Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest Stakes, 1 1/8 miles, Oaklawn Park, Feb. 17 (10 Derby eligibility points to the winner, 4 for second, 2 for third, 1 for fourth) Tapiture, who broke his maiden last fall while winning the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs, was on the muscle for his 2014 debut, aggressively winning this 1 1/16-mile event by 4 1/4 lengths over heavily favored Strong Mandate at Oaklawn Park on Monday, Feb. 17. Breaking well from post 1 under Ricardo Santana Jr., and saving ground while six different horses were within two lengths of the lead through the first six furlongs, Tapiture took a slight lead entering the far turn, opened up a comfortable margin in the upper stretch, and was not threatened while drifting out in the final sixteenth. [ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays] Fractional splits were 23.45 for the quarter, 47.92 for the half, 1:13.06 for three-quarters and 1:38.59 for the mile, and he finished the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.95. Strong Mandate, third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last fall and a winner over Tapiture early in their careers, was making his 2014 debut as the even-money favorite. The son of Tiznow did make a bold move on the backstretch while very wide under Joel Rosario to reach a good striking position on the final turn. But, after taking over second from Ride On Curlin in the upper stretch, he could not threaten the winner in the drive. Never worse than fourth in seven career races, including a sprint win over the Oaklawn surface Jan. 12, Ride On Curlin was extremely wide while moving from seventh around the first turn to a slight lead on the backstretch. While he remained in a three-way battle for the lead with the winner and a tiring Tanzanite Cat around the final turn, Ride On Curlin could not stay with Tapiture or Strong Mandate in the upper stretch, yet held on for third, 10 1/4 lengths behind the winner. Coastline, third as the favorite in the one-mile Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Jan. 20, was in good position throughout but weakened steadily through the stretch to finish fourth. Tanzanite Cat, winner of the Smarty Jones, made his bid on the far turn, but had no excuse, finishing fifth. Of the rest, previously unbeaten Bourbonize was never in contention from his outside post, but gained his best stride late to finish a distant sixth, and Fire Starter, who had a troubled trip when fifth in the Smarty Jones, struggled with his stride while last in the 11-horse field and finished eighth, less than three lengths out of third. At the bottom line, trainer Steve Asmussen has a promising colt in Tapiture, especially if he can get the colt to relax a bit more during the early stages. Asmussen expects to bring Tapiture back for the $600,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn on March 15. Trainer D. Wayne Lukas similarly was encouraged by Strong Mandate’s effort and indicated that the Rebel would be his next likely start. Trainer William Gowan is entertaining similar Rebel thoughts after Ride On Curlin stayed in the contest for most of the journey. But all of these horses may have to deal with one or more of several lightly raced highly ranked Derby prospects shipping in from California for the Rebel, including perhaps Kobe’s Back, trained by John Sadler, and Bob Baffert’s Bayern or Chitu. This Saturday: Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes, 1 1/16 miles, Gulfstream Park                          Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes,  1 1/16 miles,  Fair Grounds