‘Wish I Had A Barn Full Of Horses Like Him’: Veteran Rated R Superstar Returns In Fifth Season Stakes

Danny Caldwell's first Oaklawn stakes victory came with a 9-year-old. Now, Oaklawn's four-time leading owner bids for a second with another 9-year-old in late-running millionaire Rated R Superstar, who is scheduled to make his 2022 debut in the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes for older horses at 1 mile Saturday at Oaklawn.

Caldwell won the 2017 Fifth Season with Domain's Rap, who was making his 9-year-old debut after being claimed for just $10,000 in November 2015 at Remington Park. Caldwell claimed Rated R Superstar for $50,000 last January at Oaklawn and has been rewarded, again, by another member of the elderly equine set.

Rated R Superstar, in eight starts for Caldwell and trainer Federico Villafranco, has bankrolled $298,991. Caldwell recouped his investment when Rated R Superstar finished second in the $500,000 Essex Handicap for older horses last March at Oaklawn. The gelding surpassed $1 million in career earnings in the Essex, was eighth in $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses last April at Oaklawn, an allowance winner in May at Prairie Meadows and captured the $175,000 Governor's Cup Stakes Aug. 20 at Remington Park, where Caldwell is the all-time leading owner.

“I'd been watching this horse for a long time,” Caldwell said Monday afternoon. “I liked him and I liked the way his running style was. Most horses that run at the end of the race, normally they take care of themselves. They're not like sprinters. They go out there and go all out. He knows how to take care of himself. He had a couple of bad races there at Turfway Park, where he didn't hit the board. I thought, 'You know, I'm just going to throw those two races out because that's a Poly track.' He just didn't like it. I think he had run in a Grade 2 before that at Keeneland and he only got beat three lengths, I think. I thought I would give him a shot for $50,000. We love older horses. The best horse I've ever had is Domain's Rap and he made me more than a half-million dollars, most of it as a 9-year-old.”

After winning the Fifth Season, then worth $125,000, Domain's Rap made his final four career starts later in the 2017 Oaklawn meeting. He won a $76,000 allowance race, was third to eventual 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner in the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses, second to eventual 2017 Met Mile winner Mor Spirit in the $250,000 Essex Handicap for older horses and second to Inside Straight in the $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses. Inside Straight finished second to Domain's Rap in the allowance race. Domain's Rap retired with $880,850 in earnings during a 64-race career.

Domain's Rap spent most of his career in the allowance and stakes ranks in Illinois before tumbling down the class ladder and being claimed, but Rated R Superstar began his racing career as a promising Triple Crown prospect for nationally prominent trainer Kenny McPeek.

Rated R Superstar, in 2015, finished second in the $150,000 Iroquois Stakes (G3) for 2-year-olds at Churchill Downs, then third in the $500,000 Breeders' Futurity Stakes (G1) for 2-year-olds at Keeneland. Breeders' Futurity runner-up Exaggerator won the Preakness in 2016. Rated R Superstar became a multiple Grade 3 winner for McPeek, earning $518,367 in 30 starts before being claimed by trainer Cipriano Contreras for $62,500 in November 2018 at Churchill Downs.

In 18 starts for Contreras, Rated R Superstar earned $363,656. The gelding ran third in the 2019 Razorback before winning the Essex, then worth $350,00, in his next start.

“That's amazing,” Caldwell said, referring to Rated R Superstar's money-making skills. “He's just a professional. He's professional racehorse is what he is. He knows his job, he loves his job, he loves to go out there and perform. I wish I had a barn full of horses like him.”

Rated R Superstar hasn't started since finishing second in a Sept. 11 allowance race at Remington Park. Caldwell said the gelding came out of the race with a minor splint bone issue, necessitating a short break from training. Rated R Superstar has five published workouts since Dec. 2, the last two coming at Oaklawn.

“We trained him on the wheel and just kind of brought him back slow,” Caldwell said. “He's come back really feeling good. We're hoping to have a good 9-year-old year with him.”

