Hot Springs | Horse Racing Free Tips

McPeek: Smile Happy Likely To Target Southwest Stakes En Route To Kentucky Derby

Trainer Kenny McPeek said early Thursday afternoon that he had eight horses stabled at Oaklawn and expects to eventually have “20ish” on the grounds for the 2021-2022 meeting that began Friday.

McPeek has a division of horses at Oaklawn for the first time since 2018, when he won five races from 32 starts. McPeek said Oaklawn's expanded racing calendar was the hook to return to Hot Springs. Oaklawn is opening in December for the first time and has 66 scheduled racing dates, roughly 10 more than past years. Oaklawn had previously opened in mid to late January. The 2021-2022 live season ends May 8.

“The December start date completely changes the complexion of the Oaklawn meet,” McPeek said. “I think it's a big help. You're there longer. As long as they can get the races that you need to go … I know it's a bit of an experiment, but I think it's a really good move on their part.”

McPeek returns to Oaklawn with momentum after winning four races, including the $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) with Smile Happy, on the “Stars of Tomorrow II” program exclusively for 2-year-olds last Saturday at Churchill Downs. The four-bagger helped swell McPeek's purse earnings this year to a career-high $6.7 million.

“Had a good meet,” McPeek said. “Had a good fall.”

Smile Happy, a son of champion sprinter Runhappy, remained unbeaten in two career starts with a 3 ¼-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile Kentucky Jockey Club.

“He's a really, really good horse,” McPeek said. “He's going to go to Florida initially and we're probably going to bring him up for the Southwest and possibly the Rebel and the Arkansas Derby.”

The $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) Jan. 29, $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) Feb. 26 and $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) April 2 conclude Oaklawn's four-race Kentucky Derby points series.

Smile Happy races for the Lucky Seven Stable of Mike Mackin, who campaigned 2001 Rebel winner Crafty Shaw with now-retired trainer Pete Vestal. Crafty Shaw also ran third in the Southwest and seventh in the Arkansas Derby.

McPeek is scheduled to start three horses Saturday at Oaklawn, including Oliviaofthedesert and Semble Juste in the inaugural $150,000 Mistletoe Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles. Laughing Boy, McPeek said, “will probably be entered” in the inaugural $150,000 Poinsettia Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles Dec. 11 at Oaklawn. Laughing Boy finished second in a Nov. 25 allowance race at Churchill Downs.

“Horses just shipped in last night, but I'll be there for a little bit,” McPeek said. “I've got a team that's coming from my Churchill barn that's already there. We've only got eight in there right now, so we're getting them settled in. It's taken some time logistically to move everybody.”

With John Ed Anthony of Hot Springs as a major client, McPeek won 40 races in 2012-2017 at Oaklawn, including the $75,000 Arkansas Breeders' Stakes in 2015 with Trace Creek and the $125,000 Spring Fever Stakes in 2017 with Kathballu.

McPeek's last Oaklawn victory came with Swiss Skydiver in the $400,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) in 2020. Swiss Skydiver went on to beat males in the Preakness – the final leg of the revamped Triple Crown – en route to an Eclipse Award as the country's champion 3-year-old filly of 2020.

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D. Wayne Lukas Will Deliver Keynote Address At National HBPA Convention

D. Wayne Lukas — the most transformative horse trainer in the modern era — will be the keynote speaker at the National HBPA's annual convention in March in Hot Springs, Ark.

“When we seek out our keynote speaker, we look for inspiration and passion,” said Eric Hamelback, chief executive officer of the National Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association. “Not only do we get that in spades with D. Wayne Lukas, but his overall legacy is unmatched in horse racing.

“Yet it's not only that Wayne has impacted so many aspects of racing with his well-known accomplishments and vision. He also has been an extraordinary ambassador for our industry in so many unpublicized and behind-the-scenes ways. There's no telling how many little kids will become diehard racing enthusiasts because D. Wayne invited them into the winner's circle after one of his victories.”

Lukas will address the convention on March 2, the first full day of the HBPA convention at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs, Ark. Details on registration and agenda will be available soon at nationalhbpa.com. The convention, staged in Oaklawn's new hotel overlooking the track's first turn, kicks off March 1 with a cocktail reception at the track, with program sessions March 2, 3 and the morning of March 4, followed by an afternoon at the races. The HBPA's full board convenes March 5 to wrap up the event.

“This is a step forward for me to be involved in a horsemen's association as strong as the HBPA,” said Lukas, long known as horse racing's No. 1 motivational speaker. “I'm looking forward to it. I'll try to stimulate them and give the attendees a good feeling as to where we're going and what's about to happen. All of my speeches try to influence people as to what their capabilities are and how to enjoy them.

“I'm 86. Very few men or women in that room will be 86. So I've been where they haven't: I've been 45, 50, 60, 70 and they haven't. I want to bring that experience — good and bad — about our industry to the table.”

