Derby And Oaks Points Ripe On Graded Sunny Saturday At Oaklawn

The massive deep freeze which crippled the second half of Oaklawn Park's January cards seems like a distant memory, as weekend weather in Hot Springs looks to punch through the upper 60s and into the lower 70s. The sunshine will be a welcome sight with points intended for passage to the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks ripe for the picking.

 

Timberlake Favorite Choice in Rebel

The Arkansas series for the colts features another running of the GII Rebel S., which brings together a field of 13.

The class headliner looking to take home 50 Derby credits to the winner is 'TDN Rising Star' Timberlake (Into Mischief). Bred by St. Elias and owned by WinStar, the Brad Cox trainee is coming off the shelf for his 3-year-old debut.

Last summer, the bay powered across the Ellis Park wire by 9 1/4 lengths which earned him a 'Rising Star' blue ribbon at second asking. As the runner-up in the GI Hopeful S. at Saratoga, he returned to New York a month later to capture the GI Champagne S. during the Belmont at the Big A meet. His juvenile campaign came to a close when he finished fourth to 'Rising Stars' Fierceness (City of Light), Muth (Good Magic) and Locked (Gun Runner) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita.

“We gave him a little bit of a break after the Breeders' Cup,” said Cox. “He had a long campaign, and we were very happy with what he was able to accomplish at the age of 2. Just excited about what lies ahead for him. He's really turned it on over the last two weeks with his works. We feel like we've got him about as good as we're going to get him.”

Timberlake is the only entry without an attempt over the local strip in Hot Springs. Out of the other 12, Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt, who welcomed as an investor current Oaklawn leading owner Staton Flurry, will look for 'TDN' Rising Star' Carbone (Mitole) to improve. The favorite in the GIII Southwest S. turned in a seventh-place finish.

Others in for a bushel full of points include a pair from Ken McPeek's shedrow. Northern Flame (Flameaway) missed hitting the board last fall in the GI Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland and in the GIII Street Sense S. at Churchill Downs. However, his gate to wire win against optional claimers at Oaklawn Jan. 28 proves he can be dangerous up front. His stablemate Common Defense (Karakontie {Jpn}) displays the complete opposite running style, as he likes to be heard from late in the game.

“(Northern Flame) has improved from 2 to 3,” said trainer Ken McPeek, who just celebrated his 2,000th victory this week. “He fought on well in that allowance race. He's a good, solid colt. … (Common Defense) didn't like the mud last time. I'm hoping for a dry track this weekend. I started to take him to the (Mar. 2) Battaglia Memorial at Turfway because I think ultimately his future may be on turf. He worked so good this week that I went ahead and put him back in at Oaklawn.”

Making his third start over the Oaklawn dirt is the experienced picker Just Steel (Justify) for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who was the runner-up in the GIII Southwest S. He will break to the inside of an upstart named Time for Truth (Omaha Beach) on the stretch out for conditioner Ron Moquett and principal owner Harry T. Rosenbaum.

 

Honeybee Could Be Sweet For West Omaha

West Omaha | Hodges Photography/Lou Hodges, Jr.

Just as with the boys, the fillies are also looking to harvest a top prize of 50 points. Their haul in Saturday's GIII Honeybee S. will be applied towards a spot in the starting gate for the GI Kentucky Oaks.

Leading the charge is another from Cox's stable, who like Timberlake, has been working out at his Fair Grounds base. Gary and Mary West's homebred West Omaha (West Coast) was scratched out of the GII Rachel Alexandra S. after she won the Silverbulletday S. by five lengths in New Orleans Jan. 20.

The filly will tangle the Martha Washington S. winner Band of Gold (Preservationist). The McPeek trainee turned on the jets down the lane in that Feb. 3 stakes race and won by 2 3/4 lengths in what was an impressive display of speed.

Finally, Greg Tramontin, who left racing for 23 years before returning once again as an owner in 2018, enters Alys Beach (Omaha Beach). The chestnut debuted a winner last summer at Saratoga under Tom Amoss, but she was a well-beaten fourth in the GI Spinaway S. upstate before the meet closed and when she faded to third in the GI Alcibiades S. at Keeneland in early October.

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It’ll Be Time For Truth Come Oaklawn’s Rebel

When considering the speculative nature of America's financial future, President Harry S. Truman famously exhorted his aides to bring him a one-handed economist.

“All of my economists say 'on the one hand'…, then 'but on the other hand'…,” the plain-talking Missourian from Independence famously quipped.

