Arrieta Sweeps Final Four Races At Oaklawn Friday

Jockey Francisco Arrieta recorded his biggest career day at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark., after sweeping the final four races on Friday's nine-race opening-day program, including the inaugural $150,000 Advent Stakes for 2-year-old sprinters aboard Kavod ($8.40) for trainer Chris Hartman.

Arrieta, 33, recorded a riding triple, his previous single-day Oaklawn best, on closing day of the 2021 meeting, May 1.

“Unbelievable,” Arrieta said following the Advent, Oaklawn's first stake for 2-year-olds since 1973.

Arrieta also won the sixth race aboard favored Botswana ($5.40) for trainer Bentley Combs, seventh race aboard favored Hypersport ($4.40) for trainer Ingrid Mason and the ninth race aboard Jets a Ginnin ($12) for trainer Scott Becker. The four-bagger pushed Arrieta's purse earnings this year to more than $5 million, a career high.

A native of Venezuela, Arrieta began riding in the United States in 2012 and had ridden extensively the past few years in New Mexico, Arizona, and Minnesota before hiring agent Jay Fedor and changing circuits. Arrieta relocated to Oaklawn for the first time for the 2021 meeting and made a huge splash in the rider standings, finishing third in victories (50) and purse earnings ($3,100,250). Arrieta recorded his first career Oaklawn stakes victory in last April's $200,000 Bachelor for 3-year-old sprinters aboard Jaxon Traveler for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Arrieta was based in Kentucky for the first time following last season's Oaklawn meet.

“I felt like it was a good move coming here,” Arrieta said. “I've been growing here. I was jumping around. It's my second year here, so I feel like I'm home now. A lot of people know me already. I've been riding for the same people in Kentucky and they're coming back, so now they know me and trust me. Hopefully, it will be better than last year.”

Arrieta was leading rider in 2019 at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., and won 250 races overall that year to rank eighth nationally.

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Rivalry Between Elle Z, Yes It’s Ginger Resumes In Saturday’s Pan Zareta

A ghost of Christmas past is oft-mentioned each December around Fair Grounds. Not just because she died on Christmas Day, but for the way she died and the tragedy of a career and lineage cut short. Pan Zareta, North America's record-holder with 76 wins, caught a deadly case of pneumonia at age 8. She had transitioned from racing to become a broodmare, but after failing to get in foal, she was returned to training at Fair Grounds. And at Fair Grounds she remains, buried under the infield grass and celebrated every year by the circuit's best turf sprinting fillies and mares in the $75,000 Pan Zareta Stakes.

A quality field of 11 female turf sprinters are programmed for Saturday's feature at Fai Grounds Race Course & Slots. M Bar O LLC's Elle Z, Mike Diliberto's lukewarm morning line favorite at 7-2, and Brilliant Racing & Tagg Team Racing's Yes It's Ginger (5-1) have met a few times before. There were 10 dominant lengths between them when they first met, favoring Elle Z. Then it was 1 and 1/4 gallant lengths between them favoring Yes It's Ginger in their most recent meeting.

With a final time .045 seconds off the Ellis Park course record that day, Yes It's Ginger's connections aimed for Fall graded stakes at Kentucky Downs and Keeneland. Neither came up well for Yes It's True's five-year-old mare.

“I don't think she cared for the surface that day [at Keeneland],” trainer Greg Foley said. “You kinda got to throw that race out. Even the Kentucky Downs race before, a little further than she wants to go. She came out of the races fine and we've freshened her up in between. She looks good, coat's good, and hopefully she'll be good on Saturday–we think she will.”

Looking at the last two races, bettors might assume Yes It's Ginger's form has departed as well. 6 ½ furlongs runs more like 7 furlongs at Kentucky Downs, then she ran in the drenched and downpouring conditions at Keeneland. Good excuses? Yes, but the fields have not corroborated the case made. Besides Change of Control, none of the other 22 horses have won since. Will this be the return to her masterful Ellis Park performance?

“I think that's the same kind of setup we're hoping for Saturday,” Foley said. “She ran a really big race that day–you felt good every step of the way.”

