Trainer Greg Compton waited more than 14 years for his first career Oaklawn double. He waited less than a month for a second.
Compton saddled two winners April 21 to increase his meet total to 10, a single-season personal Oaklawn best. Compton won nine races at the 2021-2022 Oaklawn meeting. A North Little Rock, Ark., native, Compton started his first horse and recorded his first victory at Oaklawn in 2009. His first Oaklawn double came March 26.
“Hopefully, we can get a little lucky and maybe get a couple more,” Compton said last Saturday morning.
Compton's April 21 double came with favored I'm the Boss of Me ($6.40), among the trainer's most accomplished horses, and favored Polterer ($6.80), a three-time winner at the meeting. Compton co-owns both horses with major clients Danny Brown and his fiancée, Charis Brenneman, both of Hot Springs.
Compton claimed I'm the Boss of Me for $50,000 out of a Dec. 31, 2021, victory at Oaklawn. Since being claimed, I'm the Boss of Me has won two $106,000 allowance races at Oaklawn and finished second, beaten a half-length, in the $150,000 American Beauty Stakes for older female sprinters Jan. 21 at Oaklawn. I'm the Boss of Me also finished third in the inaugural $250,000 Matron Stakes for older female sprinters March 31 at Oaklawn.
“She had strong numbers on The (Ragozin) sheets,” Compton said, explaining the claim. “She looked versatile. Actually, her best number on the sheet was going a flat mile at Los Alamitos at the time. She has definitely turned into a very solid sprinter.”
Compton said I'm the Boss of Me will “probably” be pointed to the $100,000 Skipat Stakes at six furlongs May 20 at Pimlico.
Polterer, a 5-year-old son of Ghostzapper, began his racing career at Woodbine in Canada before Brown purchased the gelding for $110,000 at the 2021 OBS winter mixed sale. Compton has won five races with Polterer, including three consecutive this season at Oaklawn by a combined 13 lengths. The last two victories have been starter-allowance routes.
“It (purchase) is looking really good now,” Compton said. “He's eligible for the starters for the next two years, $10,000 or less. It looks like he's found a home.”
The success of I'm the Boss of Me and Polterer has also helped Compton establish a single-season Oaklawn personal best for purse earnings ($447,029 through Sunday) during the 2022-2023 meeting that began Dec. 9. Compton said his stable has fluctuated between 10 and 14.
“Grateful for what we've got,” Compton said. “Everybody's run pretty well.”
Compton has made Oaklawn and Delaware his year-round circuit since 2017. He had previously been based in Kentucky after the Oaklawn meeting ended. Compton won 13 of 65 starts at the 2022 Delaware Park meeting (May 25-Nov. 5). Compton, Brown, and Brenneman won 13 races to narrowly miss winning the Delaware Park owner's title.
“Delaware to Oaklawn, it just fits really well in my schedule,” Compton said. “I'm in one spot for six months. I'm in the other spot for six months. Here, I run 100 percent out of my own stalls because there's really nowhere else to run around here. Then up there, I'm probably running, over the last couple of years, 95 percent of my starts out of my own stall at Delaware Park.”
Compton has had at least one victory at every Oaklawn meeting since 2009 and, through Sunday, had 49 overall.
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