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An exceptional night of Quarter Horse racing is set for Saturday, June 4 at Sam Houston Race Park with six stakes, highlighted by the $649,710 Sam Houston Futurity (G2). Two features have been named in honor of prominent Texas horsemen John Buchanan and Leon Bard.

The $54,000 John Buchanan Memorial Stakes is named in honor of Texas horseman John Buchanan, who passed away in September, 2020. The resident of Peaster, Texas, was a “hands on” trainer who took extraordinary care of each of his horses throughout a career that spanned over 30 years. He was prominent in each of the Texas racetracks with major stakes wins at Sam Houston Race Park from Pivotal Decision, Gone Celebrating, Lead Story and the diminutive filly, No Fees. Buchanan gained national recognition winning the 1987 All American Futurity (G1) with Elans Special, winner with Brimmerton who won the Rainbow Derby and All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs.

A field of ten Texas-bred fillies will compete in the John Buchanan Memorial Stakes, led by Sissie Nd Bob McClure's homebred Babes Fdd. The daughter of Fdd Dynasty exits back-to-back victories at Remington Park for trainer Toby Keeton. Installed as the 2-1 morning line choice, the bay filly will break from post nine under rider Bryan Candanosa. Cindi Keeton will handle the saddling duties for her husband and was asked about the 2022 success of Babes Fdd.

“It's a little bit of everything, but Bryan has played a role,” said Keeton. “He's a talented young rider and has a really good attitude and work ethic.”

Born in Dallas, Candanosa learned the ropes from his uncle Adalberto Candanosa, who rode both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses throughout his career. The 21-year-old began riding in 2018, won the first stakes of his career here last summer and has rocketed up the standings in 2022. He won two futurities at Remington Park and is currently the leading Quarter Horse rider in the country by earnings.

Other entrants in the 350-yard feature include Amateur Night, a Kiss My Hocks filly trained by Justin Powell who prepped for this in a $27,000 allowance on May 7. Current Sam Houston Race Park leading conditioner Juan Diaz, Jr. has two fillies in the field. Kas Shes Ec is a multiple-stakes placed daughter of Ec Jet One and will be ridden by Victor Urieta, Jr. Systymatic drew the rail for Diaz and the daughter of Mr Jess Perry will make her stakes debut under jockey Jose Hebert.

The John Buchanan Memorial will run as the fourth race on the program. Buchanan's wife, Iris and daughter Amanda, will be at Sam Houston Race Park to present the trophy.

Quarter Horse trainer Leon Bard died on January 5, 2022, in Wheelock, Texas, following a courageous battle with cancer. He was 75 years old. Respected in the Texas Quarter Horse racing community as a skilled horseman and industry leader, Bard was prominent at Sam Houston from 1994- 2021.

Bard saddled 2,275 Quarter Horses since 1993, with purses of $5.9 million. He won a record five editions of the TQHA Sale Futurity (RG1), beginning with Silver Gol in 2015 as well as Grey Daze (2014), Cartels Pop (2015), Just Another Natural (2017) and Dak (2018). SF Hot Pass had an exceptional record at the classic distance of 440-yards, including a victory in the 2019 Bank of America Challenge Championship (G1). Bard also won the 2017 Sam Houston Futurity(G2) with This Is An Eagle. His top earner was Gary W. Hartstack's Zip First ($552,356), winner of the 2002 Ruidoso Futurity (G1).

Ten colts and geldings are entered in the 350-yard stakes honoring Bard. DM Moonpie, a son of Moonin The Eagle bred and owned by Donna Mushinski, will break from the rail at odds of 3-1. Trained by her husband, Kie, the gray colt exits an allowance victory here on May 20 under rider Luis Vivanco, who has the return call for the stakes.

“He's as happy as a horse can be,” stated Kie Mushinski. “We made an equipment change with his blinkers and he responded well.”

Mushinski was a close friend of Bard's and hopes that Dm Moonpie will get the victory on Saturday night.

“It would be big for me and Donna,” he added. “Leon was a cherished friend for close to 40 years. Leon was a great horseman, but wish more people knew what a big heart he had.”