Stories of the Pan Zareta's wins almost always begin, “She broke to the lead…” There's no other spot a turf sprint champion wants to be, right?

In Saturday's 56th running of the Queen of Turf's eponymous stakes race, the catbird seat looks to be just off the pace and to the outside. And if things go according to Yes It's Ginger's connections' designs, that's where she'll be sitting.

“Elle Z's awfully quick, you gotta think she'll be in front,” said trainer Greg Foley. “There's one or two other pretty fast fillies also, so we're towards the outside post, that ought to be a great post for her to sit and pounce on them before the other kickers.”

Marcelino Pedroza, a go-to rider for Team Foley, will pilot Yes It's ginger from post 7.

Yes, it's true: Pan Zareta is buried in the infield at Fair Grounds. Stories have it that on the coldest nights in New Orleans, her hooves can be heard pounding the turf track in winning style. But that's not the only past Fair Grounds winner who hopes to return to form this Saturday.

Elle Z, the winner of last year's Pan Zareta Stakes (13.30-1), has not won on turf since. Her races coming in almost mirror her 2020 run-up: overmatched turf effort, disappointing dirt performance, surprise turf win, and then stakes to follow. Only this year, the Keeneland turf course did not cooperate and she is not entering off a win.

“This is a little bit different this year because I gave her a freshening and then tried to run her a couple of times at Keeneland but it was rained off or too soft, so she missed two races,” trainer Chris Hartman explains.

Instead, she ran into Bell's The One, who many believe would have won the Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

“I ended up in that race there, which was not intentional,” Hartman said. “I had no intention of running her in that race, but seeing that she hadn't run in such a long time and she was really sharp and everything we decided to give her a spin. It was a really really tough race and she got smacked around in there. Now she's back to her preferred surface and preferred distance.”

Breaking from the rail, Hartman's regular rider Mitchell Murrill has the mount.

Besides Elle Z, according to running style we can assume the ghost of Pan Zareta favors the filly to Yes It's Ginger's inside: Love and Money (Brian Hernandez Jr, post 6). Trained by Cherie DeVaux and owned by Lael Stable, this daughter of More Than Ready has put three lengths over her competition by the ¼ pole in her last two races. Summering in Saratoga, she tried going two turns on the inner turf, including the $120,000 Riskaverse.

“If you fight with her,” DeVaux said, “she does not take well to being restrained, which is why stretching her out didn't work. She gets keen early and then settles down.”

Moving up from first-level allowance company at Keeneland, she will have to face pressure unlike anything she has faced before.

“She has natural speed so she is going to do what she is going to do,” said DeVaux. “If there are horses in front of her, I don't think it's going to bother her.”

Would be a fitting end to this ghost story to see Ghosting Kim flying across the grass late. Drawn at post 9 with her regular rider James Graham up, last out she ran best to lose the photo—losing ground in her closing charge after having to angle out twice from behind traffic.

Or maybe Saturday's winner will find her form from her pedigree. Pan Zareta's tragic demise left us without her progeny to carry on her winning ways. Not the case for the dam Leigh Court who sends out first foal, Advocating from post 4. Winner of the 2016 turf sprint Mardi Gras Satkes, her filly by Uncle Mo will try 5 ½ furlongs on the grass for the first time. Trained by Michael Stidham with three wins out of six races, Advocating has tired in the last furlong going two turns in her last two races.

Elle Z's early speed is the most dangerous–she has the rail and will send.

“She's fast, man. Some of those others might think they're fast. They might enter but they'll be working hard to do it,” Hartman said. “She's fast. The fastest horse on the inside will be ideal.”

But she won't be alone. Look for the 56th winner to come from off the pace and listen for the ghost of Pan Zareta this winter when the New Orleans nights slow to a frost-bitten standstill.

Post time is 4:42 CT for the Pan Zareta Stakes. The nice race card begins at 1:05 CT.

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More Than Meets The Eye In New Orleans’ Thanksgiving Classic

Stop me if you've heard this one before: A Kentucky Derby router and a Breeder's Cup turf sprinter walk into a New Orleans bar on Thanksgiving looking to hustle up a six furlong dirt score. The bartender gives a wink and a nod and says “See that gelding leaning up against the wall. He just came down from Remington Park. Prairie Meadows before that. He's won his last nine and will race anybody as long as there's money on the table.”

