Keeneland hosted the $500,000 Grade 1 Ashland Stakes for three year old fillies Saturday. It was Emollient who finished a staggering 30 lengths behind Dreaming of Julia in last week's Gulfstream Park Oaks that recorded the victory by a relatively easy nine lengths over the field of 12 others - at 6-1 odds.
Santa Anita Park hosted two Grade 1 races on Saturday - one being the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks - a qualifying race for next month's Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.
The seven furlong $250,000 Grade 3 Bay Shore Stakes took place Saturday on the Wood Memorial undercard. Sixth choice in the field of seven, Declan's Warrior utilized a late run to record the upset win by a head at 12-1 odds.
The competitive seven furlong Grade 1 Carter Handicap took place Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York.
The Grade 2 Providencia Stakes was contested at Santa Anita Park on Saturday for three year old fillies willing to go 1 1/8 miles on turf.
The $750,000 Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby was contested in Arcadia, California Saturday - the West Coast qualifying race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.
At Aqueduct Racetrack in New York, Todd Pletcher's Verrazano, the 4-5 favorite kept his unbeaten streak alive with his most impressive score to date - a three quarters of a length win in the $1 million Grade 1 Wood Memorial.
Three year old Kentucky Derby hopefuls were featured in the $1 million Grade 1 Florida Derby this past Saturday - just one of two Derby qualification races on North American soil this weekend.
There were two huge Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying races this past weekend in North America. The $1 million Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds Race Course handed out 100-40-20-10 points for its first through fourth place finishers this weekend to go along with the very nice purse.
The $300,000 Grade 2 Gulfstream Oaks on Saturday featured one of the biggest blow-outs in Thoroughbred racing in quite some time.
