World-famous songwriter and longtime enthusiastic racehorse owner and breeder Burt Bacharach died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles on Feb. 8. He was 94.

Winner of multiple Academy Awards and Grammy Awards, plus a 1971 Eclipse Award for television achievement, Bacharach wrote or co-wrote seven No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

Think of this. Bacharach wrote or co-wrote a No. 1 song in four different decades, the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 2000s, a phenomenal achievement.

The No. 1 songs were:

1968 THIS GUY’S IN LOVE WITH YOU -- Herb Alpert

1970 RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD -- B.J. Thomas

1970 (THEY LONG TO BE) CLOSE TO YOU -- Carpenters

1981 ARTHUR’S THEME (BEST THAT YOU CAN DO) -- Christopher Cross

1986 THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR -- Dionne Warwick & Friends (Elton John, Gladys Knight & Stevie Wonder)

1986 ON MY OWN -- Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald

2004 SLOW JAMZ -- Twista feat. Kanye West & Jamie Foxx

In the obituary Duane Byrge wrote for Billboard.com, he noted that Bacharach, “a musical maestro,” was “behind 52 Top 40 hits including ‘Alfie,’ ‘Walk On By,’ ‘Promises, Promises,’ ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,’ ‘What the World Needs Now is Love’ and ‘Do You Know the Way to San Jose.’

“Working with lyricist partner Hal David, Bacharach and David were dubbed the ‘Rogers & Hart’ of the 1960s, with a unique style featuring instantly hummable melodies and atypical arrangements that folded in everything from jazz and pop to Brazilian grooves and rock.”

Of the hundreds of songs Bacharach wrote or co-wrote, his favorite, he once said, was “Alfie.”

In addition to the songs mentioned above, some of my own personal favorites are “The Look of Love,” “One Less Bell to Answer,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “Making Love” and “Heartlight.”

Bacharach was born on May 12, 1928, in Kansas City, Mo. The family moved to Queens, N.Y., in 1932. That’s where Bacharach began taking piano lessons in elementary school.

“People always think I was a child prodigy on the piano, that I just couldn’t wait to sit down and practice,” Bacharach was quoted as saying in the Los Angeles Times’ obituary written by Dennis McClellan. “But you want to know the truth? I hated it. In fact, I only did it to please my mother. She was the one who encouraged me.”

Bacharach first became interested in Thoroughbred racing as a teenager, as noted in his 2013 autobiography “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” written in collaboration with Robert Greenfield.

“My interest in horse racing started when I was 14 or 15 and one of my mother’s friends, Edith Friedman, took me to Jamaica Race Track in Queens,” Bacharach wrote. “After that, I started reading Ken Kling’s race selections in the Daily Mirror. I would always look at the paper the next day to see how right he had been, and who the hot jockeys were. So I started to know guys like Eddie Arcaro by name and I thought, ‘If I ever can afford it I’ll own a racehorse.’ ”

Along with Bacharach’s musical talent, he was “handsome and suave,” as Byrge put it.

“Sammy Cahn dubbed him the only composer who didn’t look like a dentist,” Byrge wrote. “His longtime marriage to actress Angie Dickinson fueled that ‘hip’ image.”

Bacharach was such a huge horse racing fan that Hollywood Park came up when, on his birthday, he proposed marriage to Angie Dickinson on May 12, 1965.

“Burt and I were driving on the freeway in L.A. one day and he had just asked me to marry him and I didn’t answer him,” Dickinson recalled in Bacharach’s book.

“You want to give me a nice birthday present?” Bacharach asked.

“I’ll try,” she said.

Bacharach then again proposed marriage.

Dickinson said that she laughed and, again, didn’t answer him.

“As we were driving,” Dickinson continued, “we saw this billboard for the opening of Hollywood Park and Burt said, ‘You know, the problem with getting married on my birthday is I wouldn’t be able to go to the track.’ It was so funny and adorable and who wouldn’t say yes to that?”

Bacharach did indeed go to Hollywood Park on his birthday. And then Burt Bacharach and Angie Dickinson flew to Las Vegas a couple of days later and got married in the wee hours of the morning.

