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Saturday’s Smarty Jones Stakes Draws 14 Triple Crown Hopefuls

Record purse, record number of nominees and possibly a record crowd in the starting gate.

Oaklawn's Road to the Kentucky Derby begins Saturday with the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes, a one-mile race that has drawn a full field of 14. Probable post time for the Smarty Jones, which goes as the ninth of 10 races, is 4:13 p.m. (Central). First post is 12:30 p.m.

The Smarty Jones is Oaklawn's first of four Kentucky Derby points races, with 17 up for grabs to the top four finishers (10-4-2-1, respectively). What's different in 2022 is the timing of those races. Coinciding with an expanded 2021-2022 schedule – the Dec. 3 opening was the earliest in Oaklawn history and more than a month before traditional dates – the Smarty Jones, Southwest Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 29, Rebel (G2) at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 26 and Arkansas Derby (G1) at 1 1/8 miles April 2 were all moved up on the calendar.

The Smarty Jones previously had been run in mid to late January, Southwest in mid to late February and the Rebel in mid to late March. The Arkansas Derby is still in April, but it is now five weeks before the Kentucky Derby, instead of falling three weeks away as it has since 1996.

In addition to the revamped schedule, Oaklawn President Louis Cella boosted the purse of the Smarty Jones from $150,000 to $250,000 and the Arkansas Derby from $1 million to a record $1.25 million, keeping it the country's richest Kentucky Derby prep race.

The moves are already paying dividends.

The Smarty Jones, inaugurated in 2008, drew a record 98 nominees. If the field remains intact, it will be the largest in race history, eclipsing 12 starters in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

“Not that the Smarty Jones is new, the placement of the Smarty Jones is new,” Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope said moments after Tuesday's post position draw for the race. “The fact that Louis wanted to put more money in, all those things tremendously helped the race.”

The projected 14-horse Smarty Jones field from the rail out:

Dash Attack, David Cohen to ride, 117 pounds, 12-1 on the morning line
All in Sync, Ricardo Santana Jr., 117, 8-1
Home Brew, Florent Geroux, 119, 3-1
Kavod, Francisco Arrieta, 119, 5-1
Ignitis, Luis Contreras, 117, 15-1
Bureau, David Cabrera, 117, 12-1
Ruggs, Julien Leparoux, 117, 10-1
Vivar, Martin Garcia, 119, 8-1
Don'tcrossthedevil, Lane Luzzi, 117, 10-1
Barber Road, Reylu Gutierrez, 117, 4-1
Cairama, Geovanni Franco, 117, 8-1
Cool Papa G, Ramon Vazquez, 117, 6-1
Immoral, Tiago Pereira, 117, 20-1
Ben Diesel, Jon Court, 117, 5-1

Oaklawn's totalisator system can accommodate 14 wagering interests after an upgrade for the 2017 meeting.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen nominated 21 horses to the Smarty Jones and entered three – All in Sync, Cairama and Cool Papa G. Trainer Brad Cox nominated 14 and entered program favorite Home Brew and Vivar. Trainer Kenny McPeek nominated five and entered Dash Attack. Fair Grounds-based trainer Dallas Stewart, who has a small string at Oaklawn, is scheduled to be represented by Ben Diesel.

Strong interest in the Smarty Jones comes on the heels of two other recent 17-point Kentucky Derby preps – $400,000 Springboard Mile Stakes Dec. 17 at Remington Park and the inaugural $100,000 Gun Runner Stakes last Sunday at Fair Grounds.

“I think now, it's boom, boom, boom,” Pope said. “What I'm seeing, trainers do this even for Breeders' Cup, they work backwards. The don't work forwards. So, they sit there and work backwards. How many races do I need to get to the Kentucky Derby? How many races do I need to get to the Arkansas Derby? And what's the best scenario to do it?”

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Ben Diesel exits a fourth-place finish in the $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) Nov. 27 at Churchill Downs. The son of champion and 2013 Smarty Jones winner Will Take Charge is a homebred for Willis Horton of Marshall, Ark. Ben Diesel is full brother to Will's Secret, who won Oaklawn's $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes and $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies at the 2021 Oaklawn meeting for Stewart and Horton.

Barber Road, Cool Papa G and Ignitis finished 2-3-6, respectively, in the $200,000 Lively Shively Stakes at 6 ½ furlongs Nov. 27 at Churchill Downs. Lively Shively winner Tejano Twist returned to run second in the Gun Runner at 1 1/16 miles.

Vivar finished sixth in the Kentucky Jockey Club for Cox and breeder/owner John Ed Anthony of Hot Springs, who teamed to win the 2021 Smarty Jones with Caddo River. Home Brew, in his two-turn debut, was a Dec. 4 entry-level allowance winner at Oaklawn. Dash Attack was a career debut winner at 1 mile Dec. 5 at Oaklawn.

Kavod, Cairama and Ruggs were 1-3-4, respectively, in the $150,000 Advent Stakes Dec. 3.

Kavod won the 6-furlong Advent – Oaklawn's first stakes race for 2-year-olds since 1973 – in his first start after being claimed out of a Nov. 20 sprint victory at Churchill Downs for $50,000 by trainer Chris Hartman. The Smarty Jones would mark Kavod's two-turn debut on the main track.