Crown Horse Racing LLC's Doc McCrocklin is the high earner in the field with a victory in the 2021 TQHA Sale Futurity. The Dash Master Jess gelding, will break from post position three under Nestor Duran. Jerry Windham's Hes No Illusion, who finished second to DM Moonpie last month, is also entered. The gelding sired by The Louisiana Cartel is also in pursuit of his first stakes win. Trainer Louis “Tooter” Jordan will give a leg up to jockey Claudio Aguilar.

The Leon Bard Memorial Stakes will run as the fifth race on Saturday night's card. His daughters Shelly Burnett and Caryl Merchant will make the presentation to the winning connections.

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Three-time Eclipse Award winner Irad Ortiz, Jr. ventured out west to Santa Anita from his Belmont Park base on Monday for seven riding assignments. The east coast invader won four of those, including two prestigious Grade 1 races, but not before a graded stakes win on Saturday at Belmont Park.

A panel of racing experts voted Ortiz, Jr. Jockey of the Week for May 23 through May 30. The award honors jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.

Riding for trainer Wesley Ward on Saturday at Belmont Park, Ortiz, Jr. piloted Chardy Party in the G3 Soaring Softy for 3-year-old fillies. Off as the second favorite in the nine-horse field and breaking from the outside post, the pair raced in fifth, 3 1/2 lengths off the pace. Chardy Party made a sweeping four-wide move in upper stretch to make the lead, and held off the oncoming Breeze Easy to win by a neck in a final time of 1:21.47 for the seven furlong turf test.

“She broke much better. Last time she missed the break and still came home like that last 100 yards,” said Ortiz, Jr. “She did break good and put me in a great position.”

Ortiz, Jr. then travelled to California for the Memorial Day Monday card at Santa Anita. He quickly picked up a win in the first race for trainer John Sadler and in the third race for trainer Mark Glatt.

Trainer Michael McCarthy called on Ortiz, Jr. to ride There Goes Harvard in the G1 Hollywood Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles. Saving ground at the rail for the first six furlongs, There Goes Harvard was moved to the two path into the stretch and reeled in pacesetter Defunded to prevail by a length in 2:02.66.

“I had a perfect trip,” said Ortiz, Jr. who collected his first Gold Cup win. “I tried to let him relax, settle a little bit, and he did come back to me on the backside. That was key. I was just biding my time and kicked him out down the lane and responded really well. I just trusted the trainer, Mr. McCarthy. He told me he was ready.”

Ortiz, Jr. won his second consecutive G1 race on Count Again for trainer Phil D'Amato in the Shoemaker Mile. Benefitting from a hot pace set by Dance Some Mo, Count Again rallied from last around the far turn, reeled in favorite Smooth Like Straight a furlong out for the win in 1:32.40.

“I just followed instructions,” said Ortiz, Jr. “Phil told me to let him do his thing and don't rush him. He had a big turn of foot. The horse was ready to run today, was ready to win.”

Ortiz, Jr.'s statistics for the week were 23-9-6-2 and $1,065,320 in total purses to lead all jockeys.

Other nominees for Jockey of the Week were Angel I. Diaz with 10 wins, Stewart Elliott with three stakes wins, Harry Hernandez also with 10 wins, and Juan J. Hernandez with five stakes wins.

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The best indicator of how jockey Isaac Castillo's career arc continues upward was clearly noticeable over the Memorial Day weekend.

On Sunday at Monmouth Park, he rode five winners, with the career-best performance highlighted by a victory in the Jersey Derby.

On Monday he was in Texas with five mounts for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, managing a second-place finish aboard Presidential in the Texas Derby.

With Monmouth Park set to resume racing with its first Friday card of the season – post time is 2 p.m. – Castillo has a chance to add to what has been a dizzying week for the 24-year-old Panamanian. He is listed to ride three horses on the eight-race program, and victories in all three would vault him past Paco Lopez to the top of the Monmouth Park riding title.

Lopez, seeking a ninth Monmouth Park title, will be riding at Penn National on Friday night. He currently tops the standings with 11 wins. Castillo is second with nine.

“Paco is a very good rider and he is very tough to beat at Monmouth Park,” said Castillo. “All I can do is to keep working hard and to take advantage when I can. But it's very hard to beat Paco for a riding title at Monmouth Park.”