In a Thoroughbred career that began in 1974 when he was a leading Quarter Horse trainer, Lukas set record after record. That includes being the first trainer to earn $100 million and then $200 million in purses, possessing the most Breeders' Cup victories (20), the most Triple Crown race wins (14, before being passed by Bob Baffert) and a record 26 individual horses to be crowned an Eclipse Award champion, including three that were voted Horse of the Year.

Lukas has won both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes four times and the Preakness six times, most recently with Oxbow in 2013 at age 77. He is the only trainer to sweep the Triple Crown races in one year with two different horses and at one stage won a record six consecutive Triple Crown races (1994 Preakness through the 1996 Derby). Lukas also is the only trainer enshrined in both the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame (1999) for Thoroughbreds and the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame (2007).

The basketball coach turned horse trainer transformed American racing at the top end, meshing a more corporate-focused approach to a tireless work ethic.

His divisions across the country shared a certain look and feel. The pristine barn, surrounded by immaculate landscaping, with polished tack boxes and shedrow raked in a herringbone pattern became part of a marketing strategy and attention to detail designed to appeal to affluent owners. Lukas made white bridles famous and sparked the handicapping maxim “Wayne off the plane” for flying horses around the country for big stakes, seemingly going straight from touch down to winner's circle.

Aspiring to get as many of his clients to the big races as possible, Lukas never hesitated to run stablemates against each other, saying they had to beat the best to be the best. That included when his 2-year-old champion Timber Country beat 1995 Kentucky Derby winner Thunder Gulch in the Preakness, perhaps costing himself a Triple Crown sweep as Thunder Gulch went on to win the Belmont Stakes.

“We'll never see another trainer like Wayne — certainly not one who at age 86 not only competes at a high level but is still accompanying every set to the track on his pony,” Hamelback said. “There are Hall of Famers, there are icons, and there is D. Wayne Lukas.”

The HBPA convention also will include legal topics and discussions centering on the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, scheduled to go into effect July 1 amid serious questions and court challenges; crisis-management recommendations; creating positive interactions with local, state and federal representatives; utilizing the guest-worker visa programs; fixed odds' place in American racing, and the annual Kent Stirling Memorial Medication Panel addressing the need for screening limits.

Also: Louis Cella, president of Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, will address the assembly on March 4; the HBPA's Claiming Horse of the Year for 2021 will be honored; and Friday the 4th, Oaklawn and the Arkansas HBPA will host an afternoon at the races for conference participants.

“The HBPA convention is designed to provide or work toward solutions for complex issues facing the industry, while also sharing information and programs that make a difference,” Hamelback said. “We can't thank Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort management and staff and the Arkansas HBPA enough for all their assistance in staging what we are proud to call one of the industry's most informative gatherings.”

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Oaklawn’s Dr. Lee Cyphers Passes Away

Dr. Lee Cyphers, Oaklawn's longtime Association Veterinarian, passed away at age 66 Sunday, Sept. 5 following complications from a brain aneurysm. He was a fixture at the Oaklawn starting gate and in the paddock spanning three decades. He was a local Hot Springs veterinarian with a highly successful small animal clinic.

He is preceded in death by his parents and two brothers Steve and Chuck Cyphers.

Survivors include his wife and best friend Kristi; children, Morgan Lee (Summer) Cyphers, Margaret “Meggy” Beatrice (Joseph) Boone, the mother of his children, Viki Cyphers, and Scotty (Grace) Casteel; grandchildren, Noah and Emmie Casteel; siblings, Kay (Andy) Cyphers Garison, Andy Cyphers, and Dan (Amy) Cyphers, DDS, and extended family and many friends.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Cyphers family. Dr. Cyphers had been a dedicated member of the Oaklawn team, serving as our Association Veterinarian for over 30 years,” Oaklawn President Louis A. Cella. “He hardly missed a day of races and was at the gate ensuring the safety of our equine athletes more than 15,000 times during his tenure, rain or shine. No matter if the horse was a claimer or a champion like Zenyatta or American Pharoah, Dr. Cyphers gave them the utmost care to ensure they were ready to perform at their best.”

The post Oaklawn’s Dr. Lee Cyphers Passes Away appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Hall Of Fame Jockey Calvin Borel Arrested For Driving While Intoxicated In Hot Springs

Three-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Calvin Borel was arrested Wednesday night in Hot Springs, Ark., for driving while intoxicated, according to the Daily Racing Form.

The 54-year-old was booked early Wednesday evening and later released on a $1,000 bond.

This is Borel's second DWI incident in the past three years, having been charged for same in Southern Indiana in 2019. In Arkansas, reports DRF, “a second-offense DWI within five years of the first results in at least seven days or up to a year in jail, though a judge can waive jail time for 'good cause' and order community service instead.”

Ensconced in the Hall of Fame in 2013, Borel last rode at Churchill Downs on May 21, riding two trainees for his wife, Renay Borel. He won the third race aboard Jack Van Berg, and finished second in the sixth with Bebop Shoes. Thus far this year, Borel has ridden four winners from 31 starters, primarily at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs.