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Rebel Stakes Winner Concert Tour Returns For Cox In Saturday’s Fifth Season At Oaklawn

Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox and nationally prominent owners Gary and Mary West were opponents on Oaklawn's 2021 Road to the Kentucky Derby. But several months after the meeting ended in May, they began collaborating and already have two victories together this season in Hot Springs.

“I don't have a clue how many horses they've sent me,” said Cox, Oaklawn's leading trainer in 2021-2022. “I can't even keep track. We have a lot. They're great to work with.”

Perhaps the most intriguing prospect Cox received from the Wests following the 2021 Oaklawn meeting, Concert Tour, was among the biggest names during the 2021 Oaklawn meeting.

Then with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, Concert Tour was a flashy winner of the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds last March – the Cox-trained Caddo River was fifth – before his unbeaten record and Kentucky Derby hopes crashed with a weakening third-place finish in the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) in April. Caddo River was second in the Arkansas Derby.

Concert Tour, who is unraced since a ninth-place finish in last May's Preakness, makes his first start for Cox in the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes for older horses Saturday at Oaklawn. The 1-mile Fifth Season has drawn a strong field of nine, including three millionaires (Rated R Superstar, Snapper Sinclair and Long Range Toddy), another Oaklawn stakes winner (Silver Prospector) and Mucho, who will be making his two-turn debut.

Probable post time for the Fifth Season, which goes as the eighth of nine races, is 3:46 p.m. (Central). First post Saturday is 12:30 p.m.

Concert Tour, the 5-2 program favorite, has nine published workouts since Nov. 14 in advance of his 4-year-old debut. Concert Tour was entered in the $75,000 Woodchopper Stakes Dec. 27 at Fair Grounds, but scratched after the race didn't come off the grass. A forward factor early in his first five career starts, Concert Tour's return to Oaklawn will mark his first start without blinkers. He also adds Lasix for the first time since his debut last January at Santa Anita.

“I like him a lot,” Cox said. “He's a talented horse. I think if he runs the way he trains, we'll be in good shape.”

The projected Fifth Season field from the rail out: Thomas Shelby, David Cohen to ride, 122 pounds, 5-1 on the morning line; Rated R Superstar, David Cabrera, 122, 8-1; Snapper Sinclair, Ramon Vazquez, 122, 6-1; Necker Island, Francisco Arrieta, 122, 9-2; Concert Tour, Joel Rosario, 122, 5-2; Atoka, Luis Contreras, 122, 15-1; Long Range Toddy, Jon Court, 115, 10-1; Silver Prospector, Ricardo Santana Jr., 115, 10-1; and Mucho, Florent Geroux, 122, 7-2.

Mucho came from just off the pace to capture an allowance sprint Dec. 18 at Oaklawn for trainer John Ortiz and owners WSS Racing (William Simon) and 4 G Racing (Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway). Mucho has bankrolled $686,729 in a 29-race career, but the 6-year-old son of 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Blame has never raced around two turns. Ortiz, on behalf of WSS and 4 G, claimed Mucho for $80,000 in November 2020 at Churchill Downs.

“To me, I don't think distance is going to be an issue,” Ortiz said. “The only variable that we have here is going to be the two turns. Will he sprint out and run off or will he sprint out and be able to rate and either dictate the speed or just sit off the pace and use his sprint ability for the finish?”

Snapper Sinclair seeks his first career stakes victory on dirt after finishing second, beaten a neck in the 2020 Fifth Season, and finishing fifth in the 2019 Fifth Season for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen and co-owner Jeff Bloom (Bloom Racing). Snapper Sinclair finished fifth in his last start, the $100,000 Prairie Bayou Stakes Dec. 18 at Turfway Park. Turfway has a synthetic surface.

“He had come out of the Breeders' Cup in such great shape and we didn't really have a whole of options with him and he had yet to run on a synthetic track,” Bloom said. “We just figured, 'What the heck? Let's give it a try.' It was one of his extremely rare, sort of flat performances, so we just kind of drawn a line through that one and refocus on the coming year.”

The speedy Thomas Shelby cuts back to a mile after finishing a game second behind heralded stablemate Lone Rock in the inaugural $200,000 Tinsel Stakes at 1 1/8 miles Dec. 18 at Oaklawn for trainer Robertino Diodoro.

“I think it's the best race he's run,” Diodoro said.

Thomas Shelby won seven races in 2021, including two last spring at Oaklawn, after being privately purchased by Diodoro's major client, four-time local leading owner M and M Racing (Mike and Mickala Sisk).