We see it again and again–class climber runs into a buzz saw of horses who have been facing our sport's best. How much of a factor does class play in a horse race? Can a horse learn something from his hard-fought wins against lesser? On Thursday, November 25th at 3:12 CT we'll have our answers in the 97th running of the $150,000 Thanksgiving Classic at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

The joke could be on those who bet against him if Necker Island runs to his Kentucky Derby potential. He looked to be struggling when trying turf earlier this year, but both trips were troubled, setting up his backers for overlay scores in his next two races: dirt sprints at Churchill that resulted in career-best speed figures.

“The horse is having a good campaign,” trainer Chris Hartman said. “And I think we have finally found what he likes: sprinting.”

Earlier this month, he beat two game foes in Mucho and Sir Alfred James in the Bet On Sunshine at Churchill Downs. This son of Hard Spun has class and talent to spare, but he is being turned around in 19 days, similar to when he won an allowance race on June 6 and then entered the G2 Stephen Foster this summer, eventually finishing 11 lengths back from winner Maxfield.

“We're a little bit short on time with this guy but he's in pretty good form right now,” Hartman added. “His energy level is good, he's carrying a lot of flesh, and he's doing really good. We thought best to strike while the iron is hot. I think he'll love that race track.”

When “ol'Necker” runs, as Hartman affectionately refers to him, you can't help but admire his rhythm and swagger. This horse is class in motion. He's the morning line favorite at a lukewarm 3-1. Breaking from rail, Mitchell Murril will be tasked with putting this first-run chestnut in position to eye down his foes late.

Michelle Lovell's five-year-old gelding, Just Might (7-2 ML), has a similar long, strange trip to 6-furlong dirt fixtures.

This near $700,000 earner has run his last three races at this distance and surface, but had only been entered in one dirt contest in his first 27 races. With seven graded stakes races under his belt, one of those being the Breeder's Cup Turf Sprint, coming home in the G2 Phoenix at Keeneland he had the run to win his first.

“He was making a run to the eventual winner in the stretch,” trainer and owner Michelle Lovell said. “I was excited. I thought this horse was going to win this race.”

That would have been a victory against 2021 Breeders Cup winner Aloha West and entrant Special Reserve. And Mucho, whom Necker Island beat by a head last out. But he took a bad step.

“He just grabbed his quarter,” Lovell explained. “He was very tender walking home. In the end, he hit the meaty part of the heel and tore the protective cover. It has healed up nicely. He had a really nice breeze last week, and he shipped down [to Fair Grounds] and he's ready to roll. He better be because it is not an easy spot.”

We know he likes Fair Grounds, having posted his career-best speed figure here. Can his class carry him home? Lovell says he has more than classy company up his sleeves.

“He's learned to fight harder this past year as he matured mentally,” Lovell said. “When I entered him in the dirt stakes at Colonial Downs, I was not sure if he could beat dirt horses. We'd beaten off the turf races but that was a big question. He answered and he did it in a head-and-head battle, nose-to-nose. The year before I don't think he would have fought as hard. That's just an example of when horses win, they get grittier–they grow up mentally and physically and they learn to give more.”

That brings us to the $10k claimer in the corner. The one who has stared down fifty-five horses in his last nine races and beaten them all: Greeley and Ben (7-2 ML). He can win out front or from off the pace, and his last race was his first foray into stakes company. He won by 2 ½ lengths running 3 to 4 wide throughout. This 7-year-old gelding out of Greeley's Conquest has sixteen wins and a half million in purses to show for it. Out of 17 races the past two years, he only finished out of the money once and it was his lone two-turn try. But does Remington Park and Prairie Meadows form transfer to Fair Grounds?

“I'd like to have been able to run this horse [Necker Island] in starter races,” Hartman said. “I think he'd win 12 in a row, too.”

But wait, more competition just walked in. Winner of three out of the last five Thanksgiving Classics, New Orleans native Al Stall Jr. sends the powerful closer Pyron (6-1 ML) to battle from gate 2. Declan Carroll gets the mount after the passing of longtime Fair Grounds rider and friend to all, Miguel Mena. Four wins out of seven tries at this distance, this Candy Ride chestnut likely needs these horses to duel early and fade in order to have a chance.