“It was 3:45 in the morning by the time we got married,” Dickinson said. “If you want to call it a wedding. I mean, it was in a chapel that was also a grocery store. Oh, God, yes. The Silver Bell Chapel.”

Also in his autobiography, Bacharach wrote about how he first became a racehorse owner.

“Eventually I met up with Charlie Whittingham, one of the all-time great trainers,” Bacharach wrote. “I don’t think he would have paid that much attention to me but he liked Angie, so for $15,000, which would be about $45,000 now, Charlie bought me a horse named Battle Royal.”

The day before Bacharach flew to New York to start rehearsals for the play “Promises, Promises,” which had a four-year run on Broadway from 1968-72, Battle Royal made his first start for Bacharach.

“Angie and I went to Hollywood Park to watch Battle Royal run his first race under my colors, blue silks with two music notes on the back,” Bacharach wrote.

Battle Royal won, but just barely in a nail-biting photo finish. Bacharach described the feeling of winning that race as “incredible.”

Laffit Pincay Jr. rode Battle Royal. Bacharach became very good friends with both Pincay and Bill Shoemaker, two of racing’s all-time great jockeys.

In the early 1980s, Bacharach bred and raced Heartlight No. One. The filly was trained by Pedro Marti, a former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Laz Barrera.

Shoemaker rode Heartlight No. One when she made her career debut as a 2-1 favorite in a six-furlong maiden special weight at Santa Anita on Jan. 8, 1983. I put $100 to win on her. Heartlight No. One looked like a pretzel coming out of the starting gate that day. She finished third.

Heartlight No. One did not race again until she won a six-furlong maiden special weight race by seven lengths on June 4. That was the start of a five-race winning streak, all with Pincay aboard.

Off just a maiden sprint victory, Heartlight No, One took a substantial jump in class and stretched out to 1 1/8 miles in the Grade I Hollywood Oaks on the dirt July 10. She crushed her six opponents, winning by 12 lengths.

A couple of days after Heartlight No. One’s scintillating Hollywood Oaks performance, I called Bacharach to interview him about the filly. I was a writer for the Daily Racing Form at the time.

When I placed the call to Bacharach’s office, the receptionist asked me, “What’s this regarding?”

“One of his racehorses,” I replied.

The receptionist put me right through to Bacharach, as if the secret password was “racehorses.” During that first call I ever made to Bacharach, I learned that he was someone who loved talking about his horses.

After the Hollywood Oaks, Heartlight No. One raced on the grass for the first time and won a one-mile allowance race at Del Mar by 6 1/2 lengths on July 28. That was followed by a 3 1/2-length triumph in the Grade II Del Mar Oaks on the turf Aug. 20.

After the Del Mar Oaks, Heartlight No. One was then was sent to New York to take on her elders in the Grade I Ruffian Handicap on the dirt at Belmont Park on Sept. 25.

In his book, Bacharach wrote that Dinny Phipps, “head of The Jockey Club and a really powerful figure in horse racing in New York,” told Bacharach that he could not use his silks as they were because “you’re advertising yourself with the two music notes on the back of your silks.” An irked Bacharach made it clear this did not sit well with him, to say the least.

Phipps ultimately “waived the rule for me,” Bacharach wrote.

Heartlight No. One won the 1 1/8-mile Ruffian by one length. And then, in her final start of the year and her career, she lost the Grade I Beldame Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on the dirt Oct. 16 by a head when finishing second to the older Dance Number.

Voted a 1983 Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old filly, Heartlight No. One was named after “Heartlight,” a Top 10 song recorded by Neil Diamond in 1982. The song was written by Bacharach, Neil Diamond and Carole Bayer Sager.

Years later, Bacharach had back-to-back homebred starters in the Kentucky Derby, both trained by Hall of Famer Richard Mandella. Soul of the Matter finished fifth in the 1994 renewal, which was won by Go for Gin. Afternoon Deelites came in eighth behind the victorious Thunder Gulch the following year.

