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Keepmeinmind ‘Had A Little Target To Run At’ In Bullet Workout At Oaklawn

Keepmeinmind recorded his third local workout this month at Oaklawn – zipping 5 furlongs in 1:00 over a fast track Tuesday morning under regular rider David Cohen – in advance of the colt's 2021 debut in the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) for 3-year-olds Feb. 15. The time ranked No. 1 among 40 published at the distance.

“Really good,” trainer Robertino Diodoro said Wednesday morning. “It worked out good, actually. Just right at the quarter pole, like David said, he looked up and said there was a horse about 6 or 7 lengths in front of him and he had a little target to run at. It kind of worked out really well.”

Keepmeinmind recorded splits of :25 for his opening quarter-mile, :37 for three furlongs and :48.20 for a half-mile before galloping out six furlongs in 1:12.80 and seven in 1:26.80, according to clockers. Diodoro said Keepmeinmind worked from the five-eighths pole to the regular finish line.

Keepmeinmind had previously recorded half-mile breezes Jan. 6 and Jan. 12 at Oaklawn.

“He's starting to become a pretty good work horse,” Diodoro said.

Keepmeinmind raced four times last year, finishing second in the $400,000 Breeders' Futurity (G1) Oct. 3 at Keeneland and third in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Nov. 6 at Keeneland before breaking his maiden as the 2-1 favorite in the $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs.

The 1 1/16-mile Southwest is Oaklawn's second of four Kentucky Derby points races.

Keepmeinmind ranks second on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 18 points, according to Churchill Downs. Unbeaten Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Essential Quality has 30 points to top the standings. Essential Quality, the probable 2-year-old male champion, is under consideration for the Southwest, trainer Brad Cox said.

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Florent Geroux ‘Very Excited’ To Be Based At Oaklawn For 2021 Meet

Florent Geroux's second stint as a riding regular at Oaklawn figures to go better than his first. Much better.

Geroux was fresh off his first career riding title at Hawthorne when he made his Oaklawn debut in 2012, presumably as the go-to rider for Chicago-based powerhouse Midwest Thoroughbreds (Richard and Karen Papiese). Midwest was Oaklawn's leading owner in 2011, 2012 and 2013. It teased Dan Lasater's then-single-season Oaklawn record (48 victories) in 2012 before finishing with 42.

Geroux, trainer Roger Brueggemann and Midwest had teamed to sweep the titles at the 2011 Hawthorne fall meet. But with Brueggemann remaining in the Chicago area, Geroux rode only four horses for the far-reaching, multi-trainer Midwest Thoroughbreds operation during the 2012 Oaklawn meeting and quietly left Hot Springs after going winless with only seven mounts.

“We just decided to go back to Chicago because we didn't have the business we were promised to have,” Geroux said during training hours Wednesday morning at Oaklawn. “With Midwest Thoroughbreds, it was back and forth. Sometimes you get hired and sometimes you stay on the bench. It's always been like that. But through my career, I can't complain. They just helped me a lot and really helped my career to go to another level. It was mainly because of him (Brueggemann), winning a lot of races on the Chicago circuit and winning the Breeders' Cup with Work All Week and the Arlington Million with The Pizza Man.”

Geroux did make an important business contact during his brief stint at the 2012 Oaklawn meeting, riding four horses for Brad Cox, then one of Midwest's trainers employed in Hot Springs, and billed a career “up and comer.”

“When I came here, it was just different trainers,” Geroux said. “The only one who helped me was Brad.”

Almost a decade later, Geroux has returned to Oaklawn as a regular, more specifically as the go-to rider for Cox, a finalist for an Eclipse Award as the country's outstanding trainer in 2020.

Normally, Geroux, 34, winters at Fair Grounds, where he has recorded 506 victories since 2013. But Oaklawn's lucrative purse structure (roughly $600,000 daily projection) and Cox's top-shelf barn had Geroux getting on horses at Oaklawn on a crisp, cloudy Wednesday morning.

“Brad and I, we talked and we decided where was best for me to go and that was mainly here,” said Geroux, whose 36 victories ranked fourth in this season's Fair Grounds standings through Tuesday. “Of course, it was mainly because of him. At the Fair Grounds, I have a lot of business, too. I have more business there because people expect me to ride there. Here, it's different, but I'm hoping to have a good meet. With the help of Brad, I think it's going to be very beneficial.”

