Proxy Gets ‘Last’ Laugh In Oaklawn Handicap

The names of some of this country's most accomplished Thoroughbred owners grace the honor roll as winners of the GII Oaklawn H., including Loblolly Stable, Greentree Stable, Allen Paulson, Golden Eagle, John Franks, Ogden Phipps, Jerry Moss, Pin Oak Stable and the late Oaklawn president Charles Cella.

Following the conclusion of nine sometimes rough-and-tumble furlongs Saturday in Hot Springs, you can now add the name of Godolphin to the list, as the operation's immaculately bred 5-year-old Proxy (Tapit) stormed down the center of the track and managed to outfinish defending champion Last Samurai (Malibu Moon) by a head, with the hard-knocking GI Santa Anita H. hero Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) another unlucky nose away in third.

Sent off the 37-10 third pick, Proxy was sporting cheekpieces and landed in fourth position into the first turn, as Stilleto Boy showed slightly more speed than Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway), who applied the pressure from the outside. On the back of 'TDN Rising Star' Charge It (Tapit), blinkered for the first time and very erratic through the opening stages, Proxy was guided into the clear by Joel Rosario a turning into the backstretch. Racing as many as six paths off the inside approaching the entrance to the second turn, Proxy was asked to pick it up a bit at the seven-sixteenths, but there wasn't much of a response, as Last Samurai improved at the rail.

When longshot Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) commenced a sharp rally of his own that saw him overtake Proxy to his inside, that seemed to serve as a wake-up call and Proxy jumped back into the bridle while widest into the lane. In the meantime, Stilleto Boy had left the rail open, and leading rider Cristian Torres tried to send Last Samurai through a razor-thin opening, appearing to bounce off the fence at the furlong grounds and ricocheting off the rail to brush with Stilleto Boy and consequently putting Charge It in tight. But all the while, Proxy had worked up a full head of steam, was zeroing in on the leaders while out of harm's way down the center of the track and was shoved across the line first.

“I knew there was enough speed to set up his late run,” said winning trainer Michael Stidham. “The way it went, with Charge It sitting right in behind them [speed horses] and us outside of him, the only concern was turning for home it looked like he was trying to drop out of it again. But Joel [Rosario] had him out there for a reason, to stay out from behind the dirt.”

A fringe player on the Louisiana road to the Triple Crown two years ago, Proxy was third in last year's GIII Ben Ali S. and filled the same spot behind Olympiad (Speightstown) in the GII Stephen Foster S. before returning from a 4 1/2-month break to defeat West Will Power (Bernardini) in the GI Clark S. in November. He was a non-threatening fifth in the GI Pegasus World Cup Jan. 29 ahead of the Big 'Cap, where he got home well, but the wire came a couple of strides too soon.

Pedigree Notes:

Proxy's dam, a $260,000 purchase by Glencrest Farm out of the 2006 Keeneland April Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, was one of the more versatile performers of her generation, winning the GII Black-Eyed Susan S. on conventional dirt in May 2007 and the GI American Oaks on turf two months later before doubling her Grade I tally in that year's Juddmonte Spinster S. over the Keeneland all-weather.

Panty Raid was purchased by John Ferguson on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed's operation for $2.5 million at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, but took some time to make her mark in the breeding shed. Her first foal of note was Proxy's year-older half-sister Micheline, a Grade II winner on turf and second in the GI QE II Challenge Cup at Keeneland. Panty Raid, whose full-sister St. John's River went excruciatingly close in the 2011 GI Kentucky Oaks, is the dam of the 2-year-old colt Out in Force (Frosted) and a yearling filly by Into Mischief. Panty Raid was among the first book of mares bred to Tapit's two-time Eclipse Award winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Essential Quality.

Saturday, Oaklawn

OAKLAWN H.-GII, $1,000,000, Oaklawn, 4-22, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:49.68, ft.
1–PROXY, 122, h, 5, by Tapit
                1st Dam: Panty Raid (MGISW, $1,052,380), by Include
                2nd Dam: Adventurous Di, by Private Account
                3rd Dam: Tamaral, by Seattle Slew
O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Michael Stidham; J-Joel Rosario. $620,750. Lifetime Record: GISW, 16-5-6-2, $1,775,970. *1/2 to Micheline (Bernardini), GSW & GISP, $695,103. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Last Samurai, 123, h, 5, Malibu Moon–Lady Samuri, by First Samurai. ($37,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP; $175,000 2yo '20 OBSMAR). O-Willis Horton Racing LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-D. Wayne Lukas. $191,000.
3–Stilleto Boy, 122, g, 5, Shackleford–Rosie's Ransom, by Marquetry. ($420,000 3yo '21 FTKHRA). O-Steve Moger; B-John & Iveta Kerber (KY); T-Ed Moger, Jr. $95,500.
Margins: HD, NO, 2 3/4. Odds: 3.70, 2.80, 5.80.
Also Ran: Senor Buscador, Charge It, Classic Causeway, Rated R Superstar. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Saturday Preview: Charge It Gets Blinkers On For Oaklawn ‘Cap

