Daily Racing Form

Bella Dona will have her work cut out for her Sunday when she attempts to win her 10th consecutive race in the $100,000 Mt. Cristo Rey Handicap at Sunland Park.

After a five-month hiatus to freshen up from a busy 2022 campaign, Australian-bred male pacer Im Sir Blake A is ready to make his first start of this season ahead of a trip to the MGM Borgata Series later this month.

Three of the biggest names among the California-based 3-year-olds had workouts at Santa Anita on Thursday, a day before the expected arrival of a rainstorm.

Jim Byers will be serving as the announcer at Oaklawn Park for the immediate future because Vic Stauffer is no longer with the track as of this week, an Oaklawn executive said Thursday. 

Stewards at Sunland Park in New Mexico inadvertently rewound a replay video to a previous race when they made an erroneous decision to demote a horse in a Quarter Horse race last Friday, according to testimony from the stewards during a hearing on Thursday morning, the executive director of the state racing commission said.

Derick Giwner's analysis of the Saturday 3/11 card at The Meadowlands.

Weekend GamePlan: Picks for Azeri, Beholder Mile, Florida Oaks

Garnet Barnsdale's analysis of the Saturday 3/11 card at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

There is no compromise regarding race tactics for the 4-year-old Forbidden Kingdom. All trials in morning workouts have failed. Forbidden Kingdom will be on the lead in Saturday's Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes at seven furlongs at Santa Anita.

Hall of Fame trainers Steve Asmussen and D. Wayne Lukas have been waiting all meet for Saturday afternoon. Clairiere, a $2 million earner from the barn of Asmussen, and Secret Oath, a Kentucky Oaks winner for Lukas, return from layoffs in the Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri at Oaklawn.

A deep field of eight fillies and mares were entered in the $500,000 Beholder Mile on Saturday at Santa Anita. Fun to Dream is a proper favorite but hardly a standout.

Candy Overload, Here Mi Song, and Night Time, separated by less than a length while making up the trifecta in the Forego last month at Turfway Park, get a rematch in the $125,000 Big Daddy Stakes, the Saturday night feature at the Florence, Ky., track.

Matt Rose's analysis of the Friday 3/10 card at Yonkers Raceway.

Two Phil’s, second in the Lecomte Stakes and third in the Risen Star, has left Fair Grounds and settled into trainer Larry Rivelli’s string at Hawthorne, and will make his next start March 25 at Turfway Park in the $700,000 Jeff Ruby Stakes.  

Garnet Barnsdale's analysis of the Friday 3/10 card at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Trainer Brad Cox still is sorting where to run a bevy of Fair Grounds-based Kentucky Derby hopefuls. Cox had three runners in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds and figures to have at least that many in the Louisiana Derby there. 

Trainer Brad Cox won the Honeybee Stakes on Feb. 25 at Oaklawn with Wet Paint, who’s getting a lot of love as a Kentucky Oaks candidate. But Cox might have a better Oaks hopeful stabled in New Orleans, where The Alys Look is working strongly for the Fair Grounds Oaks on March 25.

Senor Buscador made his first start since the Breeders’ Cup on March 5, winning the $75,000 Curribot Handicap at Sunland Park. Senor Buscador emerged from the race in good order and has several options for his next start, trainer Todd Fincher said Tuesday.

A horse-by-horse assessment of the field for Thursday’s fifth race at Golden Gate Fields.

A couple months into his 5-year-old season and with 15 starts behind him, Proxy remains a work in progress.