The 2025 Horse of the Year Sovereignty makes his four-year-old debut in an exciting renewal of the Oaklawn Handicap (G2).
Races
Owners and trainers can begin to collect some purses as Woodbine gets its 128-day race meeting underway on Saturday.
Ontario-bred three-year-old gelding beat a solid field of maidens at Keeneland on April 11 and quickly tops King's Plate list.
Silent Tactic has the style to be a Kentucky Derby (G1) winner; he is owned by John Oxley, the breeder of one of the faves, Further Ado.
Claimed for $32,000 last June, the fast mare Miss Vyvyanne has won four in a row including the April 11 Golden Beach Handicap at Gulfstream.
He had a win percentage of 36 last season and will try to better it with his big stable at Assiniboia in 2026.
The fields for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks are almost set and Commandment and Meaning are the leaders by points.
There will be a few new faces in the riders' room when Woodbine gets underway on April 18 and many familiar ones.
The world's best sprinter rolled to an easy win on Monday at Sha Tin in the Sprint Cup (G2) while breaking the course record.
The Ontario-bred by Cairo Prince became the eighth graded stakes winner for owner Gary Barber at Keeneland.
So Happy was a $12,000 weanling but a $150,000 two-year-old in training and he is on the Derby trail for trainer Mark Glatt.
Further Ado won the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) by 11 lengths and is one of three colts for trainer Brad Cox headed to the Kentucky Derby.
A parade of longshots took the top three spots in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial, the last edition of the race to be run at Aqueduct.
A pair of Bob Baffert-trained colts headline the Santa Anita Derby Saturday evening, offering points to get into the Kentucky Derby.
The final major stakes race to be run at Aqueduct Racetrack before its permanent closing features a large field of 12 possible runners.
