Tohill, 57, Eyes 4,000-Win Milestone With Detour To Oaklawn

Ken Tohill enters 2021 chasing a career milestone. That chase begins at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark., where the veteran jockey will be riding regularly for the second time after winning 22 races from 172 mounts in 2014 to tie for seventh in the standings.

According to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization, Tohill, 57, entered Saturday with 3,928 career victories to rank 84th in North American history. Only 77 riders in North American history, through Friday, had reached 4,000, according to Equibase.

“That's something I didn't think 15 years ago was even a possibility,” Tohill said. “Now, I always said I'm not quitting until after 4,000.”

Tohill rode his first winner in 1979 and has been a fixture in New Mexico, Iowa and Northern California (the back yard of all-time North American kingpin Russell Baze), consistently ranking among the top 100 riders nationally in victories since 2004. He won a career-high 221 races in 2005 to finish 20th nationally.

“I really kind of ruined the first two-thirds of my career,” Tohill said. “Just drinking and scared to leave Northern California. You had Russell Baze there. Think it was more fear than anything.”

Tohill said his return to Oaklawn coincides with COVID-19 restrictions, which continues to shutter racing in New Mexico. He rode nine winners at the recently concluded Remington Park meeting.

“It changed all of our patterns,” Tohill said of the virus. “They're shut down in New Mexico. There wasn't an option. Then, my business had started picking up at Remington and a couple of offers from people that would ride me.”

Tohill is named on two horses Jan. 22 (opening day) – All Shacked Up in the first race for 2015 Oaklawn leading trainer Chris Hartman and Five Star Moon in the fourth race for trainer Tim Martin. Tohill rode 15 of his winners at the 2014 Oaklawn meeting for Hartman.

“I'm going to pester everybody, but hopefully I'll have a little business with Hartman again,” Tohill said. “That's my main push.”

Tohill said he doesn't know where he'll ride after the Oaklawn meet ends May 1, adding there are no thoughts of retirement, especially since he's poised to reach a career milestone in 2021.

“I'm going to go until the body … or I don't belong,” Tohill said. “Right now, I feel really good. I probably feel as good as I did years ago. Knock on wood, I hope it stays like this.”

Tohill is represented at Oaklawn by agent Joe Santos. Tohill's only other Oaklawn mount came in 2009 aboard Kick On, who finished 11th in the $250,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) for 3-year-olds. Alsvid, the Hartman-trained millionaire sprinter, and multiple stakes winner Mr. Trieste are among Tohill's top career mounts.

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Lukas Back At Oaklawn: ‘I Feel Better Here Than Any Place’

If it's hard to keep a good man down, what about a great trainer?

The legendary D. Wayne Lukas, 85, has returned to Oaklawn, his winter base for more than a decade, after recently losing another one of his longtime prominent clients in an era of super trainers, declining foal crops and COVID-19.

But “The Coach” is still coaching, among other things, overseeing a downsized stable – 27 horses – mentoring two 20-something female exercise riders and continuing to take his runners to the track each morning on a pony.

“We're down in numbers, like most barns, other than two or three,” said Lukas, a former high school basketball coach who was Oaklawn's leading trainer in 1987 and 2011. “Some of them are up, but we're not. I think what we've got will give us a competitive meet, but I don't have any grandiose ideas that we're going to have a dominant meet.”

A four-time Eclipse Award winner as the country's outstanding trainer (1985, 1986, 1987 and 1994), Lukas has several well-bred young prospects, notably Nov. 27 Churchill Downs maiden special weights graduate Lock Up, unraced My Favorite Uncle and Ram.

Lock Up, a 3-year-old by Maclean's Music, is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Sinister Minister. My Favorite Uncle is a 3-year-old son of champions Uncle Mo and Storm Song. Ram, a 3-year-old ridgling by 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, is a half-brother to millionaire Coal Front, winner of Oaklawn's $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses in 2019 for trainer Todd Pletcher. Lock Up is nominated to the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 22, Oaklawn's first of four Kentucky Derby points races.