Silver Prospector, another Asmussen trainee, is seeking his first stakes victory since the $750,000 Southwest (G3) for 3-year-olds in 2020 at Oaklawn. Necker Island ran ninth in the rescheduled 2020 Kentucky Derby and returns to a route after finishing fourth in the $150,000 Thanksgiving Classic Stakes Nov. 25 at Fair Grounds for 2015 Oaklawn training champion Chris Hartman.

The Fifth Season is a major steppingstone toward the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses April 23. The Asmussen-trained Silver State won the Fifth Season and Oaklawn Handicap in 2021.

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Equibase Analysis: Thomas Shelby Could Get Perfect Trip In Oaklawn’s Fifth Season

Nine horses are entered in Saturday's $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn Park, including the 2019 and 2021 winners of the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes, Long Range Toddy and Concert Tour, respectively. Long Range Toddy is winless in 16 races since then while Concert Tour, last seen finishing ninth of 10 in the G1 Preakness Stakes, returns from an eight month layoff and a change to the barn of Brad Cox.

Snapper Sinclair leads the field in career earnings at $1.8 million. He has run poorly in his last two races but one was his first ever try on an all-weather surface and the other was in the G1 Breeders' Cup Mile. Two races prior to that Snapper Sinclair won the TVG Stakes on the grass at Kentucky Downs. Rated R Superstar, who returns from four months off, is another who has had a fine career to date, earning $1.1 million, with his most recent win coming in the Governor's Cup Stakes in August.

Mucho enters the Fifth Season Stakes in superb form with six straight in-the-money finishes including a win in the Challedon Stakes last summer. However, Mucho is running in a two-turn race for the very first time after 29 races around one turn. Necker Island is another horse stretching out to two turns. He won the Bet On Sunshine Stakes in November as one of five wins in his career.

Thomas Shelby really likes to win races, with 10 victories in 24 career races. His most recent effort was a second place finish in the Tinsel Stakes at Oaklawn last month. Silver Prospector is approaching the $1 million mark in career earnings. After winning the G3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn in the winter of 2020, he has won just one of eight races. Atoka rounds out the field, entering the race off a runner-up effort in an allowance race over the track from which he was moved up to first after the winner was disqualified.

Top Contenders

Thomas Shelby draws the rail for this mile trip and that means jockey David Cohen will have the ability to put him on the lead, which has resulted in three wins in his last four starts, or settle him just off the pace, which has resulted in another three wins before that. Thomas Shelby joined the barn of trainer Robertino Diodoro in November of 2020 and after finishing fourth, third and seventh in his initial three starts for the barn, has turned into an “alpha” horse, winning seven of 10. Last October Thomas Shelby ran the best race of his career winning a classified allowance race with a personal-best 112 ™ Equibase Speed Figure. He won again in November, then after two months off led until deep stretch before coming up three-quarters of a length short in the Tinsel Stakes. That race was at Oaklawn and was run at a mile and one-eighth, with Thomas Shelby leading at the point this mile race ends so repeating that effort could be good enough to win the Fifth Season Stakes.

Silver Prospector has four career wins, one of which came at Oaklawn. That was when victorious in the 2020 Southwest Stakes with a then career-best 107 ™ figure. After a poor sixth place effort in the Rebel Stakes followed by a poorer seventh place finish in the Arkansas Derby, Silver Prospector was given nearly six months off. Returning in the fall off a lengthy layoff, Silver Prospector raced in top form to win and earned a very strong 106 figure considering the time off. Although winless in five races since, Silver Prospector ran just as well as he had in the comeback when second in the Razorback Stakes last February at Oaklawn, earning a 108 figure. Now rested since last May the same way he was in the spring of 2020 until his strong win in the fall of that year, Silver Prospector has put in a pair of very strong workouts which were the best of 52 and the fourth best of 44 on the day. These signal he could be as fit and ready to run just like he did off a similar layoff, and if he does that he could certainly compete for top honors in this race.

Concert Tour is another returning off a layoff since last May, and he too is working in the morning like he will not need a race before showing his best. Concert Tour won the first three races of his career last year, including the San Vicente Stakes and the Rebel, in which he earned a career-best 104 figure drawing off easily to win by four and one-quarter lengths in geared down fashion. After a third place finish in the Arkansas Derby¸ Concert Tour skipped the Kentucky Derby then showed up in the Preakness, running the worst race of his career when ninth of 10 and beaten more than 30 lengths. Returning to training last October, Concert Tour has been placed in the care of trainer Brad Cox, who has an exceptional record of nine wins from 25 starts with horses coming back from six months off or more in dirt routes. As such, Concert Tour appears to fit with the best of the contenders in this year's Fifth Season.

