sunday, Feb. 14

6:30 p.m.—$100,000 Grade 3 Sweet Life Stakes at Santa Anita Park on TVG

An impressive winner of her U.S. debut going six furlongs on turf on Jan. 2, trainer Phil D’Amato’s Majestic Steps (IRE) figures tough right back among a competitive field of 12 sophomore fillies going the same distance out of Santa Anita’s turf chute in the Sweet Life Stakes. D’Amato will also be represented by another Irish-bred in the Sweet Life, Going Global (IRE), who has been idle since defeating 13 rivals in open company going seven furlongs on synthetic Nov. 11 in Ireland.