Soul of the Matter, who battled quarter cracks throughout his racing career, gave win-machine Cigar a mighty scare in the inaugural Dubai World Cup in 1996. Cigar had to work hard to prevail by a half-length.

Santa Anita offered wagering on that first Dubai World Cup. I put $100 to win on Soul of the Matter, who went off at 10-1. Unfortunately for me, Soul of the Matter had to settle for second in probably the finest performance of his career. The Dubai World Cup was one of Cigar’s victories during his remarkable 16-race winning streak.

“We had great times racing, with Soul of the Matter and Afternoon Deelites,” Mandella said after learning of Bacharach’s passing. “We became great friends and we continued that way. He was a great person, a great owner, he couldn’t have been better.”

Bacharach was married four times, first to Paula Stewart from 1953-58, then to Angie Dickinson from 1965-80, then to Carole Bayer Sager from 1982-91, then to Jane Hansen from 1993 until his death. Jane was Bacharach’s wife when Soul of the Matter and Afternoon Deelites started in the Kentucky Derby.

The day that Soul of the Matter ran for the roses in 1994, Bacharach found out in the Churchill Downs paddock that Mandella had not been paid in months. According to Bacharach, his business manager had dropped the ball in terms of paying the trainer.

“After that, I made sure the bills came directly to Jane, who I knew would take care of them properly,” Bacharach said.

Just last month, Bacharach’s light blue silks were in the winner’s circle following a stakes race at Santa Anita. Duvet Day, a 4-year-old Irish-bred filly sent away at odds of 13-1, came roaring from eighth to win the $102,000 Astra Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on the turf Jan. 21 for owners Burt Bacharach, Jane Bacharach and Richard Schatz.

Burt Barachach kindly helped those in need after a horrific 2017 fire in which 47 horses were killed and many people had their lives turned upside down at the San Luis Rey Downs training center in Southern California. Bacharach held a fundraiser in Del Mar.

For many years right up to his death, Bacharach generously supported a number of horse racing causes, such as Old Friends and the Edwin J. Gregson Foundation.

Old Friends is home to many retired racehorses. Afternoon Deelites had the distinction of being the oldest Thoroughbred senior citizen at Old Friends Equine in Kentucky until he was euthanized Tuesday (Feb. 14) due to complications from colic, Old Friends president and founder Michael Blowen announced Wednesday.

Afternoon Deelites’ death came just two weeks shy of his 32nd birthday,

Winner of the Grade I Hollywood Futurity at 2 and Grade I Malibu Stakes at 3 for Bacharach, Afternoon Deelites began his stud career in 1997 at Airdrie Stud in Kentucky. He then moved to Clear Creek Stud in Louisiana for the remainder of his stallion career. When Afternoon Deelites experienced fertility problems related to old age in 2011, he was sent to Old Friends courtesy of Clear Creek Stud’s Val Murrell.

“Thanks to Burt, his ex-wife Angie Dickinson and his widow, Jane, for loving Afternoon Deelites as much as we did,” Blowen said following the horse’s death.

The Gregson Foundation, under the leadership of former trainer Jenine Sahadi, has enhanced the quality of life for backstretch workers and their families at California tracks for many years.

The last time I saw Bacharach was at the Gregson Foundation dinner near Del Mar on Aug. 9, 2010. I had been asked to present an award to Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally that evening. At first, I declined the offer. But emcee Frank Mirahmadi kept after me to do it. And let me tell you, I’m so glad that Frank talked me into it. Attending that function led to a memory that I’ll treasure for as long as I live.

Not long after the awards dinner was over, Frank and I headed to the bar. After a few minutes, Bacharach walked past our table. Bacharach went past us quickly enough to get a big Beyer, yet he managed to say “hi, Jon.”

“Hi, Burt,” I responded in a knee-jerk reaction.

I was stunned. My immediate thought was, “Did the man who co-wrote ‘Walk On By’ just do exactly that?” I honestly was surprised that he even remembered me because I hadn’t seen him in many years.

But it’s what happened a short time later that made that evening truly memorable for me.