In contrast to 2012, Geroux is named on 12 horses during the first two days of racing (Friday and Saturday), including seven for Cox. Geroux and Cox have teamed for 285 victories since 2014, a collaboration highlighted by Eclipse Award winner and two-time Breeders' Cup Distaff champion Monomoy Girl.

“We work well together,” said Cox, Oaklawn's third-leading trainer in 2020 and a dominant figure the last few years at Fair Grounds. “He's done a fantastic job for us for years now. Just thought we would start at Fair Grounds and see how it goes. It's going well, but I think with the purse money and the day-to-day racing being so good at Oaklawn, it probably just makes more sense for him to be at Oaklawn, as opposed to the Fair Grounds, once it starts.”

Among Geroux's first scheduled mounts for Cox is Caddo River in Friday's $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds. Geroux said he's anxious to reunite with Monomoy Girl, who is scheduled to make her 2021 debut in the $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) for older fillies and mares Feb. 15 at Oaklawn. The Bayakoa is a major local prep for the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 17.

“Very excited,” Geroux said. “It's one of the main reasons, too, I'm here. Because of the COVID situation, you don't know how you're going to be able to travel back and forth. She's supposed to run twice, once in the Bayakoa and once in the Apple Blossom. That's one of the main reasons why I'm here.”

Geroux has more than 1,700 victories and $108 million in purse earnings in his career. In addition to Monomoy Girl, Geroux was the regular rider of 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner. Geroux also won the 2014 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) aboard Work All Week and the 2015 Arlington Million (G1) aboard The Pizza Man for Brueggemann and Midwest Thoroughbreds. Work All Week, the country's champion male sprinter of 2014, and Gun Runner were both Oaklawn stakes winners.

Geroux, who was born in France, recorded his first United States victory in 2008. He has 11 career Oaklawn victories.

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Hollendorfer, With Frank Stronach As New Client, Well-Stocked For Oaklawn Meet

Southern California-based trainers flourished last year at Oaklawn, with two finishing in the top 10 in the standings.

Horses for John Sadler were scheduled to arrive at the Hot Springs, Ark., track on Sunday in advance of the 57-day meeting that is scheduled to begin Friday, Jan. 22. Sadler, in his Oaklawn debut, won 15 races in 2020 to finish fifth in the trainer standings. Horses for another Southern California-based trainer, Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, have been on the grounds since late December under the direction of his longtime assistant, Dan Ward. Hollendorfer wintered at Oaklawn for the first time in 2020 and recorded 12 victories to finish eighth in the standings.

“We finished good,” Ward said Sunday morning. “We were in the top 10. We ran a lot of horses and we stayed safe and finished up good.”

Hollendorfer has more horsepower this year, roughly 40 head, including several holdovers from the 2020 meeting and seven for a high-profile new client, Frank Stronach.

A 2008 Eclipse Award winner as the country's outstanding owner, Stronach has campaigned, among others, 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper, champions Ginger Punch, Perfect Sting and Macho Uno, Breeders' Cup Classic winner Awesome Again and Preakness winner Red Bullet. Stronach also campaigned Spun Sugar, winner of the $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares in 2006 at Oaklawn.

Stronach's 2021 Oaklawn contingent is headed by Green Light Go, who won the $200,000 Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) for 2-year-olds in 2019 at Saratoga when with trainer Jimmy Jerkens. Unraced since mid-May, Green Light Go has recorded two workouts at Oaklawn, the last a five-furlong move from the gate in 1:00.20 Wednesday.

“He's coming along good,” Ward said.

Sunny Dale, a three-time winner last year at Oaklawn, has also recorded two local works in advance of her 5-year-old debut. The well-traveled Sunny Dale ran fifth in the $125,000 Carousel Stakes for older female sprinters last April at Oaklawn and completed her 2020 campaign with a fifth-place finish in the $80,000 Floral Park Stakes Oct. 17 at Belmont Park.

“We freshened her up a little bit and she's doing good,” Ward said.

Another 2020 Oaklawn winner, Awesome Anywhere, could resurface late in the meeting, Ward said. Awesome Anywhere ran six furlongs in 1:08.76 to capture a starter-allowance race last March at Oaklawn and closed 2020 with a runner-up finish in the $100,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes Sept. 12 at Monmouth Park.