Watch how this race shapes up early–if Louie Roussel's Went West (8-1 ML) can break from gate 3 and get to the rail, where he does his best running, he might very well bulldoze the field. But this is New Orleans newcomer Jareth Loveberry's first time up.

He'll have to pass another out-classed underdog, Emerald Forest (8-1). The connections claimed this Gemologist gelding for a $15k tag at Fair Grounds last February. With the blinkers off, he will likely be passed early by the speed to his outside, Strike Power (4-1 ML). This son of Speightstown trained by Steven Asmussen won the G3 Swale and placed in the G2 Fountain of Youth, but then faltered against the better in the G1 Florida Derby and did not earn enough points for a spot in the 2018 Kentucky Derby. DeShawn Parker will have this 5-year-old breaking quick out of the 6th gate, but will he save enough for the real running at the end?

The Thanksgiving Classic matches extremely talented horses at the top of their game, finally running at their preferred distance and on their preferred surface.

“You've got a lot of fit and sound horses that impress you in the morning, but when it comes to being eyeballed by a horse that can run as good as them they just cave, they just falter because they don't have the heart, the guts for the fight,” Lovell said. “It separates the boys from the men.”

The 7th race on the day, post time is 3:12 pm CT. The first running of the Joseph R. Peluso Memorial stakes follows at 3:44 pm CT. The first post on Thanksgiving is at noon CT for a 9 race card.

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Necker Island Scores First Stakes Win In Bet On Sunshine

The Scherr Boys' Necker Island, who finished ninth in last year's Kentucky Derby, narrowly prevailed in a three-horse photo for the win in Saturday's 13th running of the $300,000 Bet On Sunshine at Churchill Downs to beat Mucho by a head with Sir Alfred James another neck back in third.

Ridden by Mitchell Murrill for trainer Chris Hartman, Necker Island ran six furlongs in 1:09.22 over a fast track to give the jockey and conditioner their third win together on the 11-race program.

It was Necker Island's first career stakes win, but he has proven fruitful for owner Wayne Scherr after he and other partners claimed the horses for $100,000 on June 13, 2020. Since then, Necker Island finished third in the $300,000 Grade 3 Indiana Derby and $200,000 Ellis Park Derby, which led to a start in the 2020 Kentucky Derby. This was his third victory in seven starts this year.

The win was worth $183,450 and improved Necker Island's career earnings to $565,532 with a record of 5-1-4 in 18 starts.

Necker Island returned $9.40, $4.20, and $3.20 as the 7-2 third betting choice. Mucho, the 5-2 favorite under Rey Gutierrez, paid $3.40 and $3.20. Sir Alfred James, ridden by John McKee, paid $5 to show. Bango, Long Weekend and Atoka completed the order of finish.

Sir Alfred James and Rough Entry battled for the early lead in the field of eight older horses through a first quarter mile in :21.66 as Necker Island raced in fifth along the inside. Necker Island had to check entering the turn as Sir Alfred James and Mucho left the turn vying for the lead in :45.01. Necker Island continued to race along the rail, wore down those rivals, and got up at the wire.

“I saw there was a lot of speed in this race so I wanted to let my horse settle,” Murrill said. “He settled very well up the backside and I had a lot of horse turning for home. I'm really proud of his effort and the Hartman team did a great job getting him ready.”

The race was spoiled by an incident on the turn when Vertical Threat, ridden by Adam Beschizza, and Rough Entry, with Brian Hernandez Jr. up, fell. Both jockeys walked to the onsite ambulance and were examined onsite by EMTs. Rough Entry was corralled by the outriders. Vertical Threat was vanned off.

Necker Island is a 4-year-old son of Hard Spun out of the Mr. Greeley mare Jenny's Rocket and was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Stables.

Racing at Churchill Downs continues Sunday with a 10-race card that begins at 1 p.m. (all times Eastern). Sunday is Military Appreciation Day with free admission or a discounted $29 ticket to Skye Terrace for active and retired members of the U.S. armed services.

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