The 2021 goal for By My Standards is straightforward, trainer Bret Calhoun said Tuesday afternoon. It's a Grade 1 victory.
The first step comes in the $400,000 Oaklawn Mile for older horses Saturday at Oaklawn. A four-time Grade 2 winner and millionaire, By My Standards will be making his first start since finishing seventh in the $500,000 Clark Stakes (G1) Nov. 27 at Churchill Downs. He is the 5-2 program favorite for the Oaklawn Mile, which has drawn a field of nine.
“It's kind of a starting point,” Calhoun said. “Obviously, our main objective this year is to win a Grade 1. A lot of Grade 1s aren't until a little later in the year, so we've got to find us a roadmap, the best possible way to win a Grade 1. We just wanted to get a race under his belt, get him started and then see where our options are from there.”
A 5-year-old son of Goldencents, By My Standards won the $1 million Louisiana Derby (G2) in 2019 at Fair Grounds. Sandwiched around a victory in the $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses last May at Oaklawn were scores in the $400,000 New Orleans Classic Stakes (G2) at Fair Grounds and the $400,000 Alysheba Stakes (G2) Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs. Prior to the Clark, By My Standards ran eighth in the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland.
“Not really sure why he didn't perform up to our expectations the last couple of races,” Calhoun said. “The Breeders' Cup, you can kind of throw that out a little bit. The track was a little strange, extremely biased, speed-biased, so I don't know what to make of that. The last race he didn't fire, either. Honestly, he couldn't have been training better. I would have never pointed toward those spots if he wasn't just training fantastic, which he was. We were a little puzzled by it.”
Calhoun said By My Standards underwent a “complete physical” and checked out fine.
“We decided to give him a little break and that brought us to this point,” Calhoun said.
That would be a return trip to Hot Springs. Calhoun said he'd been shopping some time for a comeback spot and the Oaklawn Mile was “about the first race we could make it to.” Most of By My Standards' races have come at 1 1/16 miles or farther.
“You've got to play it week-by-week,” Calhoun said. “The weather plays a part in it. Obviously, we all got hit hard with some weather this winter and we lost a little bit here and there. But, actually, at the end of the day, everything fell into place to make this race. I know a flat mile is probably less than ideal for him, but it's actually ideal for his comeback race, I believe, so we're really looking forward to that. Flat mile, good purse and the fact that we're able to run on Lasix. We think that's important for an old horse coming off a long layoff.”
By My Standards was based this winter at Fair Grounds before joining Calhoun's Oaklawn division March 29. By My Standards had an easy half-mile breeze (:51.60) last Sunday. A winner of 6 of 14 starts and $1,829,430, By My Standards races for Allied Racing Stable LLC (Kentuckian Chester Thomas) and Spendthrift Farm, which stands Goldencents.
The projected Oaklawn Mile field from the rail out: Long Range Toddy, Jon Court to ride, 117 pounds, 20-1 on the morning line; Gun It, Ricardo Santana Jr., 117, 8-1; Wells Bayou, Florent Geroux, 124, 4-1; Rushie, Joel Rosario, 124, 3-1; Blackberry Wine, David Cabrera, 121, 5-1; By My Standards, Gabriel Saez, 124, 5-2; Pioneer Spirit, Ramon Vazquez, 124, 6-1; Home Base, Francisco Arrieta, 117, 15-1; and The Sound, Martin Garcia, 121, 12-1.
Long Range Toddy (first division of the 2019 Rebel at Oaklawn), Wells Bayou (2020 Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds) and Rushie (2020 Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs) are also Grade 2 winners.
Probable post time for the Oaklawn Mile, which goes as the ninth of 13 races, is 4:49 p.m. (Central). Last year's Oaklawn Mile runner-up, Improbable, went on to capture three Grade 1 events and was named the country's champion older dirt male.
The post By My Standards Returns From Layoff In Saturday’s Oaklawn Mile appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