There was a piano in a small dining area adjacent to the bar. The piano was locked up. But thank goodness Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith was resourceful enough to find someone to get that piano unlocked.

It was after 11 p.m. as Bacharach sat down and began to play the piano and sing to about 10 of us. Talk about an intimate setting.

One of the several songs Bacharach played that evening was “Alfie.” I know that was one of the songs because I took a video of him singing it with my cell phone.

What made the evening all the more special, Bacharach chatted with us between songs. At one point I mentioned to him that one of his songs had been No. 1 on this very date 40 years ago.

“Really? Which one?” he asked.

“Close to You,” I said.

“Oh, the Carpenters did a great job with that song,” he said.

“Close to You” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 25, 1970, and stayed in that position for four weeks.

I can still remember one hot evening in the summer of 1970 when I was slowly moving the dial on my transistor radio from one side to the other and heard that song being played on station after station after station.

Back to that magical summer evening in 2010 when Bacharach played and sang for a small number of us, Mike Smith said that he’d always wanted to learn how to play the piano.

“Well, then you should do that,” Bacharach said. “Take lessons, Mike! Why not? It’s never too late to do something like that if it’s something that you really want to do.”

One thing Bacharach made clear in his autobiography was how much he loved being involved in horse racing.

“If you look at the photographs on the walls of my house, I’m always smiling in the pictures taken after one of my horses has won a race,” Bacharach wrote. “For me, this is still one of the greatest thrills in my life.”

And when I was one of the few people lucky enough on a summer night in 2010 to have the great Burt Bacharach play the piano and sing for us, it’s still one of the greatest thrills in my life.

KENTUCKY DERBY TOP 10

Cave Rock has returned to my Kentucky Derby Top 10 this week. That’s because he finally had his first published workout of 2023. He worked four furlongs in a crisp :47.80 on Monday (Feb. 13) at Santa Anita.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Cave Rock won a Del Mar maiden sprint at first asking last summer by six lengths. The Kentucky-bred son of Eclipse Award winner Arrogate then won the Grade I Del Mar Futurity by 5 1/4 lengths and the Grade I American Pharoah Stakes by the same margin.

Cave Rock has not started since he finished second as a 2-5 favorite in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland on Nov. 4.

I think it’s important that Cave Rock’s first 2023 workout was at four furlongs, not three furlongs. In this respect, he seems to be on about the same schedule, or perhaps even a little ahead of schedule, vis-a-vis American Pharoah’s training early in 2015.

I installed American Pharoah as the 2-1 morning-line favorite in a large field of 13 entered in the Grade I BC Juvenile at Santa Anita in 2014. But he was scratched due to a bruised left front foot.

American Pharoah trained at Santa Anita early in 2015 while preparing for his return to the races for Baffert. The colt’s first two 2015 workouts were both at three furlongs. He was timed in :36.20 on Feb. 2, then :36.40 on Feb. 9.

After those two three-furlong drills, American Pharoah worked five furlongs in 1:00.40 on Feb. 15, followed by six furlongs in 1:12.40 on Feb. 21, seven furlongs in 1:23.80 on Feb. 27, then six furlongs in a rapid 1:10.40 on March 6.

With six 2015 workouts under his belt, American Pharoah made his 3-year-old debut in Oaklawn Park’s Grade II Rebel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on a sloppy track March 14. He won by 6 1/4 lengths.

American Pharoah returned to Oaklawn and won the Grade I Arkansas Derby by eight lengths at 1 1/8 miles April 11, then swept the Triple Crown to end an agonizingly long 37-year drought in the coveted series.

Based on the American Pharoah model, it appears to me that Cave Rock still has time -- but just barely -- to be able to run in the Kentucky Derby on May 6. However, it appears that if Cave Rock has even the slightest hiccup along the way, he won’t be ready in time for the 1 1/4-mile classic.

