Rock Me Amadeus

Tweet If you can't get excited about racing this weekend, I don't know what to tell ya. Saturday is action-packed from coast to coast and I know I'll be glued to my computer with racing form in hand all afternoon. Let's take a trip around the US and A, in the Space Shuttle to see what's in store.....starting on the East Coast with the Sunshine State.

Tampa Bay Downs. A pretty nifty late Pick 4 shaping up with four straight stakes races starting in race 8 ( the Hillsborough Stakes - G3) featuring the ever present Mushka and Lady Shakespeare. The second leg is the Florida Oaks (G3) featuring Breeders Cup Juvenile Filly champ She Be Wild, where she'll take another crack at the real stuff after a 5th place finish in the Forward Gal further south at Gulfstream. The third leg is the Turf Dash Stakes with Tampa track favorite Musket Man trying a turf sprint, Ramon Dominguez flying down for the mount. The last leg is the meet's signature race, the Tampa Bay Derby (G3). Ramon takes the mount on Pletcher's Super Saver and this will be the first real class test for highly touted Odysseus. This Pick 4 looks like my must-play for Saturday.

Pointing the Space Shuttle westerly along the Gulf Coast for a stop in New Orleans and the Fair Grounds will highlight the return of the 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra in the New Orleans Ladies S. Off since the Woodward last September, this Apple Blossom prep will show us how the rest has treated her. I predicted back around New Years that she would lose a race this year (when Zenyatta was unofficially retired), this could be the spot after the long layoff, although it's highly doubtful. Not much else on the card excited me so I headed up Route 65 North to.....

Oaklawn Park. A couple good preps for the Oaks and Derby, respectively will be run in Hot Springs on Saturday. The G3 Honeybee is an Oaks prep for 3yo fillies and a couple horses we saw last summer at the Spa in Beautician and Decelerator as two year olds on opening day. Beautician finished second that day to Hot Dixie Chick and Decelerator (who I bet on) finished sixth after a bad start. The big race at Oaklawn, however, is the Rebel Stakes (G2) and a huge prep race on the road to Louisville. Lookin at Lucky (still my #1 on the Wireplayers.com Derby Dozen) puts on shades and faces some formidable foes in Dublin and synthetic specialist Noble's Promise. I will be rooting for Dublin here (note rooting, not betting). So from here we'll jump on a 747 - and westward ho....to beautiful California and

Santa Anita Park. Movie Stars. Bubbling Crude. Zenyatta. The amazing Zen (my mouth is still open in the Santa Anita grandstand watching her make her patented move in the BC Classic) returns to the scene of the crime where she trounced the boys to become the first mare to win the Breeders' Cup Classic. She should destroy the field in the Santa Margarita (it'll be late in the afternoon on the East Coast...a margarita may be just the medicine depending how that Tampa Pick 4 ends up) taking on eight other fillies and mares going a mile and an eighth. But that's not it from LA, we've got another Derby prep in the San Felipe, a race that should separate the West Coast contenders from the pack. Robert B. Lewis winner Caracortado will be out to prove that his last was no fluke and Kentucky is in his sights, but the competition looks tough. This could be the best race of the day with Derby hopeful Sidney's Candy (in the Space Gal's RTR stable), Lewis runner-up Dave in Dixie (I like this horse plenty) and American Lion (I don't like this horse plenty). The most intriguing horse in the field is Pletcher's Interactif, who comes off the turf after four straight to run on the Pro Ride. His last dirt race was the Sanford on Spa day 2 last July.

This is as rockin' a racing weekend can get....