The rest of the field, with their best ™ Equibase Speed Figures, is Atoka (100), Long Range Toddy (102), Mucho (108 in sprint races), Necker Island (108 in sprint races), Rated R Superstar (105) and Snapper Sinclair (115 on turf).

Win contenders, in preference/probability order:
Thomas Shelby
Silver Prospector
Concert Tour

Fifth Season Stakes
Race 8 at Oaklawn
Saturday, January 15, 2022 – Post Time 4:46 PM E.T.
One Mile
Four Year Olds and Upward
Purse: $150,000

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‘Hoping For An Even Better 4-Year-Old Year’: G2 Winner Mystic Guide Returns In Razorback

Post positions for the rescheduled $600,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses Saturday at Oaklawn were drawn Tuesday.

The Razorback is one of three stakes races on Saturday's card, along with the $750,000 Southwest (G3) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles and the $200,000 Spring Fever for older female sprinters. The Southwest will mark the 2021 debut of unbeaten Essential Quality, the country's champion 2-year-old male. Racing begins at 12:15 p.m. (Central), with probable post time for the Razorback, which goes as the seventh of 11 races, 3:20 p.m.

The Razorback was originally scheduled to be run Feb. 13 before fierce winter weather shuttered racing at Oaklawn for two weeks. It will still mark the 4-year-old debut of Godolphin's Mystic Guide, by 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper out of millionaire multiple Grade 1 winner Music Note. Mystic Guide has already built a solid resume in six career starts, winning the $150,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) Sept. 5 at Saratoga before concluding his 2020 campaign with a second-place finish, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the $250,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) Oct. 10 at Belmont Park.

“We were delighted with the way his 3-year-old year turned out,” trainer Mike Stidham said. “There were a lot of temptations to run in the Derby and different spots and the timing just wasn't right. It just seemed like he needed a little bit more time, so we kept being real patient with him and let him develop. As he developed and those other races showed up, we always felt like a mile and an eighth and farther was going to be helpful to him. Turned out great. He won a Grade 2 and placed in a Grade 1 as a 3-year-old, so now we're hoping for an even better 4-year-old year.”

Mystic Guide has recorded a series of sharp workouts at Fair Grounds leading up to his 2021 debut. Stidham said he chose to start Mystic Guide's 2021 campaign in the Razorback because unbeaten Maxfield, another Godolphin homebred, was being pointed to the $200,000 Mineshaft Stakes (G3) Feb. 13 at Fair Grounds.

“With Maxfield also being at being at the Fair Grounds, they didn't want to run them against each other,” Stidham said of Godolphin. “It was decided that Maxfield was going to stay here and we would go to Oaklawn. That was how it all worked out.”

Maxfield moved to 5 for 5 with a 3 ¼-length victory in the Mineshaft, which marked his 4-year-old debut. Mystic Guide will have a chance to complete the Godolphin older horse stakes double in the Razorback, a major local prep for the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 17.

Mystic Guide was the 3-1 second choice in the program after the race was originally drawn. Mystic Guide was among seven horses entered Tuesday, the others being Silver Prospector, Hunka Burning Love, Mailman Money, Owendale, Rated R Superstar and Long Range Toddy.

Stidham has 19 career victories at Oaklawn, with almost one-third (six) coming in stakes events. Stidham won the $250,000 Fantasy (G2) for 3-year-old fillies in 1994 with Two Altazano, 1999 Razorback with Desert Air and four more stakes with crack Arkansas-bred sprinter Comedero, including the $60,000 Mountain Valley in open company in 2010.

“Most of the time when we make the ship, it's usually for a stakes, so we probably have run in more stakes than anything there,” Stidham said. “We hope our success continues.”

The Southwest, Oaklawn's second of four Kentucky Derby points races, drew a field of seven. In addition to Essential Quality and multiple Grade 1 winner Jackie's Warrior, Saffa's Day, Last Samurai, Santa Cruiser, Woodhouse and Spielberg are also entered.

Oaklawn stakes winners Amy's Challenge and Kimari are among nine horses entered in the 5 1/2-furlong Spring Fever. Also entered are Cashcheckorcharge, Sunny Dale, Casual, Headland, Ain't No Elmers, Shesomajestic and Best Kept Secret.

Probable post time for the Spring Fever, race 8, is 3:52 p.m. Probable post time for the Southwest, race 10, is 4:58 p.m.

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