My Kentucky Derby Top 10 for this week is below:

1. Arabian Knight
2. Forte
3. Banishing
4. Tapit Trice
5. Cave Rock
6. Instant Coffee
7. Geaux Rocket Ride
8. Hejazi
9. Reincarnate
10. Verifying

Bubbling Under My Top 10 (in alphabetical order):

Angel of Empire, Arctic Elegance, Blazing Sevens, Carmel Road, Curly Jack, Damon’s Mound, Disarm, Dubyuhnell, Eyeing Clover, Faustin, General Jim, Gun Pilot, Hard to Figure, Harlocap, Hit Show, Kingsbarns, Litigate, National Treasure, Please Be Nice, Practical Move, Recruiter, Red Route One, Rocket Can, Shopper’s Revenge, Skinner, Tall Boy, Two Phil’s, Worcester, Victory Formation.

Newgate drops off my Top 10 this week after racing manager Tom Ryan announced via Twitter last week that Newgate has been sidelined with a “minor hock issue” following his win in Santa Anita’s Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Feb. 4 for Baffert.

Veterinarians have “recommended 60/90 days before resuming training,” Ryan tweeted. “His prognosis to return is excellent. We look forward to seeing him back this summer.”

I’m looking forward to seeing what Banishing will do in a Fair Grounds first-level allowance/optional claiming at 1 1/16 miles on the Risen Star Stakes undercard on Saturday (Feb. 18). He was scratched from a Jan. 21 Fair Grounds race at the same class level and distance due to getting cast in his stall and “requiring sutures to close a hind-leg cut,” according to T.D. Thornton of the Thoroughbred Daily News.

Brendan Walsh trains Banishing, a Kentucky-bred Ghostzapper colt. Obviously I am very high on Banishing, as evidenced by ranking him No. 3 on my Top 10.

Banishing looks like he will be running against a tough foe in First Defender this Saturday. Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, First Defender won a Fair Grounds maiden race by 5 1/4 lengths at six furlongs when unveiled on Jan. 21. He was credited with an 83 Beyer Speed Figure. Banishing recorded a 90 Beyer when he won a Fair Grounds maiden special weight race by 8 1/2 lengths at 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 26.

RISEN STAR SELECTIONS

A bulky field of 14 is entered in Fair Grounds’ Grade II Risen Star Stakes on Saturday (Feb. 14). The distance is 1 1/8 miles.

Victory Formation, who is three for three, had the misfortunate to draw post 13. Brad Cox trains the Kentucky-bred Tapwrit colt. Victory Formation is coming off a three-length win in Oaklawn Park’s Smarty Jones Stakes at one mile on Jan. 1, a race in which he posted a 90 Beyer Speed Figure.

Cox said this week that he’s not too concerned about Victory Formation’s wide draw.

“I think he should be able to break well and get a good position,” Cox said. “I’m not too worried about the post. He’s very quick from the gate and broke really sharp in all three of his starts.”

Nevertheless, I’m inclined to pick someone other than Victory Formation due to his possibly problematic post position and his expected low odds. He’s the 3-1 morning-line favorite.

I am going with Two Phil’s as my top pick. Two Phil’s, unlike Victory Formation or Risen Star entrant Harlocap, benefits from having raced over Fair Grounds’ main track. Two Phil’s finished second to Instant Coffee (No. 6 on my Top 10) in Fair Grounds’ Grade III Lecomte Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 21.

Prior to the Lecomte, Two Phil’s splashed home to a 5 1/4-length victory in the Grade III Street Sense Stakes on a sloppy track Oct. 30. Larry Rivelli trains the Kentucky-bred Hard Spun colt.

My selections for the Risen Star Stakes are below:

1. Two Phil’s (8-1 morning line)
2. Harlocap (8-1)
3. Victory Formation (3-1)
4. Tapit’s Conquest (6-1)

Harlocap has been shipped to New Orleans from Southern California. He’s also changed trainers from Baffert to Asmussen.

Regarding Harlocap, Asmussen joked this week that “somebody will point out what number he is, and I hope to put the saddle on the right one.”

On a serious note, Asmussen added that Harlocap, who arrived at Fair Grounds on Monday night, “had a huge work the other day,” referring to the colt’s six-furlong drill in 1:11.80 at Santa Anita last Saturday (Feb. 11).