He is the most talented horse–pound for pound–in a field of seven that was drawn earlier this week, but Whisper Hill Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Charge It (Tapit) nevertheless has a fair bit to prove as the 8-5 morning-line favorite in Saturday's $1-million GII Oaklawn H. in Hot Springs.

The 23-length winner of last year's GIII Dwyer S., the homebred returned with a stylish Gulfstream allowance victory first off a seven-month absence Feb. 5, but exits a disappointing runner-up effort in the GII Gulfstream Park Mile Mar. 4. The blinkers go on for this return to nine panels.

“He's always been a little bit of a curious colt,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, a two-time winner of the race. “We contemplated putting blinkers on him after [finishing second in] the Florida Derby last year. We just didn't think doing in the Kentucky Derby was the right move and then came back and won the Dwyer so impressively. It's hard to make a change off that, but it's something that's been in the back of our mind. We've worked him with them since his last race and I think they may make a difference.”

Not since Gay Revoke in 1964 and 1965 has a horse gone back-to-back in the Handicap, but Last Samurai (Malibu Moon) has a shot to put pay to that streak Saturday. If anything, the 5-year-old is in even better form this time around, having bested next-out, big-figure GII New Orleans Classic romper West Will Power (Bernardini) and subsequent SW Law Professor in the GIII Razorback H. Feb. 18 before reeling in Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway) last time in the GIII Essex H.

“We've gone from winning the Essex to probably fourth choice in the Handicap,” said Hall of Famer Wayne Lukas, who took over the training of Last Samurai from Dallas Stewart after last year's race and registered the most recent of his record four wins in the race with Willis Horton's Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song) nine years ago. His first? Imp Society in 1985.

“It's a very, very tough race. But for a million dollars, it should be,” Lukas said.

Were Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) to emerge victorious Saturday, he would become the first horse since Best Pal in 1992 to complete the GI Santa Anita H./Oaklawn H. double. In addition to the presumable market leaders, he'll also need to hold off Godolphin's Proxy (Tapit), who came with a stinging late rally at the Great Race Place six weeks ago only to fall a neck short.

'Skippy' Looking Like A Million Bucks for Ben Ali

Handicap horses also head to the post at Keeneland for the GIII Ben Ali (ally as in friend, not the late pugilist) S., lengthened to a mile and three-sixteenths for the first time. The hard-knocking Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) looms a warm favorite and would surge past the $1-million mark in career earnings if adding this to his latest comprehensive score in the GIII Challenger S. at Tampa Mar. 11.

“He came out of the Challenger well and gave us the confidence to put him in here,” said Beau Chapman, assistant to trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. “He has improved with age. He is a big, lanky horse and he has grown into himself and really developed.”

Keeneland also stages the GIII Elkhorn S. for male marathon turfers and attracts last year's one-two finishers, 9-year-old Channel Maker (English Channel) and 7-year-old Another Mystery (Temple City), who between them have made 84 career starts for 17 trips to the winner's circle.

In California, Big 'Cap third Defunded (Dialed In) squares off with 2021 winner Royal Ship (Brz) (Midshipman) in the GII Californian S., while top Cal-bred Brickyard Ride (Clubhouse Ride) takes on the progressive Anarchist (Distorted Humor) in the GIII Kona Gold S.

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This Side Up: Veterans’ Day at Oaklawn

When it comes to ageing, as the wiseguys remind us, it's when you're over the hill that you begin to pick up speed. And it's true: the magnolia trees where I live are coming into blossom, and I swear that each passing year compresses both the duration of those brief candles and, above all, the intervals in between. The inference is a dismal one: time flies when you've had your fun.

So on a weekend when we temporarily suspend our search for the adolescent Thoroughbred maturing sufficiently to beat his peers on the first Saturday in May, let's celebrate the fulfilments that remain available later in life–whether on two legs or four.

The GIII Essex H. is the kind of race that warms the cockles of my heart. Last year it retrieved graded status, and deservedly so after increasing its purse fivefold between 2016 and 2021–a telling snapshot of the thriving Oaklawn program. And this time round it throws together a couple of evergreen veterans who show that whether age turns us into vinegar or vintage wine is largely up to us.

