Derby Hopefuls on the Move

There’s a horse shipped from Santa Anita to run in Arkansas. A horse from South Carolina is running in Maryland. A horse from Maryland has gone to Kentucky.

It’s early -- the Kentucky Derby is nine weeks off -- but trainer machinations are in mid-Triple Crown form as horsemen from California to New York cast about to see whether they have a 3-year-old good enough to send to Churchill Downs on May 1.

Today’s preps have drawn horses who are below the radar for many Derby handicappers. At Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., 12 horses are entered in the $100,000 John Battaglia Memorial. Ten will be running in the $100,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

At Laurel, Md., where eight are scheduled to run, the purse is only $40,000 for the Miracle Wood Stakes. However, it’s a significant two-turn step for Capac, a well-bred colt who has won a pair of sprints by gaping margins. Capac, stabled in the horsy hotbed of Camden, S.C., is taken by van to Laurel Park for his races.

Perhaps, though, allowance races today at Gulfstream Park and Oaklawn will provide better perspective on the Derby.

The first race on the Gulfstream card has drawn Eddington, a son of 1990 Derby winner Unbridled, and Tiger Heart, another promising colt. They have each run only three times, but Eddington is looking for his second win at 1 1/16 miles and Tiger Heart has a victory and a pair of seconds over three tracks.

At Oaklawn, in the race after the Southwest, Gran Prospect will make his first start since late November, when he was second to The Cliff’s Edge -- one of trainer Nick Zito’s three Derby prospects -- in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs.

In the one-mile Southwest, one of the two remaining preps for the Arkansas Derby on April 10, undefeated Smarty Jones shoots for his fourth win. Smarty Jones has won three races by 27 3/4 lengths, the most recent a five-length romp in the Count Fleet at Aqueduct on Jan. 3.

Pro Prado and Proper Prado, both sons of El Prado, will run as an entry for trainer Bob Holthus, and the speedster Wildcat Shoes is also in the field. The contender from California is trainer Mike Puhich’s Number Juan, who tried to graduate from a maiden win into stakes company on Feb. 7 and ran last in the San Vicente.

The 1 1/16-mile Battaglia, a prep for the Lane’s End Stakes at Turfway on March 20, features Silver Minister, who’s three for three at the Cincinnati-area track. One of his rivals is White Mountain Boy, a Mike Gill-owned colt who has been stabled at the Bowie, Md., training center.

Others in the Battaglia include Little Matth Man and Risky Trick, who finished 1-2 in the Whirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct.

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Ten Most Wanted, who will carry high weight of 120 pounds, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in Sunday’s $500,000 New Orleans Handicap at the Fair Grounds. Others in the eight-horse field include Funny Cide, 118 and 4-1, and Peace Rules, 119 and 9-2. Ten Most Wanted hasn’t run since finishing eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.