“We're just looking at it,” Hartman, Oaklawn's 2015 training champion, said Tuesday afternoon. “We'll see how he looks in the race.”

Like the Smarty Jones, the Southwest is a 17-point race. The stakes become bigger in the Rebel (85 points to the top four finishers, including 50 to the winner) and Arkansas Derby (170, including 100 to the winner).

Starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby, which is limited to 20 horses, is determined by points earned in designated races like the Smarty Jones, Southwest, Rebel and Arkansas Derby.

The date of the Arkansas Derby is now more in line with other final major Kentucky Derby preps across the country. The 170-point Louisiana Derby, for example, is only a week before the Arkansas Derby in 2022.

“It's the trend,” Asmussen said. “You know, more time between races for big horses.”

Qualifying points are only awarded to horses who don't use race-day Lasix in Road to the Kentucky Derby races. None of the 14 Smarty Jones entrants will be racing on the anti-bleeder medication Saturday.

Oaklawn's scheduled 66-day meeting ends May 8, the day after the Kentucky Derby.

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Epicenter, With Familiar Connections, Impressive Gun Runner Winner

Racing for the same trainer and owner that campaigned Gun Runner to a Horse of the Year campaign in 2017, Winchell Thoroughbreds Epicenter, trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, raced to a 6 1/2-length victory in Sunday's inaugural running of the $100,000 Gun Runner Stakes at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La.

The Gun Runner is an official qualifying points race for the Kentucky Derby, awarding 10-4-2-1 to the top four finishers. The race is named after Gun Runner, who first came to prominence at Fair Grounds, where he won the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes and G2 Louisiana Derby in 2016. While he finished third in the G1 Kentucky Derby, Gun Runner would race consistently throughout his 3-year-old season and was nearly perfect at 4 and 5, winning six of his seven final career starts, including the G1 Breeders' Cup Classic and G1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes. As a sire, Gun Runner has gotten off to an historic start in 2021, setting a record for progeny earnings from his first crop of foals.

Epicenter, the 5-2 second choice ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., paid $7.80 for the win after covering 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in 1:44.19. Tejano Twist finished second, with Surfer Dude third in the field of seven 2-year-olds. Rocket Dawg, the 4-5 favorite from the barn of Brad Cox, was never a factor, after being unsettled and rank in the early portion of the race.

A son of Not This Time out of Silent Candy, by Candy Ride, Epicenter was winning for the second time in three starts. He ran sixth in his debut at Churchill Downs last September, then broke his maiden by 3 1/2 lengths at the Louisville, Ky., track next out on Nov. 13.

In the Gun Runner, Epicenter sat just off the early pace behind Surfer Dude, who set fractions of :24.41, :47.76 and 1:12.57 for the first six furlongs. Epicenter took command in the stretch, passing the mile marker in 1:37.63 and drew off in the final sixteenth of a mile.

Epicenter was bred in Kentucky by Westwind Farms and was purchased as a yearling for $260,000.

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Slow Down Andy Joins Five Others With 10 Kentucky Derby Qualifying Points

With his victory over 1-2 favorite Messier in Saturday's Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity at Los Alamitos racecourse in Cypress, Calif., Reddam Racing's Slow Down Andy earned 10 qualifying points for the May 7, 2022, Kentucky Derby. The Doug O'Neill-trained colt by Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist joins five others with 10 points each, two points behind the current leader, Mark Casse-trained Pappacap, runner-up behind Corniche in both the G1 American Pharoah Stakes and G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Corniche, like other horses trained by Bob Baffert, is ineligible for Derby points and the Derby itself, as long as he is in the stable of the Hall of Fame horseman, who has been excluded through June 2023 from participation at all tracks owned by Churchill Downs Inc., including its flagship operation in Louisville, Ky., where the Derby is run.

Churchill Downs Inc. took the action against Baffert when it was revealed the 2021 Derby winner, Medina Spirit, failed a post-race drug test. No regulatory action has been taken against Medina Spirit or Baffert by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, which has yet to schedule a hearing on the matter. Baffert and his attorneys contend the positive drug test for the corticosteroid betamethasone was the result of an ointment they said Baffert's veterinarian prescribed for a skin rash a month before the Kentucky Derby.

Medina Spirit's failed test was the fifth (and second for betamethasone) alleged violation compiled by Baffert over a 365-day period. His previous betamethasone positive test was for the champion filly Gamine after she finished third as the odds-on favorite in the 2020 Kentucky Oaks. She was disqualified and placed ninth.

The Baffert-trained duo of Messier finished second and Barossa finished third in the Los Alamitos Futurity but did not earn any points. Fourth-place finisher Durante, also from the O'Neill barn, finished fourth, earning one point.

The next qualifying points race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby is Friday's Springboard Mile at Remington Park, offering 10-4-2-1 points to the top four finishers.

Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks standings plus Road to the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks race schedule

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Cox, Asmussen Account For 10 Of The 35 Nominees To Springboard Mile

The top two trainers in the country, Brad Cox and Steve Asmussen, have 10 of the 35 nominations to the $400,000 Springboard Mile for 2-year-olds on closing night, Dec. 17, at Remington Park.

