What to watch for: Pegasus Turf winner back in action Saturday

While a pair of Kentucky Derby 2019 preps – Saturday's Louisiana Derby (G2) and Sunday's Sunland Derby (G3) – will grab most headlines this week, their respective undercards pack quite a punch, too.

Here’s what we’ll be watching for:

Pegasus Turf winner back in action

Bricks and Mortar has shipped from Chad Brown’s winter base at the Palm Meadows Training Center to Fair Grounds for the Grade 2, $300,000 Muniz Memorial Handicap, a 1 1/8 -mile turf event for older horses, as his first start since winning the Jan. 26 Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1).

Bricks and Mortar will attempt to keep his win streak going since returning from more than a 14-month layoff in December. He won his first four races as a 3-year-old and earned two show finishes before put on the shelf. In his lone start as a 4-year-old, he rallied to an allowance optional claiming victory at Gulfstream, then won the Pegasus over a yielding course.

“Ian Brennan at Stonestreet Farm did a terrific job rehabbing this horse,” Brown said after Bricks and Mortar’s Pegasus win. “Dr. Larry Bramlage worked on this horse about 16 months ago when it looked like he might have a career-ending injury. He fixed him. There was a lot of teamwork, a lot of patience. When you go into a race this big take a big gamble – it paid off today.”

Synchrony will try to repeat his Fair Grounds stakes double from last year’s meet while chasing the same prize. The Michael Stidham trainee already defended his title in the Fair Grounds Handicap (G3), with the Muniz Memorial the other half of that question. and he’ll try to upset Bricks and Mortar for a repeat in the Muniz Memorial.

A solid run in the Muniz Memorial could also put Synchrony on track for the Old Forester Turf Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

Others of note in the field include the one-two finishers of the Tampa Bay Stakes (G3), Inspector Lynley and Divisidero. Inspector Lynley has won multiple Grade 3 races, and Divisidero won back-to-back editions of the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1) from 2016-17. His last victory came in July’s Arlington Handicap (G3).

American Pharoah’s sis makes seasonal debut

American Pharoah’s half-sister Chasing Yesterday is in for Sunday’s $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks. The race marks her first start since winning the Starlet Stakes (G1) on Dec. 8, when she picked up 10 points toward the May 3 Kentucky Oaks.

Sunday’s race offers points on a 50-20-10-5 scale to the first four finishers, and a win would essentially guarantee her a spot at Churchill Downs before the final round of preps are run.

Chasing Yesterday’s plans have been changed twice this year. Bob Baffert scratched her from the Feb. 16 Fair Grounds Oaks due to a wide post, then she missed the March 10 Santa Ysabel Stakes (G3) when Santa Anita suspended racing. 

Before the Santa Ysabel's cancellation, Baffert had said, “I’m excited to see her run. They’re always going to be tough out here, but right now I think she’s doing better than she ever has. She’s improving. I think she’s moving forward off her 2-year-old (season). And that’s the thing — you want to see if there’s any movement.”

Chasing Yesterday is expected to be a heavy favorite in the Sunland Park Oaks after the Daily Racing Form reported multiple Grade 1 winner Bellafina will scratch and stay home for the Santa Anita Oaks (G1) on April 6.

Copper Bullet looking for next stakes win

The theme of horses being away for more than a year continues. Copper Bullet, the 2017 Saratoga Special (G2) winner, went to the sidelines for 15 months before returning to win an allowance at the end of the Churchill Downs November meet. He next ran 11th in the Malibu Stakes (G1) on Santa Anita’s opening day, then rebounded to miss Coal Front by a neck in the Razorback Handicap (G3) a month ago at Oaklawn.  

He’ll make his next start Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds, where he'll face an intriguing group of horses looking for their own rebound.

Lone Sailor broke through in September’s Oklahoma Derby (G3) before running sixth in both the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Mineshaft Handicap (G3). Noble Indy, last year’s Louisiana Derby (G2) winner, came off the layoff to finish fourth in a Gulfstream optional claiming event last month, and Ohio Derby (G3) winner Core Beliefs, who was off the board in the Haskell Invitational (G1) and Pennsylvania Derby (G1), makes his 4-year-old debut in the New Orleans Handicap. 

Mineshaft winner Silver Dust returns in search of his second stakes win, while Mr. Buff, a New York-bred who recently won the Jazil and Alex M. Robb stakes, ships in to test open company.