 

 

Listen to this edition of This Side Up.

 

In the case of D. Wayne Lukas, it actually stands to reason that he should still maintain the standards of his heyday even with a much smaller barn. True, he does seem as blessed in indefatigability as in the genius he always brought to his vocation, and harnessing one to the other has simply given a fresh dimension to his unique status in our community. A wider application, however, surely applies to the principle that any decline in the physical powers even of lesser mortals is compensated, and amply so, by experience.

It's not as though anyone sends an expensive Thoroughbred to a given trainer because he might otherwise have made a cage-fighter or lumberjack. I've never understood why “ageing” trainers (an alarmingly elastic concept) should have become unfashionable as they certainly are in my homeland. Some of the biggest yards in Newmarket these days seem to be supervised as a perk accompanying appointment as head boy at various prep schools. As I have frequently remarked, if I owned the Derby favourite, and he had a foot in a bucket of ice the evening before the race, I would rather my trainer was dealing with the problem for an umpteenth time, and not the first.

It would be nice to think that a few people pondered this after the longest-serving trainer in Newmarket won the Arc last autumn, and I was delighted to learn that Sir Mark Prescott will be training for the new monarch this year. On the other side of the water, meanwhile, Lukas himself offered a similar prompt to reflection with Secret Oath (Arrogate) in the GI Kentucky Oaks last year. Though he was now closer to 90 than 80, perhaps one or two people recognized that the guy might finally be getting the hang of the game.

Admittedly it was hard, after Rich Strike (Keen Ice) emerged from nowhere (both figuratively and literally) the next day, to resist a wistful sense that Secret Oath in that form might well have cut down the boys in the Derby after all. While her form then tapered off, last weekend she looked as rejuvenated as her trainer when resurfacing at the track where she first made her name.

That was a gratifying sight, after her breeders had resisted all blandishments to keep her in the Briland family. And Last Samurai, who represents Lukas in the Essex, similarly looked better than ever when taking his earnings past $1.6 million in the GIII Razorback H. Even in his fourth campaign, however, he remains a relative greenhorn compared to the horse who closed for fourth that day.

Rated R Superstar (Kodiak Kowboy) won this race last year, as he had back in 2019 when a callow 6-year-old, and now bids to retain the trophy on his 68th career start. Here's a horse, then, to renew the perennial question: who do we blame for the fact that the modern Thoroughbred is treated like porcelain? Is it the trainers themselves? Or do they only treat horses this way because of the raw materials they're nowadays given by breeders?

One trainer who sets himself apart in that respect is Kenny McPeek, who actually trained Rated R Superstar through his first 30 starts, including when third in the GI Breeders' Futurity. And on Saturday McPeek takes on his old buddy with another who exactly matched that effort as a juvenile, in Classic Causeway.

This time last year, this horse had just won the GII Tampa Bay Derby and was sketching out an apt memorial as one of just three colts in the final crop of Giant's Causeway. True to that legacy of toughness and versatility, in the summer Classic Causeway reinvented himself in startling fashion, winning a Grade I on turf just two weeks after finishing third in the GIII Ohio Derby. Few American trainers today would dare attempt anything like that, so who can presume to anticipate what he might yet achieve back on dirt?

This week McPeek has already dusted off another of last year's sophomores to make a really heartening return. It certainly seems a long time since Smile Happy (Runhappy) beat Classic Causeway (then in another barn) in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S., not having been seen since his midfield finish in the Derby. But his rehearsals last spring had confirmed him among the best of the crop, and it's very wholesome to be reminded that there is life after the Triple Crown trail. Three years ago, after all, Last Samurai himself trailed in a distant fifth of six in the GI Arkansas Derby; while his rivals Saturday also include Silver Prospector (Declaration Of War), who had bombed out in the previous running of that race.

So let's hope that Litigate (Blame) can likewise return to build a career commensurate with his talent and potential after the hugely disappointing news that he's out of the Derby. All of us have some kind of stake in this horse doing enough to earn a place at stud, given that he has Numbered Account (Buckpasser) facing Thong (Nantallah) on either side of his pedigree. As that indicates, he has been in the best of hands throughout and hopefully his time will still come.

Even without him, the GII Louisiana Derby next week looks deep enough for horses to show that they could have a legitimate shot at Churchill but without banking enough points to prise open a gate. If that happens, however, nobody should despair. You might yet end up with a millionaire contesting the Essex H. in 2025. There are worse fates. Because what they say of people is probably just as true of many a horse: youth is wasted on the young.