A Kentucky-bred son of Triple Crown winner Justify, Harlocap lost his first two starts, then looked terrific when he won a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight race by 4 1/2 lengths at Santa Anita on Jan. 22.

Cox also trains Risen Star entrants Tapit’s Conquest and Angel of Empire.

Tapit’s Conquest finished a close second to Determinedly (likewise entered in the Risen Star) in a second-level Fair Grounds allowance/optional claiming contest on Jan. 21. I think there is a possibility that we have not seen anywhere close to the best from Tapit’s Conquest yet. Cavalierly dismiss him in the Risen Star at your own peril.

And watch out for Angel of Empire. He finished second, three lengths behind Victory Formation, in the Smarty Jones. But I will not be surprised if Angel of Empire relishes going a furlong farther in the Risen Star.

“I think he’s going to like the mile and an eighth based on his physicality, being a big, tall horse with a lot of leg,” Cox said of Angel of Empire this week.

FORTE AGAIN INDIVIDUAL FAVORITE FUTURE WAGER

Just as he was in Pool 2 and Pool 3, Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old male Forte was the favorite among 39 individual horses in Pool 4 of Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) when betting closed last Sunday (Feb. 12). His odds were 8-1.

Below are the individual favorites in Pool 1 through Pool 4:

12-1 Extra Anejo (Pool 1 on Nov. 3)
10-1 Forte (Pool 2 on Nov. 27)
7-1 Forte (Pool 3 on Jan. 22)
8-1 Forte (Pool 4 on Feb. 12)

The “all other 3-year-old colts and geldings” option in Pool 4 was backed down to 2-1 actual favoritism. One of the reasons for strong wagering support for this option is the fact that horses currently trained by Baffert were not among the 39 individual horses as a result of the trainer being banned at this time from the 2023 Kentucky Derby.

Horses running for a trainer suspended by Churchill Downs are not eligible to earn qualifying points toward the Kentucky Derby. During a two-day hearing held in Louisville on Feb. 2-3, Baffert sought an injunction with respect to the suspension imposed on him by Churchill. As of this writing on Feb. 15, the judge has yet to issue a ruling on the matter. If Baffert’s request for an injunction is denied, the only way for horses currently trained by him to earn Kentucky Derby qualifying points will be for them to be transferred to a different trainer by the end of February.

I wrote last week that if impressive debut winner Geaux Rocket Ride “does end up around 40-1 (his morning-line price), I probably will put some money on him.” Even though his odds turned out to be quite a lot lower at 25-1, I went ahead and put some money on him. I think so much of Geaux Rocket Ride (as so many others evidently did, judging from his surprisingly strong future wagering support) that I just couldn’t resist playing him.

The undefeated filly Hoosier Philly was listed at 50-1 on the morning line in KDFW Pool 4. I wrote last week that “considering how freakishly talented she has looked while winning all three of her starts to date and the way that trainer Tom Amoss has raved about her, I’m inclined to roll the dice [that she might run in the Kentucky Derby] and put a few -- and I mean just a few -- bucks on her at a big price.”

Well, Hoosier Philly ended up being nowhere close to her 50-1 morning line. She closed as the second favorite among individual horses at only 11-1. No way would I consider putting any money on her at such a ridiculously low price when she probably will run in the Kentucky Oaks rather than the Kentucky Derby.

Hoosier Philly is scheduled to make her 2023 debut this Saturday (Feb. 18) in Fair Grounds’ Rachel Alexandra Stakes.

I made three other bets in Pool 4.

I played Banishing at 27-1 after having already put some money on him at that same price in Pool 3.

After Kingsbarns was much the best when winning a Tampa Bay Downs first-level allowance/optional claiming race at one mile and 40 yards by 7 3/4 lengths, I bet him in Pool 4. He closed at 35-1. Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher trains the Kentucky-bred Union Rags colt.

And I was not about to miss the boat with Practical Move at a mouth-watering 83-1 in Pool 4, especially after he fired a bullet five-furlong workout in :59.00 at Santa Anita last Saturday (Feb. 11). Tim Yakteen trains the Grade II Los Alamitos Futurity winner, who is No. 4 in Secretariat.com Steve Haskin’s Derby rankings, below only Forte, Tapit Trice and Arabian Knight.

