Florida Derby

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL--Brian Lynch has already proven he is a talented trainer, conditioning the likes of Grade I winners Oscar Performance, Heart to Heart, Grand Arch and Coffee Clique. While he has won several graded events on dirt, all of his top-level scorers were on turf and the main thing missing from his resume is a Triple Crown contender. Lynch finally has that this year in Saturday's GI Curlin Florida Derby contender Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway), who already has enough points to be his trainer's first GI Kentucky Derby starter....

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL--While C2 Racing Stable is in its infancy, its founders, brothers Clint and Mark Cornett are not new on the racing scene. In fact, Mark Cornett has worked as a racing manager and bloodstock agent for over 25 years and even put together the partnerships that owned champions Blind Luck and Dubai Majesty. He and Clint campaigned horses a decade ago under a different banner. The Cornett brothers returned to the game just last year under their new moniker with the goal of running in the GI Kentucky...

C2 Racing Stable LLC and La Milagrosa Stable LLC's White Abarrio (Race Day) breezed an 'easy' five furlongs at Gulfstream Park in preparation for the Apr. 2 GI Curlin Florida Derby. "Two weeks out, so far, so good. Two weeks is a long time with horses, but as far as everything has gone preparation-wise, I'm very happy with how things have gone," trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. said. White Abarrio, who breezed in company for his fourth workout since capturing the Feb. 5 GIII Holy Bull S., was timed in 1:00.42,...

Tami Bobo's Simplification (Not This Time) returned to the Gulfstream Park worktab Saturday morning for the first time since scoring a dominant 3 1/2-length victory in the GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. Mar. 5 in Hallandale. The Antonio Sano trainee breezed five furlongs in 1:01.81 (15/28) under jockey Jose Ortiz before galloping out six furlongs in 1:14.85. "It was a very good work. The horse worked in hand. He went very easy," Sano said. "The gallop was good. The horse came back very good. That's what's important for me."...

Tami Bobo's Simplification (Not This Time) came out of his victory in Saturday's GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. in fine shape and will now be aimed at the Apr. 2 GI Curlin Florida Derby. "Yesterday, good break, a little problem in traffic, and when the jockey took him outside, the horse ran well," trainer Antonio Sano said Sunday morning. "I am proud of my horse. I'm happy for all the support the people give to me. I'm happy for another chance to win the GI Kentucky Derby." Simplification earned...

C2 Racing Stable and La Milagrosa Stable's White Abarrio (Race Day), winner of Saturday's GIII Holy Bull S., will likely make his next start in the Apr. 2 GI Curlin Florida Derby, trained Saffie Joseph, Jr. confirmed Sunday morning. "We talked it out over at dinner [Saturday] night, and I'd say its not set in stone, but he's going to straight to the Florida Derby," Joseph said. "We don't have to decide now, but everyone was kind of on the same page to go straight to the Florida Derby. The...

Simplification (Not This Time) became the 17th stakes winner and third in the last six days for his in-form sire with a convincing victory in this first step on the road to the GI Florida Derby and--perhaps--beyond. An even fourth on his 5 1/2-furlong debut on the synthetic track Oct. 1, the bay overwhelmed a group of Florida-bred maidens by 16 3/4 lengths Oct. 23, good for a 92 Beyer. He couldn't put them back to back, faltering to be third at long odds-on Nov. 13, but had his fair...

Gulfstream Park has added another lucrative race to its Pegasus World Cup card and increased the purses of its Road to the Triple Crown series, the track announced Friday while releasing the stakes schedule for its 2021-2022 championship meet, scheduled for Dec. 3 through Apr. 3. The $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational and $1-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Turf will be joined on Jan. 29 by the $500,000 GIII Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf, a 1 1/16-mile event that will replace the GIII Marshua's River. The 70th running...

According to a report from Daily Racing Form's Jay Privman, leading GI Kentucky Derby contender Greatest Honour (Tapit) will be forced to miss the "Run for the Roses" and will instead get approximately 60 days off. Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey had the Courtlandt Farms homebred examined by Dr. Larry Bramlage after not being satisfied with how he came out of a somewhat disappointing third as the 4-5 favorite in the GI Curlin Florida Derby Mar. 27. The regally bred bay colt had taken each of his three starts...

Breeders on both sides of the Atlantic have become so childishly dogmatic about sealing off their respective bloodlines--as dirt or turf, and "never the twain shall meet"--that even a GI Kentucky Derby might not suffice to open some eyes. It is almost as though they have forgotten the mutual transformations achieved by the likes of Nasrullah and Northern Dancer. To those who remain a little more open-minded, however, Known Agenda (Curlin) has already rebuked some lazy assumptions with his breakout score in the GI Florida Derby last Saturday. Plenty thought...

It's busy season for NBC's Eddie Olczyk. One of the few analysts on national television to dabble in multiple sports, the popular former hockey star is gearing up to broadcast the GI Kentucky Derby as well as the NHL playoffs this spring, and he joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland Tuesday afternoon to discuss it all. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Olczyk talked about his handicapping strategies, what horses he's eyeing for the first Saturday in May, his ordeal with...

Besides solidifying his status as a top-tier Triple Crown threat, Saturday's win by Known Agenda (Curlin) in the GI Curlin Florida Derby bolstered the overall case that the phase-out of Lasix in this year's series of GI Kentucky Derby preps seems to be having no adverse effect on performance. Through 20 races in North America since Jan. 1 that have awarded Derby qualifying points, horses giving up Lasix after receiving it in their prior start have won five of those races. Seven others have finished second, an impressive strike rate...