Hollendorfer entered seven horses for the first two days of racing, including Causeway Jones in an entry-level allowance sprint for 3-year-olds on Saturday. Hollendorfer and two partners privately purchased the Creative Cause colt following a 7 ½-length debut victory Dec. 18 at Remington Park. Causeway Jones also has two published works at Oaklawn.

“We noticed last year that we started running better once we worked a couple of times over the track,” Ward said. “We got here like (Jan. 16) and a lot of starters didn't even have a work over the track. We got here earlier and have gotten two or three breezes over the track – most of them – and I think that will help.”

Hollendorfer has 18 career victories at Oaklawn, including four stakes (all graded). The stakes victories include Blind Luck in the $300,000 Fantasy Stakes (G2) in 2010. Blind Luck was named the country's champion 3-year-old filly of 2010.

Southern California-based trainers Phil D'Amato and Peter Miller also have horses on the grounds in advance of the 2021 meet. They each won five races last year at Oaklawn.

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Oaklawn’s Opening Day Smarty Jones Stakes Kicks Off Arkansas Road To The Kentucky Derby

More than a decade after winning the final major local Arkansas Derby prep, trainer Mac Robertson will try to capture the first when he sends out Martini Blu, a sharp winner of his only career start, in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds Jan. 22 at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark.

The one-mile Smarty Jones is Oaklawn's first of four Kentucky Derby points races and highlights the opening-day nine race program. Probable post time for the Smarty Jones, which goes as the eighth race, is 4:11 p.m. (Central). It is the first of 33 scheduled stakes races during the 57-day meeting that ends May 1.

The Smarty Jones will offer 17 points (10-4-2-1) to the top four finishers, respectively, toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby. Oaklawn's Kentucky Derby points series continues with the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) Feb. 15, $1-million Rebel Stakes (G2) March 13 and the $1-million Arkansas Derby (G1) April 10.

Post positions for the Smarty Jones were drawn Friday, with Martini Blu among the seven horses entered. Robertson sprang an upset in the 2009 Rebel with late-running Win Willy (56-1) and Martini Blu will represent the trainer's second Smarty Jones starter after Stormy Holiday finished fourth in 2013.

Martini Blu, a son of Maclean's Music, already owns a victory around two turns after winning his Dec. 27 career debut at Hawthorne by 5 ¼ lengths when under the care of Robertson's father, trainer Hugh Robertson. Martini Blu, who stalked the leader, covered a mile and 70 yards in 1:42.70 over a fast track to earn a Beyer Speed Figure of 64.

“He was kind of a speed-crazy horse this summer and I didn't want to run him,” Mac Robertson said. “He was showing too much speed, just go to the front. Sometimes it takes longer than you would like for them to tone down a little, even their first time. Once you run them, it's hard to slow them down. But he rated some the first time, passed horses and probably got something out of the race.”

Robertson said Martini Blu was green-lighted for the Smarty Jones after working a half-mile in :49.80 over a fast track Thursday morning at Oaklawn. He had previously been breezing at Hawthorne.

“He worked good over this surface, and it's not like there's a two-turn race any time soon,” Robertson said. “It just made practical sense.”

A $40,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase in 2019, Martini Blu is owned by Robertson's longtime client, Novogratz Racing Stables Inc. (Joseph Novogratz). Robertson and Novogratz also campaign multiple stakes winner Amy's Challenge, who is scheduled to make her 2021 debut in the $150,000 American Beauty Stakes for older female sprinters Jan. 30 at Oaklawn.

The projected Smarty Jones field from the rail out: Martini Blu, Francisco Arrieta to ride, 115 pounds; Lawlessness, David Cohen, 115; Cowan, Ricardo Santana Jr., 115; Big Thorn, David Cabrera, 117; Hardly Swayed, Martin Garcia, 115; Moonlite Strike, Joe Talamo, 115; and Caddo River, Florent Geroux, 115.

Cowan and Big Thorn are trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, who won the 2020 Smarty Jones with Gold Street. Cowan finished a fast-closing second in the $1-million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2) Nov. 6 at Keeneland and completed his 2-year-old campaign with a runner-up finish in the $200,000 Springboard Mile Dec. 18 at Remington Park.

Caddo River exits a powerful front-running maiden special weights victory Nov. 15 at Churchill Downs for trainer Brad Cox and breeder/owner John Ed Anthony of Hot Springs.

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