‘Alex Romps in Arkansas

Afleet Alex redeemed himself with an eight-length win in Saturday’s $1-million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

A 7-10 shot in the Rebel at Oaklawn on March 19, Afleet Alex ran last, but afterward his trainer, Tim Ritchey, said that the colt was suffering from a lung infection.

Ridden by Jeremy Rose, Afleet Alex still went off as the favorite Saturday and responded with an easy win that will send him on to the Kentucky Derby on May 7.

Flower Alley finished second, three-quarters of a length ahead of Andromeda’s Hero. The rest of the order of finish was Real Dandy, Greater Good, Canteen, Rush Bay, Wild Desert, Cat Shaker and the early speed, Batson Challenge. Afleet Alex, running 1 1/8 miles in 1:48 4/5 , paid $6.80. Greater Good, winner of the Rebel and the Southwest at Oaklawn this meet, appeared to have no excuses.

Flower Alley and Adromeda’s Hero are also expected to run in the Kentucky Derby. Watching on TV from Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., where he saddled Bandini to win the Blue Grass Stakes, trainer Todd Pletcher was enthusiastic about Flower Alley’s race.

“The winner [Afleet Alex] had already run twice over Oaklawn, so we were going into his backyard,” Pletcher said.

Afleet Alex, earning $600,000, will try to copy Smarty Jones, who won the Kentucky Derby after winning the Arkansas Derby last year. Afleet Alex, who was second to Wilko in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, has six wins and two seconds in nine starts.

Rose had Afleet Alex in fifth place early. The colt made the lead near the quarter pole and led by 5 1/2 lengths with an eighth of a mile left.

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Two days before the end of Santa Anita’s winter-spring meet, trainer Eduardo Inda picked the right time to get his first win of the season.

T.H. Approval, a 5-1 shot who had never won a stakes race, won the $250,000 San Juan Capistrano, beating 3-2 favorite Exterior and six others Saturday in Arcadia.

Ridden by Rene Douglas, the 4-year-old With Approval colt, who is owned by Japanese breeder Tadahiro Hotehama, won by 1 1/2 lengths while completing the race of about 1 3/4 miles on turf in 2:45.02 for his fourth win in 17 starts.

Inda, the longtime assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally before he went on his own several years ago, had run only nine horses at the meet before the Capistrano.

“Since I rode him going a mile and an eighth, I’ve always thought he was going to be much better when they went this far,” Douglas said.

Exterior, who had won his U.S. debut for trainer Bobby Frankel on March 9, out-finished 37-1 shot Fitz Flag for second, and Stanley Park, the 5-2 second choice who was coming off a win in the San Luis Rey Handicap three weeks earlier, was fourth.

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Chinese Dragon, the 2-5 favorite, did the expected and won the $109,800 La Puente Stakes against only four opponents at Santa Anita.

This was the third win in as many starts for the 3-year-old Stravinsky colt since he arrived in the U.S. after winning one of two in Ireland.

Owned by Michael Carter, Richard Hale Jr. and Gino Roncelli, and trained by Bob Hess Jr., Chinese Dragon ran the mile on turf in 1:36.30 under jockey Kent Desormeaux.

Afterward, Hess indicated Chinese Dragon will probably make his next start in the $100,000 Will Rogers Stakes, a Grade III at a mile on the turf, May 28 at Hollywood Park.

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Christine reported from Lexington, Ky., and Mieszerski from Arcadia.