ARKANSAS DERBY DIVISION 2
By Rick Francis —-
Race 13) 1&1/8th Mile. Arkansas Derby Grade I. Purse $500,000 THREE YEAR OLDS.
Post Time: 7:43/( 6:43)/ 5:43/ 4:43
5) Nadal (Baffert/Rosario); Blame colt is a perfect 3-for-3 his last an entertaining G2 Rebel win here in March; connections opted to ship him back to his Santa Anita base for training and that’s worked a couple of notable times.
7) Silver Prospector (Asmussen/Santana); Southwest winner once again gets a fast surface something he didn’t have when running a dismal sixth in the Rebel.
10) Farmington Road (Pletcher/Castellano); closed from nearly 20 lengths back only to miss by a half-length in the Oaklawn Stakes; sloppy go aided that effort, but there’s something with this Quality Road colt that makes him hard to pass over.
11) Wells Bayou (Cox/Geroux); was never threatened in taking the Louisiana Derby gate-to-wire; always forwardly placed that if once again left alone he’ll do the same especially with distance cutback from that contest.
Selections: 5, 7, 10, 13