Practical Move’s “blazing [Feb. 11] workout hinted at a promising 3-year-old season,” Daily Racing Form’s Brad Free wrote.

“Practical Move opened up on Bob Baffert-trained Hejazi on the backstretch, coasted to the finish as the workmate caught up, then rebroke after the wire,” Free added.

Yakteen said he wasn’t expecting Practical Move to have company for the workout.

“He worked absolutely terrific, came home [his final quarter-mile] in :23 flat,” Yakteen told Free. “Fantastic drill. We went three-quarters in 1:11, out [seven-eighths]” in 1:25.

After making a large wager on “all others” in Pool 1 (4-5 odds), Pool 2 (4-5) and Pool 3 (2-1), I did not bet that option at 2-1 this time. The closer we get to the race, the less attractive the “all others” option is to me.

One 3-year-old I’m glad is among the “all others” in Pool 1, Pool 2 and Pool 3 is Skinner, who received a 95 Beyer Speed Figure when winning a one-mile maiden special weight race going away by 3 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita last Sunday (Feb. 12).

Trained by John Shirreffs, Skinner had not started since finishing sixth in the Grade I American Pharoah Stakes last Oct. 8. As a maiden, the Kentucky-bred Curlin colt was good enough to finish third to Cave Rock and National Treasure in the Grade I Del Mar Futurity on Oct. 8.

Churchill Downs, which has offered pari-mutuel future wagering going back to 1999, expanded the number of betting options from 20 to 40 for the 2023 Run for the Roses.

Two more KDFW pools will be conducted this year: Pool 5 (March 10-12) and Pool 6 (March 30-April 1). The lone Kentucky Oaks Future will coincide with KDFW Pool 5.

Below are the final odds reported by Churchill Downs for Pool 4 of the 2023 KDFW:

2-1 All Other 3-Year-Old Colts and Geldings
8-1 Forte
11-1 Hoosier Philly*
15-1 Tapit Trice
22-1 Instant Coffee
23-1 Victory Formation
25-1 Geaux Rocket Ride
27-1 Banishing
27-1 Blazing Sevens
28-1 Hit Show
28-1 Litigate
34-1 Verifying
35-1 Kingsbarns
35-1 Rocket Can
43-1 Giant Mischief
46-1 Shadow Dragon
48-1 Mage
49-1 Curly Jack
50-1 Disarm
51-1 General Jim
58-1 Red Route One
63-1 Tapit’s Conquest
66-1 Gun Pilot
73-1 Eyeing Clover
76-1 Cyclone Mischief
78-1 Arctic Arrogance
83-1 Practical Move
90-1 Dubyuhnell
90-1 Shopper’s Revenge
91-1 First Defender
93-1 Slip Mahoney
95-1 Two Phil’s
97-1 Gulfport
104-1 Jaces Road
112-1 Angel of Empire
119-1 Confidence Game
124-1 Determinedly
158-1 Funstastic Again
165-1 Game Change
186-1 Frosted Departure

*filly

TOP 10 IN THIS WEEK’S NTRA TOP THOROUGHBRED POLL

Rank Points Horse (First-Place Votes)

1. 313 Art Collector (20)
2. 247 Taiba (9)
3. 181 Defunded
4. 167 Country Grammer (3)
5. 140 Atone
6. 117 Cody’s Wish
7. 110 Nest
8. 71 Elite Power
9. 59 Clairiere
10. 57 Queen Goddess

TOP 10 IN THIS WEEK’S NTRA TOP THREE-YEAR-OLD POLL

Rank Points Horse (First-Place Votes)

1. 303 Forte (17)
2. 302 Arabian Knight (14)
3. 229 Instant Coffee (1)
3. 127 Cave Rock
5. 117 Rocket Can
6. 107 Victory Formation
7. 97 Hit Show
7. 86 Reincarnate
9. 77 Blazing Sevens
10. 71 Litigate