“Lock Up just broke his maiden, but he did it pretty impressively,” Lukas said. “You look at that video, it was very impressive and the time was excellent. I'm sure his sheet numbers are going to be pretty good.”

Ram is winless in four starts, but did run second in a Sept. 3 Churchill Downs maiden special weight route. The winner, King Fury, returned to win the $98,000 Street Sense Overnight Stakes Oct. 25 at Churchill Downs before running seventh in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Nov. 6 at Keeneland.

“I'm looking for Ram to especially improve this spring and maybe get in the fray a little bit if everything goes good,” Lukas said. “He's got some ability.”

Ram was purchased for $375,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale by the now-deceased Robert C. Baker and William L. Mack, who had previously campaigned Grade 1 winners Strong Mandate, Sporting Chance and Dublin with Lukas, as well Super Saks, winner of the $150,000 Carousel Stakes for older female sprinters in 2016 at Oaklawn.

Lukas said Baker's recent death represents the loss of another “key client,” following Eugene Klein (died in 1990), W.T. Young (2004), Bob Lewis (2006) and Bob French (2013). Some of Lukas' best horses for Klein, Young, Lewis and French included champions and/or Classic winners Lady's Secret, Tank's Prospect, Flanders, Grindstone, Charismatic, Timber Country, Serena's Song, Capote and Landaluce.

“I'm from the old school,” Lukas said. “The five major clients that I've had have all died. That hurts. You don't replace Bob Lewis, somebody like that, at least in this age. That's five guys that were 100 percent behind me in the sale ring and everything. But we're here, 85 years old, on a pony every day. What the hell?”

Lukas owns or co-owns a handful of his horses, including the maiden Atoka, a 4-year-old Union Rags colt with a string of bullet workouts at Oaklawn. Lukas' right-hand man remains longtime assistant Sebastian “Bas” Nicholl, while exercise riders Kaylee Crotchett and Jade Cunningham are learning the ropes under the Hall of Fame trainer. Crotchett, 22, said she will make her riding debut aboard Mr. Peterkin, a Lukas-trained 3-year-old maiden, early in the 2021 Oaklawn meeting.

“I'm trying to make Jade a top exercise rider,” Lukas said. “She's tall. She's really come along great. Kaylee, I'm going to ride.”

Lukas, of course, already has an immaculate track record as a teacher. Several of his former assistants, including Pletcher, Mike Maker, Dallas Stewart and three-time Oaklawn champion Bobby Barnett (1994, 1995 and 1996), became stars after going out on their own.

“I'm still coaching,” Lukas said. “A couple of guys that have left me recently, they are calling me on the phone, trying to get advice on this and that. I think once a coach, always a coach. I don't think you ever get away from that. I find myself even saying things where I don't belong out there with some young guy. I'll say, 'What don't you try this with that horse?' I find myself doing that.”

Lukas has been sidelined in recent years with heart and back problems and took a brief sabbatical in August because of COVID-19. But it's hard to keep this great trainer down.

“I'm 100 percent,” Lukas said. “In fact, I feel really good. My energy is better here than any place where I go. I think it's the air. I think it's the oxygen. What do they say? The trees filter the air. But I have more energy and go on less sleep here than any place I go. I've got a beautiful home in the woods in Kentucky, but I feel better here than any place. You see why people come here and retire.”

Lukas has a home adjacent to the northeast corner of Oaklawn property. He has 324 victories, including 47 stakes, in his Oaklawn career.

Overall, Lukas has amassed 4,842 victories and $282,785,442 in purse earnings in his career, according to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization. Lukas was a 1999 inductee into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

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Keepmeinmind Gearing Up For 2021 Debut In Southwest Stakes

Keepmeinmind moved closer to his 2020 debut with a half-mile workout late Tuesday morning at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark., going in :48.80 just after the first surface renovation break under regular rider David Cohen.