To put it another way, convictions matter, not the pros and cons. You are either in or you're not. Horse racing, or more specifically preparing for the 150th Kentucky Derby is no different. It's about possessing sterner stuff.

Another Harry Truman, Harry Truman Rosenblum that is, knows this all too well. His father, Dr. Hyman Rosenblum of Little Rock, Arkansas named his son after his close friend 'Give-Em Hell Harry', and the former chief executive served as the boy's godfather.

Harry T. Rosenblum | courtesy of Harry T. Rosenblum

Bitten by the racing bug before he attended Hendrix College, Rosenblum has spent 39 years owning Thoroughbreds. He has dreamed of Derby glory–both the Arkansas and the Kentucky variety–not just for himself, but for what it means for his state.

“I've been in this position before, coming into a big race like the Rebel with a horse and it just conjures so many emotions because of the spirit we have in this state for racing,” he said.

On Saturday, the path to 150 rolls through Oaklawn Park as the Cella's storied track once again will play host to the next leg in their Arkansas series–the GII Rebel S.–a race which offers 50 Derby points to the winner.

A senior investment manager in Little Rock, Rosenblum couldn't be more pleased that his colt Time for Truth (Omaha Beach–Shape Shifter by Lookin At Lucky) has made the Hot Springs starting gate. As a 15-1 morning-line shot, the 3-year-old will face 12 others, including a pair of 'TDN Rising Stars' in Carbone (Mitole) and Timberlake (Into Mischief).

After hearing about the horse's smart :9 4/5 furlong workout during the Under Tack Show at last year's OBS April Sale, Rosenblum purchased the juvenile bred by Dominique Damico as a late April foal through the auction house for $47,000 after the dark bay RNA'd. A minor vet issue didn't deter him, especially when he watched the gallop out from the show.

“I was just very impressed with that performance, the year that Omaha Beach had last year as a first-crop sire contributed of course, and once you see just how intelligent he is, it confirmed early that we had something special going,” Rosenblum said. “So, then it was time to send him to Ron Moquett and his team.”

Naming his new acquisition after a book by American businessman William E. Simon, Rosenblum already knew that the Arkansas-born Moquett, whose stakes victories include a win in the 2020 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint with the irascible, but supremely talented Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect), was the perfect fit.

Team Moquett saddles Time for Truth with cotton in his ears to keep him calm before his debut | Owney Creative

“Ron and I won the Smarty Jones and [GIII] Southwest together and there is no one in the business who I trust more than him to make sound decisions,” he said. “His staff is just first class and everyone takes such great care of whoever you send to them.”

The pair watched as Far Right (Notional) swept the 2015 Smarty and the Southwest, but running into eventual Triple Crown champ American Pharoah in the GI Arkansas Derby was a tough break. Far Right was 15th in the Kentucky Derby.

Flashing forward to this year, a win by Time for Truth in the Rebel would have several levels of meaning for Moquett. As an Arkansas guy, he's immersed in the history and culture of racing in his state. It's never lost on him about what big races mean.

“The history of the Rebel, who has won it and obviously how it propels a horse's career is why we enter,” the conditioner said. “Nice horses belong in the Kentucky Derby and for us here, there is no greater title than the Arkansas Derby, and that is where we are trying to get with Time for Truth.”

Every owner and their trainer have target races. The way you ready your horse for something like the Rebel is to back into it. In other words, you figure out the best path by working in reverse.

But you can't push a position–as horsemen understand it–because plans go awry.

Like Rosenblum explained, “You have to manage risk constantly in this business, horse racing is no different, and preconceived notions can get you into hot water very quickly.”

Once Time for Truth posted an 89 Beyer when he broke his maiden at first asking by 1 3/4 lengths at Oaklawn Dec. 31, it was time for Rosenblum and Moquett to sit down and have a conversation about the Rebel and the Arkansas Derby.

The meeting between the two was one of those junctures where practiced apathy and risk management mixes with aggressive moves. If you are lucky, then you might be able to employ a touch of strategic planning.

Time for Truth with hotwalker Roxanna Lopez | J.N. Campbell

“I prefer the word nimble,” says assistant trainer Chance Moquett, Ron's son, who spent 15 years in the corporate world before returning to be a part of his father's operation. “We grapple with unpredictability all the time here at Oaklawn because it is what we're used to.”

Unlike other tracks whose surfaces benefit from chemicals which help keep them stable, Oaklawn's is devoid of such agents because of the park's rules designation. Thus, the setup, the training, really every aspect around the dirt oval, is constantly subject to change.

Winters especially can wreak havoc on Derby Trail planning and that is precisely what happened with Time for Truth's preparation during the second half of January with a blast of frigid temperatures that sent the thermometers to the basement.

