Oaklawn Park, forced to cancel a number of race dates this month–including this coming weekend's live racing–due to winter weather, has moved the entire GIII Southwest S. card to Saturday, Feb. 3. A GI Kentucky Derby points race, the $800,000 Southwest is worth 20 points to the winner and points on a scale of 10-6-4-2 to the second- through fifth-place finishers. Although the Southwest was originally scheduled for Jan. 27 and racing is currently scheduled for that date, several stakes races have been reshuffled at the Hot Springs oval due to the cancellations.
All three Southwest undercard black-type events have also been moved to Feb. 3. They include the Martha Washington S. for 3-year-old fillies offering points on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis toward the GI Kentucky Oaks, as well as the American Beauty S. for filles and mares three and up and the King Cotton S. for horses three and up.
“The Southwest and Martha Washington are important preps for our 3-year-old stakes program,” said Oaklawn President Louis Cella. “They are also important points races for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks. It is important for our horsemen to have ample opportunities to train their horses properly for the races. Not only has this winter weather forced us to cancel racing, but our horsemen have also missed some training days.”
The Southwest will join three other 20-point Derby preps also scheduled for Feb. 3: the GIII Withers S. at Aqueduct, the GIII Robert B. Lewis S. at Santa Anita, and the GIII Holy Bull S. at Gulfstream. The entire Southwest card will be drawn Sunday, Jan. 28 with the same races originally listed in the condition book for Jan. 27.
The GIII Bayakoa S., originally scheduled for Feb. 3, has been bumped back to Feb. 2 to accommodate the new schedule. In addition, the listed Fifth Season S., originally set for this Saturday, Jan. 20, will now be run Jan. 27. It will be redrawn.
Live racing at Oaklawn is scheduled to resume next Friday, Jan. 26 with a first post at 12:30 p.m. CST.
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