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Oaklawn Horsemen Hunker Down For Second Hit From Winter Storms

Subzero temperatures and approximately eight inches of snow have caused increasingly difficult conditions for horsemen at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ak. With up to 10 more inches of snow in the forecast and temperatures remaining below freezing for the next 48 hours, grooms and their charges alike have hunkered down to wait out the weather.

The main track has not been open for training or racing since Thursday, Feb. 11, and while some trainers have opted to jog horses in their shed rows, the cold has been so severe that many have elected to simply walk their charges instead.

Racing has been cancelled through Sunday, Feb. 21, with Oaklawn's major graded stakes rescheduled for the week of Feb. 25-28.

“We'll have a little more coming out here in the next couple days on how the dates are going to be shifted in terms of when we're going to run what and on what day,” Oaklawn's general manager Wayne Smith told Horse Racing Nation. “We just don't have that understanding at this point. I mean we're not supposed to get out of the 20s until Friday.”

Not accustomed to this level of winter storm, most of the town of Hot Springs has shut down, according to locals. Some off-track apartments and hotels have lost water access as lines freeze over, so several backstretch workers are relying on friends' places for water access.

At the track, additions to the grooms' regular chores are tasks like breaking open the top layers of ice on water buckets so their horses have access to water, and working to keep the racetrack's water lines from freezing.

One trainer noted: “It's really not that bad if you're dressed and stay working, but standing around is d*** cold real quick!”

Track maintenance workers spent much of Tuesday plowing snow off the track surface itself and around the backstretch, and the general hope among stable staff is that training will be able to resume when temperatures rise above freezing long enough to thaw out the track surface.

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Kentucky Commission Approves New Conditions For HHR, Facility For Kentucky Downs Expansion As Bill Awaits Governor’s Signature

After the passage of Senate Bill 120 last week by the Kentucky House of Representatives, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission breathed a sigh of relief that historical horse racing (HHR) would become part of the state's legal definition of permitted gambling. At Tuesday's commission meeting, the body began dealing with the next steps for HHR in the state.

SB120 has not yet been signed by Gov. Andy Beshear, only because the state senate recessed before forwarding it on to the governor's office. Once the body reconvenes, Beshear will sign the bill. The governor appeared via video conferencing at the start of Tuesday's meeting to assure commission members he was looking forward to signing the legislation. His signature is expected sometime next week.

Meanwhile, the commission unanimously approved several rule language changes clarifying language related to HHR so it will be in compliance with SB 120. It approved a set of conditions for facilities to conduct HHR in 2021, which among other things will require operators of HHR to present written reports from an independent testing laboratory confirming that the machines are in compliance with state code and constitute parimutuel wagering. The commission must approve the number of terminals, game themes, facility layout, security protocols, and hours of operation.

The association offering HHR will also have to create a initial seed pool to fund a wagering pool, and seed pools cannot be commingled without written authorization by the commission.

Further guidelines were approved to give commission executive director Marc Guilfoil the authority to approve some administrative changes that HHR operators may request. Some of those requests may later be ratified by the full commission depending upon statute, although more minor requests may be approved without the commission members' approval.

The commission also ratified Guilfoil's approval of a request from Kentucky Downs to expand its license to an extension facility in Bowling Green, Ky. The final location for the extension facility and a timeline for its opening have not yet been finalized by the track, but by state regulation it must be within 60 miles of Kentucky Downs without being within 60 miles of another association's racetrack or 40 miles of a simulcast facility. The request will allow the facility to host simulcast wagering and “exotic wagers yet to be determined,” which could include HHR.

The commission approved a request from Keeneland to begin its fall meet on April 2, rather than April 1 as originally requested.

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Tickets For Tampa Bay Derby Day Now On Sale

Tickets for Festival Day 41 Presented by Lambholm South on March 6 are now being sold on the Tampa Bay Downs website, www.tampabaydowns.com.

General Admission attendance will be capped at 2,500. Tickets are $15 plus a $2.55 service fee. Picnic Area tables sold out quickly, but a total of 100 individual Picnic Area spaces are being sold for $15 each, plus the service fee. Anyone purchasing a Picnic Area space must provide their own seating.

The General Admission and Picnic Area ticket price includes a commemorative cap.

Five stakes races will be contested on March 6, headed by the 41st running of the Grade 2, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby for 3-year-olds at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track.

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby is a “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points race, awarding qualifying points for the May 1 Run for the Roses to the first four finishers on a 50-20-10-5 scale. The Oldsmar showcase has produced two Kentucky Derby winners: 2007 Tampa Bay Derby winner Street Sense and 2010 Tampa Bay Derby third-place finisher Super Saver.

Turf-loving females will also be spotlighted. The Grade 2, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes for older fillies and mares – which has produced such top-class winners in recent years as Starship Jubilee (2020), Fourstar Crook (2018), Dickinson (2017), Tepin (2016), Stephanie's Kitten (2015) and Zagora (2012) – will be contested at a mile-and-an-eighth on the grass. The Grade 3, $200,000 Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies, first run on the turf in 2011, is slated for a mile-and-a-sixteenth.

