AT THE POST
DAY 50 of 55
SATURDAY’S ESTIMATED ATTENDANCE 20,000 SATURDAY’S TOTAL HANDLE $4,397,161 SATURDAY’S ON-TRACK HANDLE $1,128,699 SATURDAY’S OFF-TRACK HANDLE $3,268,462 TODAY’S SIMULCAST SCHEDULE Gulfstream Park, 11:35 a.m.; Tampa Bay, 11:35 a.m.; Keeneland, 12:05 p.m.; Laurel Park, 12:10 p.m.; Aqueduct, 12:20 p.m.; Santa Anita, 2 p.m.; Golden Gate, 2:15 p.m. SATURDAY’S STARS
Alex Canchari won three races to extend his season total to 23 victories in 200 starts. Canchari won the fourth race with Transformative ($6.80), the sixth race with Pickford ($8) and the seventh race with Glacken’s Ghost ($6). David
Cabrera, who is second in the jockey standings with 39 victories in 265 starts,
won the fifth race with Bay’s Commander ($9.60) and the ninth race with Swing and Sway ($8.80).
William Van Meter was the only trainer to win multiple races. He won the second race with Clarista ($4.40) and the eighth race with Nottoway ($13). On the season, he has four victories in 38 starts. ZAYAT TO BE AT OAKLAWN
Justin Zayat, part of the ownership ground for Solomini, was not able to be in attendance when Solomini finished second in the Rebel Stakes, but he plans on attending the Arkansas Derby on Saturday.
“I’m actually overseas right now, and I’m back on Monday,” Zayat said in a news release. “I’m hoping to be there. God willing, I’m booking my flight.”
Solomini was the 3-2 program favorite for the Rebel but finished a troubled second, beaten 3½ lengths by unbeaten
Magnum Moon. The two are scheduled to have a rematch in the 11/8-mile Arkansas Derby, which will offer 170 points to the top four finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby.
Solomini had been ticketed for the $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes on Saturday at Aqueduct before an injury to stablemate McKinzie led Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert to reshuffle his 3-year-old deck. Solomini was rerouted to the Arkansas Derby, with the trainer’s original expected entrant, unbeaten Justify, remaining home for the $1 million Santa Anita Derby on Saturday at Santa Anita.
Zayat said it was Baffert’s call to send Solomini back to Oaklawn for the Arkansas Derby.
Zayat calls Solomini, named for his 17-month-old nephew Solomon, the family’s best Kentucky Derby prospect since American Pharoah, who began his 2015 campaign with runaway victories in the Rebel and Arkansas derbies before becoming the first Triple Crown winner since 1978, a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and Horse of the Year.
A son of 2007 Rebel and Arkansas Derby winner Curlin, Solomini was among the country’s most accomplished 2-yearolds last year. He was disqualified from a victory in the $300,000 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 9 at Los Alamitos for interference in the stretch, and also finished second in the $2 million Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 4 at Del Mar and $300,000 Grade I FrontRunner Stakes on Sept. 30 at Santa Anita.
MAGNUM MOON UPDATE Magnum Moon (3 for 3) worked a halfmile in :48.65 Saturday morning at Palm Beach Downs in South Florida for trainer Todd Pletcher. Magnum Moon is scheduled to be flown to Arkansas on Monday, with Solomini arriving from Southern California on Wednesday.
QUIP ON THE GROUND
After breezing early Friday morning in Kentucky, Quip walked the shedrow early Saturday morning in Arkansas, capping a whirlwind 24 hours for the colt in advance of his scheduled start in the $1 million Grade I Arkansas Derby on April 14.
Quip, around 5:30 a.m. Friday, worked a half-mile in :48.60 at Keeneland. He was then vanned overnight to Oaklawn, arriving in Hot Springs at 4:15 a.m. Saturday, trainer Rodolphe Brisset said.
Brisset was aboard for Quip’s work, flew to Arkansas on Friday night and was leading his Grade II winner around the shedrow early Saturday morning.
Quip was scratched from Saturday’s $1 million Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, another fallout from an injury to McKinzie, one of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s leading Kentucky Derby candidates.
Quip was 6-1 on the morning line for the Blue Grass Stakes.
Brisset said he wasn’t looking for a bullet-type move Friday morning from Quip, who was credited with splits of :25 for the opening quarter and :38 for 3 furlongs before galloping out 5 furlongs in 1:01.60 over a fast track. A son of Distorted Humor, Quip had worked 5 furlongs in 1:00.40 on April 1 at Keeneland.
“Watching the weather, we were not going to be able to breeze any Saturday or Sunday, so we decided to breeze him at five days, which is a little out of the ordinary for us,” Brisset said. “He did it on his own.”
Brisset said Quip will “more than likely” return to the track today.