Concrete Rose eyes Edgewood

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It won’t be long now before Rusty Arnold gets home to Kentucky, but his latest stable star, Concrete Rose, probably won’t be racing at the Keeneland spring meet.

“As much as I like running at Keeneland, I’m probably going to wait until the race on Oaks Day,” Arnold said this week from his Palm Meadows winter base, referring to the Edgewood Stakes on the May 3 Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill Downs.

Concrete Rose won the Grade 3 Florida Oaks last Saturday on the Tampa Bay Downs turf course, making her 3 for 4 in a nascent career already filled with highlights. After winning on the Saratoga turf in her career debut, the Twirling Candy filly captured the Grade 2 Jessamine at Keeneland prior to fading to eighth behind Newspaperofrecord in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill.

After fighting off a series of challenges in the Florida Oaks, her first start in more than four months, Concrete Rose was “a little tired from all the shipping and everything,” Arnold said. “But she beat some pretty nice fillies in there, and we’re very happy with her.”

Chad Brown has targeted the Grade 3, $250,000 Edgewood as the likely return spot for Newspaperofrecord, who was a 2018 Eclipse Award finalist in the 2-year-old filly division after going unchallenged in three starts, all turf. Arnold acknowledged the prospect of facing Newspaperofrecord is a challenging one.

“She dominated everything last year, so we’ll go in there with great respect for her,” he said. “She’s by far the best [3-year-old turf] filly in the country, so we might as well find out where we stand.”

Concrete Rose was purchased for $61,000 last May at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale at Timonium by the Ashbrook Farm of Glenn Bromagen and his son Bo, both of whom were in from Kentucky for the Florida Oaks. Ashbrook maintained a controlling interest in the filly when BBN Racing, a sizable ownership group founded by Brian Klatsky and Brendan O’Brien, bought into her following the Saratoga maiden win.

“I was afraid I was going to lose her,” said Arnold, referring to numerous inquiries for a private purchase. “But [fellow trainer] Phil Oliver stepped in [on behalf of BBN Racing] and got a deal done so that everybody was happy.”

BBN stands for “Big Blue Nation,” which is what University of Kentucky sports fans have labeled themselves, but Klatsky said the syndicate partners actually are from Kentucky, New York, New Jersey, and beyond.

“The partnership is mostly a means to introduce sports fans in general to the great sport of racing,” Klatsky said.

Arnold said he will nominate Concrete Rose to the April 7 Appalachian on the Keeneland turf, “but unless the filly tells me she’s raring to go, we’ll skip it in all likelihood,” he said.

Castellano to ride Hidden Scroll

Javier Castellano has picked up the mount on Hidden Scroll for the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on March 30, trainer Bill Mott said Tuesday.

Hidden Scroll most recently finished fourth in the Fountain of Youth Stakes on March 2 at Gulfstream after setting a swift early pace. He was ridden in that race and his only other start – a runaway victory against maidens in January at Gulfstream – by Joel Rosario, but Mott said days after the Fountain of the Youth that Rosario would be replaced and listed the mount as undecided.

Mott added Tuesday that Hidden Scroll will have his first work since the Fountain of Youth this weekend at Payson Park, where Mott is based during the winter.

The Florida Derby, at 1 1/8 miles, offers 100 points to the winner and 40 for second on the system used by Churchill to determine the field for the Kentucky Derby on May 4.

Castellano has been casting about for a top-shelf Derby prospect. He was scheduled to ride Network Effect in the Fountain of Youth before that Chad Brown trainee was taken out of training and off the Derby trail. Last week at Aqueduct, he rode Instagrand for the first time and they finished third in the Gotham.

Servis filly figures in feature

Jason Servis had a strike rate of 44.8 percent (30 for 67) at the Gulfstream Park championship meet as another five-day race week got under way here Wednesday, and chances are good the veteran trainer will improve on that gaudy record by the time Friday action is finished.

Servis was scheduled to send out one starter Wednesday and Thursday – each of them favored – and he’s likely to have two favorites from as many starters here Friday in Bronzed (race 6) and Richie’s Sister (race 8).

Richie’s Sister, claimed in late January by Servis on behalf of retired Major League Baseball catcher Mike Napoli, could prove an elusive catch in a $44,000 allowance that serves as the nominal Friday feature. Restricted to Florida-breds, the five-furlong turf race drew a field of seven fillies and mares eligible for a first-level condition, with a $16,000 claiming option also being a way in.

A gate-to-wire winner in her last start for prior connections, the 5-year-old mare shows just one interim work at Palm Meadows since being claimed for $16,000 – but that apparent dearth of activity is unlikely to deter the many bettors who back Servis with blind faith. Luis Saez will be aboard from post 4.

Logical alternatives to the Servis newcomer include All About Stella, Magic Two, and Salt Pond, the respective 2-3-4 finishers in a similar spot here Feb. 20.

First post for a 10-race card is 1:15 p.m. Eastern.

Last outing for Tequilita?

Tequilita, a two-time graded stakes winner at Gulfstream, could be making the final start of her career when likely to come favored Saturday in the weekend highlight, the Grade 2, $200,000 Inside Information.

Trained by Michael Matz for his wife, owner-breeder Dorothy “Dee Dee” Matz, Tequilita most recently was third in the Feb. 16 Royal Delta. The 5-yearold mare has earned $680,800 from 20 prior starts.

“We’ll see how she runs Saturday and decide whether or not to run her once more” in the April 6 Madison at Keeneland, Michael Matz said.

Other fillies and mares expected for the seven-furlong Inside Information when entries were released Wednesday were Cairenn, Pacific Gale, Teresa Z, and probably two or three more.

Flameaway to Ben Ali

Flameway, whose victory in the Challenger Stakes last weekend at Tampa was his first in 13 months, will make his next start in the Grade 3 Ben Ali on April 13 at Keeneland, trainer Mark Casse said.

Casse also said Hoffa’s Union, a recent private purchase, goes next in the March 30 Florida Derby at Gulfstream and that his two Tampa Bay Derby runners, Sir Winston (fifth) and Dream Maker (10th), likely run back in the April 6 Blue Grass at Keeneland.