Keepmeinmind was breezing locally for the second time since winning the $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) for 2-year-olds Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs. The track was rated fast after training was delayed 3 ½ hours because of freezing temperatures early Tuesday morning.

The $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) Feb. 15 at Oaklawn, trainer Robertino Diodoro said Tuesday afternoon, remains a target for Keepmeinmind, who was among the country's leading 2-year-olds.

“That's the rough plan,” Diodoro said.

Keepmeinmind's time ranked fifth among 55 half-mile works published. Clockers caught Keepmeinmind galloping out 5 furlongs in 1:01.40 and 6 furlongs in 1:15.60. Diodoro said Keepmeinmind was to breeze alone, but he received some unexpected company in the final quarter-mile of the work from a Chris Hartman trainee who shadowed the late-running son of Laoban on the outside approaching the regular finish line.

“He never did let that horse pass him, even on the gallop out,” said Diodoro, Oaklawn's leading trainer in 2020. “Worked good. It was a very strong gallop out. Like I said, the plan was just to work by himself, but he hooked into another horse. That made him probably finish up a little stronger than needed to be. But at the same time, it was good for us.”

Keepmeinmind breezed a half-mile in :50.20 Jan. 6 under Cohen, Oaklawn's leading rider in 2019. The colt arrived Dec. 27 after previously being in light training at WinStar Farm in Kentucky following the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, Diodoro said.

The 1 1/16-mile Southwest is Oaklawn's second of four Kentucky Derby points races. Keepmeinmind raced four times (all routes) 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 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes under Cohen.

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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Lawlessness Aiming For Derby Points In Oaklawn’s Smarty Jones Stakes

Lightly raced Lawlessness will make his two-turn and stakes debut in the $150,000 Smarty Jones for 3-year-olds Jan. 22 at Oaklawn, trainer Ingrid Mason said Tuesday afternoon.

Post positions for the one-mile Smarty Jones, Oaklawn's first of four Kentucky Derby points races, will be drawn Friday. The race will offer 17 points (10-4-2-1) to the top four finishes, respectively, toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby.

A son of Congrats, Lawlessness compiled a 1-0-2 record from three starts last year. Lawlessness broke his maiden Oct. 4 at Hawthorne and finished third in his last start – an entry-level allowance sprint – Oct. 30 at Hawthorne.

“He's named appropriately because he's a little turkey,” Mason said. “He's a little screwball.”

Lawlessness was purchased for just $14,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s spring sale of 2-year-olds in training by Mike Waters, Mason's significant other. Mason said she picked out the colt, who covered a quarter-mile in 21.80 in his under tack preview work. Mason and Waters teamed to finish seventh in last year's Smarty Jones with Lykan, another son of Congrats who was making his two-turn and stakes debut.

“It's funny,” Mason said. “They actually are a lot alike, as far as personality, him and Lykan, and they're by the same sire. The mothers are different, obviously. You don't really call them brothers, but they have a lot of the same personality. Congrats kind of stamps out his babies most of the time, it seems. I think Lawlessness, at this stage, is more talented than Lykan was, and I think the longer he goes the better he's going to be. I think the distance for him, the mile, is going to suit him really, really well.”

Following the Smarty Jones, Lykan returned to sprints and was a first-level allowance winner at Oaklawn before finishing third in its $90,000 Gazebo Stakes and $100,000 Bachelor Stakes.

Mason said David Cohen, Oaklawn's leading jockey in 2019, will ride Lawlessness for the first time in the Smarty Jones. Another locally based horse pointing for the Smarty Jones is Caddo River, a powerful Nov. 15 Churchill Downs maiden special weights graduate for trainer Brad Cox.

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. The Smarty Jones closed Jan. 7 with 96 nominations, the bulk part of an expanded early bird date linked to the other three Kentucky Derby points races for the first time.

The 2020 Smarty Jones closed with 51 nominations.

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