April 4 (UPI) -- The weather gods toyed with the weekend racing picture, forcing postponement of Keeneland's opening weekend program, while extreme heat pushed back the starting time for Saturday's Dubai World Cup card.
Keeneland moved Saturday's races, including the Grade I Blue Grass, a key Kentucky Derby prep, to Tuesday. Friday was moved to Monday. Saturday's Grade I Santa Anita Derby and Grade II Wood Memorial at Aqueduct remain on tap for contenders on the Kentucky Derby trail, although rain is forecast for New York.
The Dubai races were pushed back closer to sunset to mitigate the effects of temperatures expected to approach 100 degrees.
Like the USPS, we carry on regardless of rain or shine, heat or cold, starting as usual with:
The Road to the Roses
The cast for the $700,000 Grade II Wood Memorial at Aqueduct includes Sand Devil, second in the Grade III Gotham; Captain Cook, winner of the local Withers Stakes; Hill Road, third in November's Breeders' Cup Juvenile and last month's Grade III Tampa Bay Derby; California shipper Rodriguez, representing trainer Bob Baffert's shrinking list of Derby contenders.
Also racing are Grande, undefeated after two starts for owner Mike Repole and trainer Todd Pletcher; and Passion Rules, undefeated after three starts for owner Calumet Farm and trainer Brad Cox. Realistically, it looks wide open.
Saturday's $500,000 Grade I Santa Anita Derby has Baffert's top two remaining hopes to win his record seventh Kentucky Derby -- 2024 Juvenile champion Citizen Bull and $3.2 million yearling purchase Barnes. They face Grade II San Felipe winner Journalism, who came from off the pace to defeat Barnes by 1 3/4 lengths in that race and is the morning-line favorite Saturday.
Normally, in a race of this magnitude, you'd think one of the trainer's horses might be setting the other up for the best shot. But Barnes and Citizen Bull are owned separately by some of Baffert's best and most loyal patrons, so they both will ...
