America’s Day At The Races Returns Saturday On FOX Sports

America's Day at the Races, the acclaimed national telecast produced by the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) in partnership with FOX Sports, returns this weekend with live racing from Oaklawn Park and Aqueduct Racetrack.

Presented by America's Best Racing and Claiborne Farm, America's Day at the Races will broadcast 9.5 hours of weekend racing coverage and analysis on FS1 and FS2, including four stakes races from Aqueduct and Oaklawn.

Stakes action from Aqueduct this weekend includes Saturday's 128th running of the seven-furlong Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan for 4-year-olds and upward, while Sunday's Big A card offers the 37th renewal of the seven-furlong $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield for sophomores.

Oaklawn Park features a pair of stakes on Saturday, including the $150,000 American Beauty at six furlongs for older fillies and mares and the $200,000 Martha Washington, a one-mile test for sophomore fillies offering 10-4-2-1 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points to the top-four finishers.

(All times Eastern)
Saturday, Jan. 30
1:00 – 4:00 p.m. (FS2)
4:00 – 5:30 p.m. (FS1)
5:30 – 6:30 p.m. (FS2)

Sunday, Jan. 31
2:00 – 6:00 p.m. (FS2)

America's Day at the Races is also broadcast on NYRA's YouTube channel which boasts more than 63,000 subscribers. Fans can subscribe to NYRA's channel and set a reminder to watch the show on YouTube Live. NYRA's YouTube channel also hosts a plethora of race replays, special features, America's Day at the Races replays and more.

Free Equibase-provided past performances are available for races that are part of the America's Day at the Races broadcast and can be accessed at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official online wagering platform of Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course. Available to horseplayers nationwide, NYRA Bets is currently offering a $200 new member bonus in addition to a host of special weekly offers. The NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

For the current broadcast schedule and additional programming information, visit NYRA.com.

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Oaklawn’s March 13 Rebel The ‘Next Logical Spot’ For Smarty Jones Winner Caddo River

Caddo River returned to the track Tuesday morning for the first time since a record-breaking victory in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds Friday at Oaklawn. At the same time, his trainer, Brad Cox, was plotting the next move for the speedy colt and his handful of other Kentucky Derby prospects, including probable Eclipse Award winner Essential Quality.

The road to Churchill Downs, at least regarding next-race plans for Caddo River and Essential Quality, will run through Oaklawn's lucrative series of Kentucky Derby points races, with Caddo River, a homebred for Hot Springs lumberman John Ed Anthony's Shortleaf Stable, probably making his next start in the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) at 1 1/16 miles March 13, Cox said.

Caddo River received a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 92, a career high, for his front-running 10 ¼-length victory in the Smarty Jones, the most lopsided result since the one-mile race was inaugurated in 2008. Anthony also became the first owner to sweep what are now Oaklawn's four Kentucky Derby points races.

“He's a very good colt, and we're hoping he can get us to the first Saturday in May,” Cox said. “This has been a very good path to take, through Arkansas, to get there. We'll let the dust settle and talk it over with Mr. John Ed (Anthony), but I'd say right now, given the timing and everything, it probably makes the most sense to run him back in the Rebel. Just based off the calendar, the Rebel would be the next logical spot for him.”

The Smarty Jones marked the two-turn, stakes and 3-year-old debut of Caddo River, a long-striding son of 2007 Kentucky Derby runner-up Hard Spun. After finishing second in his first two starts in New York, both at 7 furlongs, Caddo River closed his 2-year-old campaign with a front-running 9 ½-length maiden victory in a one-turn mile Nov. 15 at Churchill Downs.

“We have high expectations for him,” Cox said. “He's a good horse. Any time you can win a race by, say, 10 lengths – you don't really ever go into a race thinking you're going to win by 10. We think a lot of him. We have high hopes for this horse. He's one of three colts, three or four colts that we have in our barn, that we think can get us to the first Saturday in May.”

The Rebel is the final major local prep for the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) at 1 1/8 miles April 10. Oaklawn's four-race Kentucky Derby points series began with the Smarty Jones and continues with the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) Feb. 15, which Cox said will mark the 2021 debut of unbeaten Essential Quality, who is now based at Fair Grounds.

Essential Quality (3 for 3) won the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Nov. 6 at Keeneland in his last start for Cox, Oaklawn's third-leading trainer last year and a finalist for an Eclipse Award as the country's outstanding trainer of 2020. One Oaklawn-based horse pointing for the 1 1/16-mile Southwest is Keepmeinmind, who finished third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile for trainer Robertino Diodoro.

Caddo River marked the first Smarty Jones starter for Anthony, who has won the Rebel a record five times (1980, 1984, 1987, 1992 and 1993). Three of Anthony's Rebel winners, Temperence Hill in 1980, Demons Begone in 1987 and Pine Bluff in 1992, also won the Arkansas Derby. Anthony has won the Southwest three times.

Like the Smarty Jones, the Southwest will offer 17 points on a sliding scale (10-4-2-1) to the top four finishers. The Rebel will award 85 points to the top four finishers (50-20-10-5), with 170 up for grabs to the top four finishers in the Arkansas Derby (100-40-20-10).

The Kentucky Derby is limited to 20 starters. Horses with the highest point totals accumulated in designated races like the Smarty Jones, Southwest, Rebel and Arkansas Derby will have starting preference at Churchill Downs.

Essential Quality tops the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 30 points, according to Churchill Downs. Keepmeinmind ranks second with 18 and Caddo River is eighth with 10.

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Breeders’ Cup Winner Essential Quality Officially Booked For Southwest Stakes

Trainer Brad Cox told the Daily Racing Form on Tuesday that Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Essential Quality will make his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 15. The other alternative had been the G2 Risen Star over nine furlongs at the Fair Grounds on Feb. 13, but the slightly shorter distance of the Southwest won out in the end.

“The right thing for him off the layoff would be the mile and a sixteenth,” Cox told drf.com.

The Godolphin homebred son of Tapit is undefeated in three career starts, and has been working steadily at the Fair Grounds since late December. Essential Quality is expected to be named the Champion 2-Year-Old of 2020 at Thursday's Eclipse Awards ceremony.

Read more at the Daily Racing Form.

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Outwork Filly Stays Unbeaten at Oaklawn

8th-Oaklawn, $84,000, Alw, 1-24, (NW1X), 3yo, f, 6f, 1:11.89, my, 1 1/2 lengths.
ABROGATE (f, 3, Outwork–Hot Coffee, by Burning Roma) became the third winner on Oaklawn's Sunday card for her owners, trainer and jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. A six-length debut winner at Churchill Nov. 12, she'd been flattered when the runner-up from that heat returned to take her next two starts and was backed down to 4-5 favoritism facing a promising group. Away well, the dark bay was content to press from second through an opening quarter of :22.78 before poking her nose in front while flanked by rivals through a :46.62 half. Southern Grayce (Liam's Map) mounted a stiff challenge in the lane, but Abrogate turned her back to get the job done by 1 1/2 lengths. The winner, who hails from the family of Grade I winners Big Drama and Sheer Drama, has a 2-year-old half-sister by Daredevil and yearling half-brother by Good Samaritan. Her dam visited Hard Spun for 2021. Sales history: $75,000 Wlg '18 KEENOV; $270,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $99,492. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
O-Alex & JoAnn Lieblong; B-Sandra Sexton & Silver Fern Farm (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen.

 

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