In situations when the weather intervenes, keeping a horse like Time for Truth on the muscle falls to Moquett's crack team of grooms and exercise riders. Jose Espinoza, who has been with Moquett for a dozen years and served as Whitmore's groom, manages the colt's daily care, while Roxanna Lopez hotwalks him every day. Both did countless circuits with him around Barn Whitmore on the backside, as everyone waited for the sun to come out.

By the time it did, the Moquetts were resolved that they had two choices for Rosenblum, who in the interim had sold a 30% stake in the horse to Cheyenne Stables in what he calls “a business decision to help mitigate risk.” After a couple of four furlong sets Jan. 29 and Feb. 3, there was an allowance race that Time for Truth could make or the other option would be the Feb. 10 running of the newly minted Ozark S. The team opted for the latter and though it was a runner-up ending to Valentine Candy (Justify), objectives were met.

“In lieu of a big breeze, that stakes race took on the part,” Chance Moquett said. “I mean it was a muddy track, facing a much more experienced horse like the winner, our colt went off as the favorite and this is what you do when you are backing into a race like the Rebel.”

Time for Truth breaks his maiden at Oaklawn | Coady Photography

A favorite among anyone who has sat on him, Time for Truth's mild-mannered Clark Kent style has impressed Moquett's staff. Exercise rider Greta Kuntzweiler called his way “incredibly unusual,” which coupled nicely with what veteran jockey Rafael Bejarano said, “when you ask him, he responds.”

Chance Moquett added, “Our plan last Sunday was to go 50 flat and that is exactly what Greta did with him. She's just that exact with everything she does, if you need a lick going :50.13, then that's what you get. Now, we are going to find out if this colt can take us where we want to go.”

Being nimble and looking for key moments of progression leads his connections to enter their 3-year-old in the Rebel.

Time for Truth may have never traveled two turns yet, but his Arkansas-based principal owner and trainer certainly think he has what it takes to get them to the Arkansas Derby and beyond.

For Rosenblum, the Moquetts and their stable, there is no indecision and only one course. President Truman would be pleased. So, now it's just time for truth come Saturday.

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Timberlake Pointing for Rebel

'TDN Rising Star' Timberlake (Into Mischief), winner of last fall's GI Champagne S., could potentially launch his sophomore season in the GII Rebel S. at Oaklawn Park Feb. 24. The Siena Farm and WinStar Farm colorbearer was last seen finishing a well-beaten fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Nov. 3.

“He's pointing for it,” trainer Brad Cox said. “We've got to see how our works go over the next several weeks, but he's doing well. Hopefully, we can get him there.”

Timberlake worked four furlongs in :48.60 (10/92) at Fair Grounds Saturday.

“The other race in play for him would probably be the (GII) Gotham at Aqueduct (Mar. 2),” Cox said. “He did win up in New York. He won the Champagne there at Aqueduct, so that could be something that is in play as well. We'll see how he performs over the next few weeks breezing.”

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Richest Prep Series Gets Richer At Oaklawn

Oaklawn Park is pumping nearly $1 million more into the purses for its 3-year-old races, the track said in a release Wednesday.

Oaklawn increased the purses of the four races pointing toward the GI Kentucky Derby a total of $600,000, with the GI Arkansas Derby bumped to $1,500,000 from $1,250,000; the GII Rebel S. going to $1,250,000 from $1,000,000; and the GIII Southwest S. and Smarty Jones increasing to $800,000 and $300,000, respectively.

The purses for the three races for 3-year-old fillies with GI Kentucky Oaks aspirations were also increased, with the GIII Fantasy S. increased to $750,000; the GIII Honeybee S. to $400,000 and the Martha Washington S. to $250,000–a total increase of $300,000.

Purses were also increased for 14 additional stakes races, including the two most important races for older runners. The GI Apple Blossom H. and the GII Oaklawn H. were both increased to $1.25 million, jumping the total purses in the stakes program to a record $16.2 million.

“It's absolutely remarkable how our stakes program has grown in recent years,” said Oaklawn President Louis Cella. “We've doubled the number of stakes we offer and have added millions to the purses. We want our fans to have the opportunity to see some of the top thoroughbreds in the country, and increasing the purses to this level will bring those horses. This is what our stakes program is all about.”

The Hot Springs track will also add two new races to the schedule for 3-year-old sprinters, the six-furlong $150,000 Ozark S. and the $150,000 Mockingbird S. for 3-year-old fillies, bringing the total number of stakes races to 47, also a track record.

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