AT THE POST

DAY 52 of 57 FRIDAY’S TOTAL HANDLE $8,814,245 FRIDAY’S ON-TRACK HANDLE $27,245 FRIDAY’S OFF-TRACK HANDLE $8,787,000 TODAY’S POST TIME 12:35 p.m. FRIDAY’S STARS

Joe Talamo won three races, including two with trainer Tom Amoss. Martin Garcia and Ricardo Santana won two races.

Talamo won the first race with Aunt Sunshine ($29.00, $8.80, $5.60), covering 6 furlongs in 1:12.26. He won the third race with Napoleon’s Empire ($5.40, $3.20, $2.80), covering 1 1/16 miles in 1:46.86. Talamo won the 10th race with No Parole ($4.20, $3.40, $3.40), covering 6 furlongs in 1:09.34.

Amoss was the winning trainer in the third and 10th races. On the season, Talamo has won 48 races in 283 starts and trails leader Ricardo Santana by three victories.

Amoss has won 12 races in 70 starts. Santana won the sixth race with Louise the Laser ($3.80, $4.00, $2.60), who finished in a dead heat for first with Ordained Kiss ($15.40, $15.20, $9.80), ridden by Stewart Elliott. Both covered 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:05.89. Santana leads the jockey standings with 51 victories in 264 starts.

Garcia won the fifth race with Artemus Eagle ($14.60, $6.60, $4.60), covering 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.20. He won the seventh race with Ragtime Blues ($6.60, $4.40, $4.40), covering 6 furlongs in 1:09.96. Garcia is tied for second with Talamo with 48 victories in 250 starts. SHOOTERS SHOOT TO DERBY Shooters Shoot, who broke his maiden in a 31/4-length victory on March 15 at Santa Anita, will make his stakes debut in the 11/8-mile Arkansas Derby on May 2.

In his allowance victory, Shooters Shoot, on the inside, dueled with Blackberry Wine from the start, lost the lead on the second turn but battled back to prevail by a neck under Joe Talamo. The final time of 1:36.66 followed rapid splits of :23.10 for the opening quarter-mile, :45.87 for a half-mile, 1:09.94 for 6 furlongs and 1:23.10 for 7 furlongs.

“Blackberry’s just a tough guy,” Shooters Shoot trainer Peter Eurton said Tuesday afternoon. “He’s a fighter. He kept the pressure on us all the way. So proud of Shooter. He just fought back and wasn’t about to give up, especially with those early fractions the way they were.”

Shooters Shoot needed five starts to break his maiden, but his past performances include a third-place finish behind Eight Rings sprinting in his Aug. 4 career debut at Del Mar and a second to unbeaten Charlatan, in a maiden special weights sprint Feb. 16 at Santa Anita.

Charlatan (2 for 2) is also expected to be entered in the Arkansas Derby. Trainer Bob Baffert is also pointing unbeaten Nadal (3 for 3) for the Arkansas Derby. Nadal won the $1 million Rebel Stakes on March 14, Oaklawn’s traditional final major Arkansas Derby prep.

“He’s just got to keep getting better, obviously,” Eurton said of Shooters Shoot. “Every race he’s run has been better than the last. Coming back long with him was such a nice pleasure, a pleasant thing to see after his dismal race at Del Mar going long. He just wasn’t as good as he is now. He’s healthy. He had a little bit of a nagging shin, as you know 2-year-olds will get, and he’s healthy. We’ll just have to see if he can continue to improve.”