A son of 2009 champion sprinter Kodiak Kowboy, Rated R Superstar has a 9-10-8 record from 56 lifetime starts and earnings of $1,181,014. He has won from 6 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles. Rated R Superstars is seeking his fifth career stakes victory in the Fifth Season, which has attracted two other millionaires in Snapper Sinclair for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen and Long Range Toddy (Dallas Stewart). Also entered is Concert Tour, who won the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds last March at Oaklawn for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. The colt, unraced since the Preakness last May, is now with trainer Brad Cox.

“It's tough,” said Caldwell, Oaklawn's leading owner in 2014-2017. “It's not going to be easy.”

The projected nine-horse Fifth Season field from the rail out: Thomas Shelby, David Cohen to ride, 122 pounds, 5-1 on the morning line; Rated R Superstar, David Cabrera, 122, 8-1; Snapper Sinclair, Ramon Vazquez, 122, 6-1; Necker Island, Francisco Arrieta, 122, 9-2; Concert Tour, Joel Rosario, 122, 5-2; Atoka, Luis Contreras, 122, 15-1; Long Range Toddy, Jon Court, 115, 10-1; Silver Prospector, Ricardo Santana Jr., 115, 10-1; and Mucho, Florent Geroux, 122, 7-2.

Probable post time for the Fifth Season, which goes as the eighth of nine races, is 3:46 p.m. (Central). First post Saturday is 12:30 p.m.

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Equibase Analysis: Thomas Shelby Could Get Perfect Trip In Oaklawn’s Fifth Season

Nine horses are entered in Saturday's $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn Park, including the 2019 and 2021 winners of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes, Long Range Toddy and Concert Tour, respectively. Long Range Toddy is winless in 16 races since then while Concert Tour, last seen finishing ninth of 10 in the G1 Preakness Stakes, returns from an eight month layoff and a change to the barn of Brad Cox.

Snapper Sinclair leads the field in career earnings at $1.8 million. He has run poorly in his last two races but one was his first ever try on an all-weather surface and the other was in the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile. Two races prior to that Snapper Sinclair won the TVG Stakes on the grass at Kentucky Downs. Rated R Superstar, who returns from four months off, is another who has had a fine career to date, earning $1.1 million, with his most recent win coming in the Governor's Cup Stakes in August.

Mucho enters the Fifth Season Stakes in superb form with six straight in-the-money finishes including a win in the Challedon Stakes last summer. However, Mucho is running in a two-turn race for the very first time after 29 races around one turn. Necker Island is another horse stretching out to two turns. He won the Bet On Sunshine Stakes in November as one of five wins in his career.

Thomas Shelby really likes to win races, with 10 victories in 24 career races. His most recent effort was a second place finish in the Tinsel Stakes at Oaklawn last month. Silver Prospector is approaching the $1 million mark in career earnings. After winning the G3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn in the winter of 2020, he has won just one of eight races. Atoka rounds out the field, entering the race off a runner-up effort in an allowance race over the track from which he was moved up to first after the winner was disqualified.

Top Contenders

Thomas Shelby draws the rail for this mile trip and that means jockey David Cohen will have the ability to put him on the lead, which has resulted in three wins in his last four starts, or settle him just off the pace, which has resulted in another three wins before that. Thomas Shelby joined the barn of trainer Robertino Diodoro in November of 2020 and after finishing fourth, third and seventh in his initial three starts for the barn, has turned into an “alpha” horse, winning seven of 10. Last October Thomas Shelby ran the best race of his career winning a classified allowance race with a personal-best 112 ™ Equibase Speed Figure. He won again in November, then after two months off led until deep stretch before coming up three-quarters of a length short in the Tinsel Stakes. That race was at Oaklawn and was run at a mile and one-eighth, with Thomas Shelby leading at the point this mile race ends so repeating that effort could be good enough to win the Fifth Season Stakes.

Silver Prospector has four career wins, one of which came at Oaklawn. That was when victorious in the 2020 Southwest Stakes with a then career-best 107 ™ figure. After a poor sixth place effort in the Rebel Stakes followed by a poorer seventh place finish in the Arkansas Derby, Silver Prospector was given nearly six months off. Returning in the fall off a lengthy layoff, Silver Prospector raced in top form to win and earned a very strong 106 figure considering the time off. Although winless in five races since, Silver Prospector ran just as well as he had in the comeback when second in the Razorback Stakes last February at Oaklawn, earning a 108 figure. Now rested since last May the same way he was in the spring of 2020 until his strong win in the fall of that year, Silver Prospector has put in a pair of very strong workouts which were the best of 52 and the fourth best of 44 on the day. These signal he could be as fit and ready to run just like he did off a similar layoff, and if he does that he could certainly compete for top honors in this race.