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Last Samurai ‘Springs’ Upset in Oaklawn H.

Arkansas' own Willis Horton celebrated yet another big-race success right in his backyard, as Last Samurai (Malibu Moon) re-rallied at the fence beneath veteran reinsman Jon Court and ran away late to cause a 12-1 upset in Saturday's $1-million GII Oaklawn H.

Drawn two in a field reduced to seven by the early scratching of Thomas Shelby (Curlin), Last Samurai had good speed from the inside and shared the lead with second choice Plainsman (Flatter) under the wire for the first time, as favored Fearless (Ghostzapper)–runner-up to the Horton part-owned Silver State (Hard Spun) last year–tracked the duo from out wide. Court, still thriving at the age of 61, took Last Samurai in hand as they turned up the backstretch, allowing Plainsman to edge to the front, but held his spot at the fence as the field reached the half-mile peg. Last Samurai appeared to be struggling three-eighths of a mile out, but–busily ridden by Court–was back into the bridle and on the attack inside of Plainsman, Fearless and 2021 GI Arkansas Derby hero Super Stock (Super Saver) on the swing for home. Vigorously ridden, Last Samurai began to get away at the furlong grounds and was punched out to score impressively. Fearless was up on the line to touch Plainsman out of second.

“He's been training really well,” said Court. “He's been fun to work with from the time the Hortons gave me the opportunity to work with Last Samurai. He's just been a joy in the mornings. As you may have noticed, I broke away from the pony because he's just so fun to ride in the morning. In the afternoon, he gives it his best effort and things set up perfectly for us and he was willing to take on the challenge. What a blast it certainly was.”

Fifth in last year's GIII Southwest S. and in the Arkansas Derby, Last Samurai took a Colonial turf allowance in August, but was only ninth in the Dueling Grounds Derby at Kentucky Downs the following month. The chestnut, a neck second facing his elders in the GIII Greenwood Cup over 12 furlongs Sept. 25, bested Super Stock in the Dec. 11 Poinsettia S. at this venue, but was seventh to Plainsman in the GIII Razorback H. Feb. 12 and a latest near-miss second to marathoner Lone Rock (Majestic Warrior) in this track's Temperence Hill S. going a mile and a half Apr. 3.

Pedigree Notes:

Already one of 129 worldwide black-type winners for the late Malibu Moon, Last Samurai becomes the 52nd to succeed at the graded or group level and is his 20th male to do so.

A stakes winner and third in the GII Molly Pitcher S., Lady Samuri was sold for $130,000 at the 2013 Keeneland November Sale, then was knocked down to Stonestreet for $280,000 in foal to Union Rags at KEENOV the following fall. The mare is the dam of four winners from as many to the races, a number that also includes Candy Raid (Candy Ride {Arg}), who upset the Apr. 2 Bourbonette Oaks and worked Saturday towards an expected appearance in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks May 6 (see related story).

A $37,000 KEESEP buyback turned $175,000 OBS March breezer (:10 1/5), Last Samurai has a 2-year-old half-sister by Good Magic. After being given a year off, she foaled a filly by Maclean's Music Mar. 20.

Saturday, Oaklawn Park
OAKLAWN H.-GII, $1,000,000, Oaklawn, 4-23, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:49.32, ft.
1–LAST SAMURAI, 117, c, 4, by Malibu Moon
1st Dam: Lady Samuri (SW & GSP, $150,553), by First Samurai
2nd Dam: Redeye Rain, by Instrument Landing
3rd Dam: Palms and Rain, by Giacometti
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($37,000 RNA Ylg '19 KEESEP; $175,000 2yo '20 OBSMAR). O-Willis Horton Racing LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC (KY); T-Dallas Stewart; J-Jon Kenton Court. $600,000. Lifetime Record: 15-4-3-2, $946,744. *1/2 to Candy Raid (Candy Ride {Arg}), SW, $191,400. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Fearless, 121, g, 6, Ghostzapper–And Why Not, by Street Cry (Ire). ($725,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP; $120,000 RNA 4yo '20 FTKHRA; $205,000 5yo '21 FTKHRA). O-Repole Stable; B-Helen K. Groves Revocable Trust (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $200,000.
3–Plainsman, 121, h, 7, Flatter–S S Pinafore, by Street Sense.  ($350,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP). O-Shortleaf Stable, Inc.; B-Joseph Minor (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $100,000.
Margins: 4, NK, 2. Odds: 12.90, 1.20, 2.40.
Also Ran: Super Stock, Beau Luminarie, Idol, Rated R Superstar. Scratched: Thomas Shelby.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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