Trio of Derby Preps Highlight Saturday's Graded Stakes

For each Saturday, NTRA and BloodHorse will provide a one-stop guide to the day's top stakes races in North America and beyond. Races are listed in chronological order (all times Eastern). For more detail, click the race name.

This weekend's slate of racing features a trio of tests offering qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby: the grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs, the grade 3 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack, and the grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park. Live television coverage of the Gotham, Jeff Ruby, and Tampa Bay Derby will anchor the three-hour broadcast of "Fox Sports Saturday At the Races " from 4-7 p.m. presented by America's Best Racing, Runhappy and Claiborne Farm on FS2. 

Saturday March 9

4:06 p.m.--$200,000 Tom Fool Handicap (G3) at Aqueduct (TVG)

SJB Stable and Marcello Micozzi's graded stakes winner Skyler's Scramjet will look to repeat as the headliner of a seven-horse field in the Tom Fool for older horses going six furlongs. 

Entries: Bernardini S.

Aqueduct Racetrack, Saturday, March 02, 2019, Race 8

• STK
• One And Five Sixteenthm
• Dirt
• $100,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 4:50 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Leitone (CHI)	Jose Lezcano	122	George Weaver	6/1
2	2Hit It Once More (NY)	Carlos J. Hernandez	122	Gary Sciacca	8/1
3	3Holiday Bonus (KY)	Ruben Silvera	118	Gregory DiPrima	8/1
4	4Shalako (KY)	Kendrick Carmouche	118	Michelle Nevin	12/1
5	5Weather Wiz (KY)	Dylan Davis	118	James A. Jerkens	1/1
6	6Royal Albert Hall (GB)	Junior Alvarado	118	Rob Atras	5/2
7	7Forewarned (OH)	Reylu Gutierrez	122	Uriah St. Lewis	15/1

4:19 p.m.--$225,000 Hillsborough Stakes (G2T) at Tampa Bay Downs (TVG)

Trainer Arnaud Delacour has high hopes that his 6-year-old mare Hawksmoor will wave goodbye to the competition in the 1 1/8-miles Hillsborough Stakes on the turf at Tampa Bay Downs. Regardless of the outcome, the trainer will bid farewell to the multiple graded stakes winner as owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson plan to breed her to 2018 North American leading sire Kitten's Joy .

4:50 p.m.--$200,000 Florida Oaks (G3T) at Tampa Bay Downs (TVG)

A field of 11 3-year-old fillies are entered in the Florida Oaks including the usual strong contingent from the barn of three-time reigning Eclipse Award winning trainer Chad Brown. Brown has entered La Feve and the Blowout. 

5:09 p.m.--$300,000 Gotham Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct (FS2 and TVG)

Grade 1 winners Mind Control and Knicks Go, along with undefeated California raider Instagrand, headline a formidable field of eight in the one-mile Gotham, which offers 50-20-10-5 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the first four finishers. 

5:25 p.m.--$400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2) at Tampa Bay Downs (FS2 and TVG)

Florida-bred colt Win Win Win, who set a Tampa Bay Downs seven-furlong track record of 1:20.89 in his Pasco Stakes victory Jan. 19, has been established as the 5-2 Tampa Bay Derby morning-line favorite. The second choice at 7-2 is the Florida-bred gelding Well Defined, who won the grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes Feb. 9 at the Tampa Bay Derby distance of 1 1/16-miles.

5:40 p.m.--$250,000 Busher Stakes at Aqueduct (TVG)

A pair of talented contenders for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin will look to earn points toward qualifying for the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) with It Justhitthe Wire and Enliven part of a talented 12-horse field. The race offers 50-20-10-5 qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks.

5:51 p.m.--$100,000 Maxim Crane Works Bourbonette Oaks at Turfway Park (TVG)

Stakes winner Into Trouble makes her second start of 2019 in the Bourbonette Oaks, a Kentucky Oaks points race (20-8-4-2). 

6:04 p.m.--$200,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park (TVG)

Raintree Starlet will make her two-turn debut in the 1 1/16-mile Honeybee as the daughter of Get Stormy  tries to extend her win streak to four straight in this Kentucky Oaks points race (50-20-10-5). 

6:37 p.m.--$200,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at Turfway Park (FS2 and TVG) 

Skychai Racing and Sand Dollar Stable's Somelikeithotbrown, winner of the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes, has been installed as the 8-5 morning line favorite among a field of 11 entered for the 1 1/8 miles Jeff Ruby, which offers 34 total points toward the Kentucky Derby.