Concert Tour is another returning off a layoff since last May, and he too is working in the morning like he will not need a race before showing his best. Concert Tour won the first three races of his career last year, including the San Vicente Stakes and the Rebel, in which he earned a career-best 104 figure drawing off easily to win by four and one-quarter lengths in geared down fashion. After a third place finish in the Arkansas Derby¸ Concert Tour skipped the Kentucky Derby then showed up in the Preakness, running the worst race of his career when ninth of 10 and beaten more than 30 lengths. Returning to training last October, Concert Tour has been placed in the care of trainer Brad Cox, who has an exceptional record of nine wins from 25 starts with horses coming back from six months off or more in dirt routes. As such, Concert Tour appears to fit with the best of the contenders in this year's Fifth Season.

The rest of the field, with their best ™ Equibase Speed Figures, is Atoka (100), Long Range Toddy (102), Mucho (108 in sprint races), Necker Island (108 in sprint races), Rated R Superstar (105) and Snapper Sinclair (115 on turf).

Win contenders, in preference/probability order:
Thomas Shelby
Silver Prospector
Concert Tour

Fifth Season Stakes
Race 8 at Oaklawn
Saturday, January 15, 2022 – Post Time 4:46 PM E.T.
One Mile
Four Year Olds and Upward
Purse: $150,000

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‘Old-School Racehorse’ Snapper Sinclair Preps For Oaklawn’s Fifth Season Stakes

Snapper Sinclair has returned to Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., and the popular, well-traveled millionaire could make his 7-year-old debut in the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes for older horses at one mile Jan. 15, co-owner Jeff Bloom said Tuesday afternoon.

The Fifth Season is the first major 2022 local steppingstone toward the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 23, a race Steve Asmussen, Snapper Sinclair's Hall of Fame trainer, won last year with Silver State.

“We're strongly leaning toward running in the Fifth Season,” Bloom said. “Of course, would love to get a victory in that race, having lost it in 2020 by, I think, a whisker.”

The accomplished Snapper Sinclair, who worked five furlongs Thursday in 1:01 2/5 over a fast track, has bankrolled $1,856,292 in a 36-race career highlighted by a record three stakes victories at Kentucky Downs, the European-style all-grass venue about 35 miles north of Nashville.

Bloom said one reason for keeping Snapper Sinclair in training, rather than begin a stud career in 2022, is to try and grab an elusive first stakes victory on dirt.

Snapper Sinclair boasts several near misses on the main track, including runner-up finishes in the first division of the $100,000 Fifth Season (beaten a neck) in 2020 and $350,000 Essex Handicap (beaten a head) in 2019 at Oaklawn. Snapper Sinclair was beaten a nose in the $400,000 Risen Star Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds in 2018 at Fair Grounds. He also ran second in the $750,000 Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) in 2020 at Aqueduct.

“He's doing so well and there was no real consideration about retiring him, considering the fact that as long as his health and soundness stay consistently solid and he's happy, we fully intended to have another campaign with him,” Bloom said. “Obviously, Snapper has been so good to us and he really enjoys his job. That being said, we figured: Here comes 2022 for Snapper.”

Known for his large white face, Snapper Sinclair had another productive season in 2021. The bay son of the late City Zip had a 2-2-0 record from seven starts and earned $418,032. Snapper Sinclair became the first horse to win three stakes races at Kentucky Downs in the second division of the $400,000 TVG Sept. 8.

Sandwiched around a one-mile allowance victory in February at Oaklawn and the TVG Stakes was a fourth-place finish in the $750,000 Godolphin Mile (G2) in March in the United Arab Emirates. He was also a fast-closing second in the $200,000 Eddie D Stakes (G2), a downhill turf sprint Oct. 1 at Santa Anita, and sixth in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) Nov. 6 at Del Mar.