The cornerstone open race for juvenile horses here has seen Cox nominate six and Asmussen four to this race run at the mile distance. Cox currently is the nation's top conditioner with $30,918,451 in horse earnings this year. Asmussen is a close second at $30,321,160.

Only one of Cox's six is a stakes winner and that horse, Kaely's Brother, was moved from second into the stakes win by disqualification at Delta Downs in Louisiana. Kaely's Brother, by Twirling Candy, out of the Yes It's True mare Policy of Truth, ran second in the $100,000 Jean Lafitte Stakes on Nov. 20. As the heavy favorite, Kaely's Brother checked behind the horse that crossed the finish line first, Waita Minute Hayes. The stewards ruled Waita Minute Hayes would be disqualified and Kaely's Brother be put up as the winner. Kaely's Brother had broken his maiden at Keeneland on Oct. 9 by three-quarters of a length, sprinting six furlongs. The colt's win in the Jean Lafitte was at the mile distance.

Kaely's Brother races for owner Dean Maltzman and has earned $110,737 in three races.

Cox's other nominees include Rocket Dawg, a Churchill Downs maiden winner in Louisville at first asking Nov. 19 in his only career race. He smoked a field by 5-1/2 lengths at seven furlongs. The colt is by Classic Empire, out of the Distorted Humor mare Rever de Vous. He races for owners Frank Fletcher Racing Operations and Ten Strike Racing.

Cox also has nominated Home Brew, who would be one of the top earners in the field at $113,000 if he goes. He is a Kentucky-bred colt by Street Sense, out of the Tapit mare Omnitap. He is two-for-three to start his career with his biggest win coming in an allowance-optional $80,000 claiming race last time out at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. That win by 3-3/4 lengths came at the one-mile distance on Dec. 4.

Asmussen has nominated one Remington Park stakes winner, Concept, and three Churchill Downs maiden winners. All four are Kentucky-breds.

Concept, a Gun Runner colt out of the Cindago mare Majestic Jewel, won the $75,000 Kip Deville Stakes at Remington Park on Sept. 26, sprinting six furlongs on the main track. When he stretched out to seven furlongs in the $100,000 Clever Trevor Stakes, he made the lead after a half mile but faded to fourth, beaten nine lengths. Concept is owned by Tony Holmes and Winchell Thoroughbreds.

The Asmussen maiden winners from Churchill are All in Sync, Chasing Time and Classic Moment. All in Sync, by Maclean's Music, out of the Girolamo mare System Time, won his second start by 1-1/2 lengths over a sloppy track at six furlongs on Nov. 25. He is owned by Ed and Susie Orr.

Chasing Time, a colt by Not This Time, out of the Dixie Union mare Race Hunter, took three tries to break his maiden, winning by 1-3/4 lengths at seven furlongs on Nov. 27. He is owned by My Racehorse.

Classic Moment won in his second start Nov. 5 at 6-1/2 furlongs by a half-length. This colt is by Classic Empire, out of the Yankee Victor mare Victory Party. He is owned by L and N Racing of Tulsa, Okla., and Winchell Thoroughbreds.

The only horse among the nominees with multiple stakes wins, and the local flag bearer for Remington Park is Rowdy Rascal, trained by Boyd “Jobe” Caster and owned by JT Stables of Springdale, Ark. Rowdy Rascal has won three races in a row over the Remington Park main surface, taking the $100,000 Oklahoma Classics Juvenile on Oct. 15 at six furlongs and then stretching out to one mile to easily win the $75,000 Don McNeill Stakes on Nov. 12 by three lengths.

“I haven't decided whether we are going or not,” said Caster. “We'll play it by ear and see how he comes out of his workout.”

Rowdy Rascal, an Oklahoma-bred by Den's Legacy, out of the Affirmatif mare Dancing Diva, has a record of six starts, three wins, one second and a bankroll of $132,859. He would definitely be one of the most experienced horse in the field if he goes. He is expected to work five furlongs on Thursday morning at Remington Park.

The top earner in the field, should he be entered, would be Tejano Twist, a winner in the $200,000 Lively Shively Stakes at Churchill Downs on Nov. 27. He also was runner-up to Concept in the Kip Deville at Remington Park. He is a gelded son of Practical Joke, out of the Cuvee mare Haley's Lolipop, and is a Kentucky home-bred by owner Tom Durant. His record is eight starts, three wins, three seconds and $260,670 in earnings. He would be the most experienced runner in the field.

Barber Road, who ran second, beaten only a half-length in the Lively Shively by Tejano Twist, was nominated by trainer John Ortiz. This colt is a Kentucky-bred owned by WSS Racing. He is by Race Day, out of the Southern Image mare Encounter. His record is 4-2-1-0 with $100,720 in the bank.

Other trainers with multiple nominees were Ron Moquett with three, U.S. Racing Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer and Bret Calhoun with two each.

Remington Park racing continues this week with Friday and Saturday night cards, Dec. 10-11 that begin at 7:07pm-Central.

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