Castillo was a distant second to Lopez in the Monmouth Park standings a year ago, recording 54 winners to Lopez' 110. That's a lot of ground to close, but Castillo's riding career is really just taking off.

He spent the spring in Oaklawn for the first time, riding for Asmussen and fellow Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, winning 21 races from 106 mounts. At Monmouth he currently has the highest win percentage (25 percent) of any of the top 10 riders.

“I think he is definitely getting noticed more now,” said Dylan Fazio, Castillo's agent. “He has never stopped working hard. That is what he is known for, being a really hard worker who hustles on the backside in the mornings, He's one of the first people there every morning.

“Trainers notice that. And they notice winning.”

Castillo said he is starting to see the difference in the quality of the horses he rides.

“I'm riding better horses and trainers are giving me more chances on better horses,” he said. “I'm very grateful for the opportunities that trainers have given me. It's a reward for the hard work I put in.”

Castillo had a pair of career first on last year's TVG.com Haskell Stakes card, riding in both the Haskell and the United Nations. They were the first Grade 1 races he has ridden in.

His biggest career victory to date came in the $500,000 Nownownow Stakes at Monmouth Park aboard Dakota Gold.

He has a clear focus on what his next career milestone is, too.

“My next goal is to win a graded stakes race,” said Castillo, who started riding in 2017 and had a career-high 115 winners last year. “To me that would be a big thing to win my first graded stakes race. I just have to keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully I will have that chance.”

Friday's Monmouth card will have a Pick 5 carryover of $34,350 to start the program. That Pick 5 starts in the first race.

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Frankie Dettori tends to hog the media limelight when it comes to the Epsom Classics, but in Friday's Cazoo Oaks he will face stiff competition in that department from Hollie Doyle when the pair partner stablemates Emily Upjohn and Nashwa respectively.

A field of 11 are due to assemble for the Oaks, which forms part of the QIPCO British Champions Series, and the unbeaten Emily Upjohn has been clear favorite since impressing in last month's Musidora Stakes at York.

Dettori won a sixth Oaks by a record 16 lengths on Snowfall 12 months ago, and Emily Upjohn has been compared favorably by joint trainer John Gosden with the stable's 2014 Oaks winner Taghrooda. However, Nashwa has been equally impressive in scoring at Haydock and Newbury and offers 25-year-old Doyle a major opportunity of becoming the first woman rider to win a British Classic.

While Rachael Blackmore has been regularly breaking new ground for women at the highest level over jumps, Doyle broke her own record for the number of winners by a woman in a calendar year last year. Like Blackmore, she rides every day on equal terms with the men, including here against husband Tom Marquand, who rides Tranquil Lady, but the significance of a first Classic win for a female rider, should it happen on Nashwa, is certainly not lost on her.

She said: “It would be incredible. It would be a dream come true for me personally, and it would hopefully inspire other women to come into the sport. I really appreciate how important that is, but because I compete with men on level terms on a day-to-day basis it's only when I pop my head out of my little racing bubble that I appreciate that what I'm doing is quite unique. I'm so engaged within my industry that I feel like one of the lads almost – as bad as it sounds.

“Like Rachael Blackmore winning the Grand National, winning a British Classic is something I dream of doing over the next 10 years or so. If I could do it on Friday it would be great. It will be another step in my career, and obviously I think about it quite a lot and try to envisage it happening. I'm always looking to progress in my career and it would be another box ticked, but until it happens you can't believe it will, really.”

Doyle is retained by Nashwa's owner-breeder Imad Alsagar, who owned the 2007 Derby winner Authorized in partnership with his cousin Saleh Al Homaizi, and she has been sweet on the Frankel filly since last year's debut, even though she finished only third that day.

She said: “I thought she was a bit special at Newmarket, so I wasn't that surprised with what she did at Haydock. The ground was quick and being out of a Pivotal mare I was a bit concerned, but thankfully the Frankel in her shone through and she was fine on it. Once I got cover she dropped the bridle completely, and when I pushed the button she was away. She was electric and hit the line really hard.