Rounding out the March 6 stakes menu are the Grade 3, $100,000 Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes for horses 4-years-old-and-upward at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track and the $75,000 Columbia Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf.

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Horsemen Adapting After Winter Sprintfest’s One-Week Delay At Laurel

In a sport where making last-minute adjustments is a daily occurrence, horsemen are adapting accordingly to the one-week transfer of the Winter Sprintfest program, originally scheduled for Feb. 13 at Laurel Park in Maryland.

The entire nine-race program featuring six stakes, two graded, worth $900,000 in purses will be run Saturday, Feb. 20. Co-headlining the card are the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) for females and $250,000 General George (G3).

Barry Schwartz's Grade 3-winning homebred Sharp Starr, based at Belmont Park with trainer Horacio DePaz, was one of two horses that shipped to Maryland for the Fritchie, which attracted a field of eight including Laurel-based multiple stakes winners Hello Beautiful, the 8-5 program favorite, and Dontletsweetfoolya.

“The only way it affects us, and it's in a positive way, is the filly has more time to settle in,” trainer Horacio DePaz said. “I'm just going to leave her here at Laurel and train from here and go into the race. It's all good on that part.”

Sharp Starr, winner of the Go for Wand (G3) Dec. 5 at Aqueduct, exits a bullet half-mile work in 47 seconds Feb. 6, the fastest of 140 horses over Belmont's training track. She drew the rail in the Fritchie and is the 3-1 second choice on the morning line for DePaz, the former private trainer for Sagamore Farm who maintains a string at Pimlico Race Course.

“She had a huge work coming into it and she's been doing good and settled in for the most part pretty good,” DePaz said. “It just gives us more time. She's eating well, so hopefully we'll get some nice days to train. We'll see what happens.”

R.A. Hill Stable's 2020 Bold Ruler (G3) winner Majestic Dunhill made the trip from Palm Beach Downs in South Florida to Maryland, where the 6-year-old gelding drew Post 4 in a field of 10 for the General George that included fellow graded winners Laki and Share the Ride and multiple stakes winners Lebda and Funny Guy, the 9-5 program favorite based in New York.

“Whenever you're pointing for a race, particularly a stakes race, you put your horse on a schedule and have a very deliberate plan, and then something like this happens with the weather,” Majestic Dunhill trainer George Weaver said. “All the other horses have to deal with it, too. It is what it is.”

Majestic Dunhill shipped in to win the 2018 City of Laurel, run second in the 2019 General George and third in the 2017 Laurel Futurity on turf and 2019 Polynesian.

“I'm just going to leave him there and train him over the phone, and hopefully he does OK,” he added. “We know he likes it at Laurel.”

So, too, does Louis Ulman and Neil Glasser's Kenny Had a Notion, whose four wins from seven career starts include the Jamestown on turf and the Maryland Million Nursery and Spectacular Bid on dirt, the latter Jan. 16. The son of Great Notion is the 5-2 second choice among seven in the $100,000 Miracle Wood for 3-year-olds going one mile.

“You know in this business, you're calling audibles every day. So, we'll have to see how the weather and the track is the next couple days and then I'll decide what I need to do with him. Hopefully we can get something done with him before Saturday,” trainer Dale Capuano said. “The extra time won't hurt him.”

Capuano also entered Mopo Racing's 5-year-old gelding Dixie Drawl in the $100,000 John B. Campbell for 4-year-olds and up at about 1 1/16 miles. Dixie Drawl is third choice in the program at 9-2.

“I don't think the extra time is going to bother him, either,” Capuano said. “I was going to scratch him anyway with the track coming up sloppy so, for him, it worked out just as well. It's another chance for a fast track for him. We'll see.”

The son of late trainer Phil Capuano whose younger brother, Gary, is also a Laurel-based trainer, Dale Capuano has won 3,530 races and more than $63 million in purse earnings since 1981, and is the all-time leading trainer in Maryland Million history with 13 wins.

“It was bad timing, but we'll see what happens next week,” he said. “You never know what you're gonna get.”

Laurel is scheduled to host a special Presidents Day holiday program Monday, Feb. 15, offering carryovers of $3,531.94 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 4-9) and $1,386.50 in the $1 Super Hi-5 (Race 2). First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

Monday's card includes a 5 ½-furlong allowance for Maryland-bred/sired horses in Race 7 that includes narrow 3-1 program favorite Nightlife and 2020 Wide Country winner Naughty Thoughts, and a third-level optional claiming allowance for older horses in Race 8 where Grade 3 winner Always Sunshine is favored at 2-1 off a Jan. 24 victory – his first start in 541 days.

John and Diane Fradkin's Rombauer, sent off as the 6-5 favorite in a field of eight, rallied from last to first for a neck victory over Javanica in the $100,000 El Camino Real Derby Feb. 13 at Golden Gate Fields. Trained by Michael McCarthy and second in the American Pharoah (G1) last fall at Santa Anita, the bay Twirling Candy colt earned an automatic berth to the 146^th Preakness Stakes (G1) May 15 at Pimlico.

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