Juan Hernandez will ride Meaning for trainer Michael McCarthy, leaving Mike Smith to take over Forced Entry for Bob Baffert, as seven 3-year-old fillies contest the Grade II Santa Anita Oaks on Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby card. Forced Entry’s victory in the Santa Ysabel Stakes qualified her for the May 1 Kentucky Oaks, but Meaning, French Blue (Florent Geroux riding), Brooklyn Blonde (Kazushi Kimura) and other contenders in the Santa Anita race need to finish third, and in some cases second or better, to guarantee spots in the 14-horse field for the fillies’ Derby. Meaning is 3-5 on the morning line.
• In another of the five stakes Sunday at Santa Anita, the Jeff Mullins-trained 5-year-old Queen Maxima (Hernandez) is 4-5 to continue her success in hillside turf sprints. Miguel Clement’s 6-year-old Florida shipper Love Appeals (Emisael Jaramillo) is 3-1 in the Grade III Monrovia Stakes for fillies and mares.
• In Los Alamitos quarter-horse racing last weekend, Beuteeful and jockey Rodrigo Sigala Vallejo overcame an early bump to win the Grade I Los Alamitos Oaks, and Doodah Cartel and Henry Reynoso won the El Primero del Año Derby. Doodah Cartel is the fourth horse to sweep the Grade I Los Alamitos Winter Derby and this race, a feat last accomplished by Tell Cartel in 2020. It’s trainer Paul Jones’ seventh victory in the Primero del Año, breaking a tie for the record with Blane Schvaneveldt.
• There were changes at the top of both National Thoroughbred Racing Association polls this week. In the 3-year-old rankings, Arkansas Derby winner Renegade jumped from No. 7 to No. 1 while Florida Derby winner Commandment stayed at No. 2 as sidelined Paladin slid from No. 1 to No. 11. In the overall rankings, Magnitude’s victory in Saturday’s Dubai World Cup sent him from No. 6 to No. 1, dropping Sovereignty to No. 2.
• Flashy local reputations are on the line in the Kentucky Derby preps Saturday in Kentucky and New York. In the $1.25 million Blue Grass Stakes, Brad Cox-trained Further Ado (Irad Ortiz Jr.) is the 8-5 morning-line favorite based partly on the colt’s 20-length maiden win in his only previous appearance at Keeneland; Reagan’s Honor (Jose Ortiz) is 5-2, and Class President reportedly will be scratched. In the $750,000 Wood Memorial, Chad Brown’s Iron Honor (Manny Franco) is 5-2 thanks to a 2-for-2 record, both races at Aqueduct; Napoleon Solo (Paco Lopez) is 7-2 to bounce back to his Champagne Stakes-winning form on the track.
• Patrick Valenzuela, 63, rode his first winner since 2016, getting Vann Belvoir-trained Definitely Prbable home by a nose in a maiden race at Turf Paradise in Phoenix on Wednesday. It was the fourth race of a comeback attempt for Valenzuela, the jockey for 1989 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Sunday Silence before his career was sidetracked by substance abuse.
• The news that FanDuel TV (previously TVG), which has shown horse racing since 1999, will wind down its racing coverage and shut down by the end of 2027 has the sport wondering how to cope with the loss of general public exposure. In a letter to Thoroughbred Owners of California members, TOC president Bill Nader said: “It has played a meaningful role in bringing our sport into the homes across the country, connecting fans to the races and helping to grow the off-track wagering audience.” Nader sought to reassure members that “all California races will continue to be broadcast live,” and wrote that TOC has “fielded inquiries from multiple parties interested in California’s premium racing content.”
• Golden Gate Fields, the San Francisco Bay Area track that closed in 2024, would be turned into a waterfront public park if a $175 million sale by the Stronach Group to the nonprofit Trust for Public Land goes through. Here’s a way to make it even more idyllic: Have animals running around. Offer mentally enriching puzzles with prizes every half-hour or so a few days a week. Put up a sort of grandstand from which people from all strata of society can take in the vista. Call this park a racetrack.
• Eiffel, a 4-year-old filly who’d been racing at the allowance level, died following a workout at Santa Anita on Saturday in what the track said was a “sudden death” (cardiac) incident. It’s the 11th racehorse death of 2025 in racing or training at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos, which is about equal to the average from Jan. 1-March 28 for the six previous years that the California Horse Racing Board posted fatality data.
SANTA ANITA LEADERS
(Through Sunday)
Jockeys / Wins
Emisael Jaramillo / 44
Juan Hernandez / 36
Kazushi Kimura / 36
Armando Ayuso / 32
Antonio Fresu / 23
Hector Berrios / 19
Tiago Pereira / 18
Edwin Maldonado / 17
Umberto Rispoli / 15
Mirco Demuro / 15
Trainers / Wins
Doug O’Neill / 36
Mark Glatt / 25
Bob Baffert / 23
George Papaprodromou / 20
Jeff Mullins / 19
Michael McCarthy / 19
Phil D’Amato / 16
Steve Knapp / 14
Leonard Powell / 11
Jonathan Thomas / 10
UPCOMING STAKES
SANTA ANITA
Saturday
• $500,000, Grade I Santa Anita Derby, 3-year-olds, 1⅛ miles
• $200,000, Grade II Santa Anita Oaks, 3-year-old fillies, 1 1/16 miles
• $100,000, Grade III Monrovia Stakes, fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and up, about 6½ furlongs on turf
• $125,000 Echo Eddie Stakes, California-bred 3-year-olds, 6½ furlongs
• $125,000 Evening Jewel Stakes, Cal-bred 3-year-old fillies, 6½ furlongs
Sunday
• $100,000 John Shear Stakes, 3-year-olds, about 6½ furlongs on turf
• $100,000 Providencia Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 1⅛ miles on turf
LOS ALAMITOS
Saturday
• $25,000 James Smith Memorial Handicap, 3-year-old quarter horses, 350 yards