Horse Racing Capsules: Connemara morning-line favorite in Lane's End

"He always trained like he was talented enough ... but he hadn't put it all together at the time we had to nominate, so that's why I left him off," Romans said.

Apparently, his horse took the snub personally.

Vow to Wager responded by breaking his maiden at Turfway Park on Jan. 31, then backed it up with a win in the $100,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes on Feb. 27.

A solid performance over the Polytrack in the $500,000 Lane's End Stakes on Saturday would likely catapult him into the Kentucky Derby picture.

Then again, Romans isn't ready just yet to put up the money for a late Triple Crown nomination.

Vow to Wager will go off as a 20-1 long shot and start from the outside post when the 10-horse field of 3-year-olds heads to the starting gate for the 1 1/8-mile race.

Connemara, a winner three times in four career starts — all on synthetic surfaces — is the morning-line favorite at 9-5 and will start from the rail for trainer Todd Pletcher.

The chestnut colt by Giant's Causeway won the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Park on Feb. 20, avenging the only loss of his career by pulling away from Ranger Heartley at the line to win by 1¼ lengths.

The two will meet again on Saturday. Ranger Heartley, trained by John Sadler, will start from the fifth post at 6-1 odds.

"He's a talented horse and he sure likes the synthetic so I mean he's going to be competitive," Romans said of Connemara, who is returning to Turfway after winning the first race of his career there as a 2-year-old last fall.

Pletcher already has a handful of Derby candidates — including Fountain of Youth winner Eskendereya — and isn't quite ready to add Connemara to the list as he searches for that elusive Derby win.

"If he does well, whether he goes in the Derby would probably depend more on how he did training at Churchill following the race," Pletcher said.

Romans hopes he gets to have the same dilemma, mostly because the problem with Vow to Wager has never been his training.

The colt has little problem posting blazing times in workouts and seems just as comfortable on dirt as he does on Polytrack.

"He trains very well on the dirt," Romans said. "He's in Churchill training right now and seems to really get over the ground well. He's had a couple of good works there and I don't think it's the poly."

Instead, Romans thinks his horse's problems have all been in his head.

Vow to Wager didn't hit the board in his three starts as a 2-year-old

Over the winter, however, the light appeared to come on. He won easily with jockey John McKee in the saddle in January then followed it up with a win in the Battaglia four weeks later when front-runner Codoy was disqualified for interference.

"My pony continued to the wire, but he was just — everywhere we went (Codoy) was running box on us," Romans said. "The horse kept running and I was real happy with him."

Romans figures Vow to Wager will have to finish first or second to warrant a shot at the Derby, and it won't be easy in a Connemara field that includes Dean's Kitten and Northern Giant, who are co-second choices at 5-1.

While Vow to Wager is surging, Kettle River is slumping after finishing eighth in the Sham Stakes.

"He'll need to show big improvement and I'm hoping he rebounds here; that's pretty much it in a nutshell," said trainer Eoin Harty. "The Lane's End won't be his last shot as a stakes horse, but it would be his last as far as the Kentucky Derby is concerned (if he doesn't run well)."

Dubai's new horse racing surface wins praise

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Outside Dubai's new temple to horse racing, guests enjoyed an annual white tablecloth breakfast as a prelude to the world's richest races.

Inside, the dress code was hard hats and coveralls as workers scrambled to get the $2 billion Meydan course ready for Saturday's stakes.

The blitz to finish the track — everything from installing windows to planting flowers on Thursday — is an indication of how much unknown territory faces the field in this year's Dubai World Cup and its $10 million centerpiece race.

Many of the jockeys and trainers have had just a few days to get familiar with the Meydan Racecourse's Tapeta surface, which replaces the dirt at the now-razed Nad al Sheba track. The initial responses have been generally upbeat.

Aaron Gryder, who rode Well Armed to a stunning 14-length World Cup victory last year, praised the consistency of Tapeta and predicted a fast running for the 1 1/4-mile race.

"We're very pleased with the track," said Gryder, who this year will ride the Chilean-bred entry Amor De Pobre, which has recently been racing in the Gulf. "The horse wants to know that the track will react the same way with each stride. This surface has been very consistent that way."

Mick Kinane, who retired last year after a 35-year jockey career that included a Belmont Stakes victory, said the Meydan track showed "no real bias" toward either dirt or turf specialists.

"It's a very open World Cup," Kinane said. "It's the most open World Cup we've seen."

Attention remains focused on Gio Ponti, a two-time 2009 Eclipse Award winner from Castleton Lyons Farm in Kentucky. The 5-year-old has three consecutive runner-up finishes, including a narrow loss to Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup Classic in November.

A possible rival, Gitano Hernando, comes to Dubai on a roll — winning three consecutive races going back to the Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita in October. All the victories were on synthetic surfaces.

The 4-year-old colt's trainer, Marco Botti, was "very pleased" with Meydan's track. But he declined to give any pre-race strategies after several training sessions on the Tapeta.

"It's an open contest," Botti said. "We will play our cards."

Minute Limit wins Santa Anita feature

ARCADIA, Calif. — Minute Limit rallied on the far outside to beat Manhattan Beach by a length and win Thursday's $49,400 feature for fillies and mares at Santa Anita.

Ridden by Joel Rosario, Minute Limit covered 6½ furlongs on the turf in 1:14.23 and paid $5.80, $2.80 and $2.20. Manhattan Beach returned $2.80 and $2.20 as the 3-2 wagering favorite. Lemon Supreme was another head back in third and earned $3.40 to show.

The victory gave trainer John Sadler his meet-leading 33rd victory, seven more than second-place Bob Baffert. Mike Mitchell saddled two winners on the card.

Minute Limit earned $29,400, increasing the 4-year-old filly's career total to $100,313, with three wins in 10 starts.

Announcer calls 20,000th straight race at Oaklawn