“We stepped her up to ten furlongs at Newbury on good ground, which I thought would probably suit her a bit better, and though I was drawn bad I thought if I dropped her out she'd win anyway if she was as good as I thought she was. She settled beautifully and was very responsive. Whereas at Haydock she took a while to get into top gear, the response was instant this time. We made up a lot of ground in a short space of time, and I could have waited another furlong.”

She added: “I think she holds a few more of the sire's genes than the mare's, which isn't a bad thing. She has speed and class and gears, like Frankel, but she relaxes and she should stay. You don't know until they try it if they will handle Epsom, but she's a great mover and she hasn't given me any feeling that she won't. She's a dream ride, with a lovely mind and a great attitude. She has everything you want in a racehorse.”

Marquand gained bragging rights over his wife by winning a first Classic in the 2020 St Leger on Galileo Chrome for Joseph O'Brien, and it's with O'Brien he teams up again on live each-way chance Tranquil Lady, who won a Naas Group 3 last time.

Asked about on-course rivalry between the pair, Doyle shrugged it off and said: “Tom having already had a Classic winner makes no difference as I don't compare myself to him really. We are in very different situations and we aren't usually competing for the same rides.

“Tom might be my husband but it's very competitive and we don't give each other an inch. We are so used to it that it's not really a thing any more.”

Gosden, who now trains in partnership with his son Thady, has won three of the last eight runnings of the Oaks, but his record is comfortably eclipsed by Aidan O'Brien, who will be bidding for a tenth win when Tuesday, placed in both the 1000 Guineas and its Irish equivalent, is joined by Concert Hall, The Algarve and Thoughts Of Love in a four-pronged attack.

Tuesday is a sister to the seven-time Group 1 winner Minding, on whom Ryan Moore took the 2016 Oaks, while Concert Hall, a short-head winner of a Navan Listed race before finishing a place behind her stable-mate in the Irish 1000 Guineas, has a close family connection to another of the stable's Oaks winners as a daughter of 2012 heroine Was.

Thoughts Of Love follows the Cheshire Oaks route taken by Light Shift (2007) and Enable (2017) and had her form there franked by runner-up Above The Curve in Sunday's Prix Saint-Alary.

Godolphin, last successful with Kazzia 20 years ago, will be represented by the Charlie Appleby-trained Pretty Polly Stakes winner With The Moonlight, on whom William Buick is bidding for a first win in the race. Ouija Board, Talent and Taghrooda all did the Pretty Polly-Oaks double, and Buick likes her chance.

He said: “With The Moonlight worked very well before the Pretty Polly and took a step forward there. It's a race with a bit of history as an Oaks trial and she couldn't have done any more that day, so I think she's a filly on the up.

“She's a big, slow maturing filly who did well to win twice last year, and I'm looking forward to riding her. It will be a mile and a half for the first time, but she galloped out really well at Newmarket. Every race she's run in she's hit the line good, so she feels like she'll stay.”

Ralph Beckett, who won the Oaks in 2008 with 33-1 chance Look Here and in 2013 with 20-1 chance Talent, who led a stable one-two, saddles another outsider with a squeak in Moon De Vega, who got no run on the home turn when fourth in the Cheshire Oaks.

He said: “Besides getting no luck there, we were kind of out of form at the time, and it's only in the last week or so that things have turned around, so I'm hoping that will shine through on Friday. She's taken a long time to learn her job, but her make and shape suggest that she'll handle the track, which is a big plus.

“The form book suggests that she has to improve a hell of a lot, but even a casual observer could see that she's a lot better than the bare form at Chester, so I'm hopeful she'll run a race.”

Rogue Millennium, bought unraced for 35,000 guineas last autumn when the Shadwell Stud cut back its interests, has been supplemented at a cost of £30,000 and will be a first Classic runner for Newmarket trainer Tom Clover, whose late father-in-law Michael Jarvis won with Eswarah in 2005.

The mount of Jack Mitchell, whose childhood home was adjacent to Epsom's mile-and-a-half start, she advertised her claims by following a debut win in a Wetherby novice by getting up in the last strides of the Lingfield Oaks Trial.

The field is completed by Newmarket Listed winner Kawida, owned and bred by Kirsten Rausing.

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