“He's just an incredible old-school racehorse,” Bloom said of Snapper Sinclair. “He's one of those horses that, he brings his track with him. And no matter what you throw at him, he responds. Whether you're talking sprinting down the hill, on the turf, at Santa Anita or going two turns on the dirt against the best horses in the country, he's never dodged a tough spot. To say that he's fine is an incredible understatement. He's just such a pleasure to be around and so fun to have in our portfolio.”

Bloom purchased Snapper Sinclair for $180,000 at the 2017 OBS April Sale of 2-year-olds in training and campaigns the horse in partnership with Chuck Allen and Andrew Yaffe.

Post positions for the Fifth Season will be drawn Monday. Snapper Sinclair also won an allowance race in 2019 at Oaklawn.

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Silver State Chasing Fourth Straight Victory In Saturday’s Essex Handicap

Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing's Silver State is the 2-1 program favorite for the $500,000 Essex Handicap for older horses at 1 1/16 miles Saturday at Oaklawn.

Probable post time for the Essex, which goes as the seventh of 12 races, is 3:08 p.m. (Central). The Essex is a major local prep for the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 17.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Silver State is bidding for his fourth consecutive victory after the son of Hard Spun fell off the Triple Crown trail following a seventh-place finish in the $1 million Louisiana Derby (G2) last March at Fair Grounds. Silver State resurfaced last fall and recorded two allowance victories in Kentucky before capturing the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes by a nose Jan. 23 at Oaklawn in his 2021 debut.

“He's as beautiful as a horse can be,” Asmussen said. “For the Winchells and the Hortons to show the patience they did with him last year, they deserve to have a huge 4-year-old campaign with him and we expect it to happen.”

Among six other horses entered are Rated R Superstar and Night Ops, who won the Essex in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Rated R Superstar wheels back after finishing fifth behind Dubai World Cup-bound Mystic Guide in the $600,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses Feb. 27 at Oaklawn. Rated R Superstar was making his first start since being claimed for $50,000 out of a Jan. 30 victory at Oaklawn by four-time local leading owner Danny Caldwell.

Night Ops finished third, beaten 3 ¾ lengths in the 1-mile Fifth Season, for Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox. The Fifth Season marked the first start for Night Ops since winning the $100,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (G3) July 5 at Prairie Meadows. Night Ops opened his 2020 campaign with a third-place finish in the first division of the Fifth Season.

“It was every bit as good as it was last year in that exact race,” Cox said. “I thought it was a good race off the layoff. He had been off a while. I thought he showed up and ran his race. Probably needs a little more ground and maybe a little bit better setup and, hopefully, he'll come back into form.”

The Essex also lured two starters from the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) Jan. 23 at Gulfstream Park in Tax (10th) and Harpers First Ride (12th).

Tax, a multiple graded stakes winner of almost $1 million for trainer Danny Gargan, returns to Hot Springs after finishing fifth in last year's Oaklawn Handicap.

Multiple stakes winner Harpers First Ride will be making his first start for Robertino Diodoro, Oaklawn's leading trainer last year, after being privately purchased before the Pegasus. Harpers First Ride (10 of 18 overall) has recorded two workouts at Oaklawn leading up to his local debut.

“He ran real bad, but he had some issues that came up that we fixed,” Diodoro said, referring to the Pegasus. “I don't know how he'll stack up with these guys, but there's good form on him. He's a nice horse.”

The projected seven-horse Essex field from the rail out: Uphold, Fernando De La Cruz to ride, 113 pounds, 20-1 on the morning line; Harpers First Ride, David Cohen, 119, 4-1; Rated R Superstar, Ramon Vazquez, 114, 12-1; Tax, Joel Rosario, 120, 3-1; Silver State, Ricardo Santana Jr., 118, 2-1; Green Light Go, Francisco Arrieta, 116, 6-1; and Night Ops, Javier Castellano, 118, 3-1.

Also on Saturday's card is another stakes race for older horses, the $150,000 Temperence Hill at 1 ½ miles. The 3-1 program favorite is You're to Blame for trainer Ron Moquett and owner Staton Flurry of Hot Springs

The 7-2 second choice in the program is Campaign, who was runner-up, beaten a neck, in last year's inaugural running for Southern California-based trainer John Sadler. Campaign was the 3-2 favorite in the 2020 Temperence Hill.

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