Tag: Triple Crown

The last name called during the post position draw for the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby (G1), the richest Kentucky Derby prep, was Secret Oath. But regarding the race, could it another case of “ladies first” for her Hall of Fame trainer, D. Wayne Lukas?

After winning the 1984 Arkansas Derby with a filly, Althea, Lukas attempts to do it again with Secret Oath, who headlines a nine-horse field for the 1 1/8-mile event Saturday at Oaklawn. Probable post time for the Arkansas Derby, which goes as the 12th of 13 races, is 6:35 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at noon. The infield will be open and will feature live music, food trucks, Beer Garden and Kids Zone.

Saturday's card also features the $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles, $400,000 Oaklawn Mile (G3) for older horses and the $200,000 Carousel Stakes for older fillies and mares at 6 furlongs.

No horse on Saturday's card has generated more buzz during the 2021-2022 Oaklawn meet than Secret Oath, a homebred for Lukas' longtime clients Robert and Stacy Mitchell (Briland Farm). From the first crop of deceased champion Arrogate, Secret Oath has won her three starts, displaying push-button acceleration in each, by a combined 23 lengths. Secret Oath won a Dec. 31 allowance race at 1 mile by 8 ¼ lengths, $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes Jan. 29 by 7 ¼ lengths and the $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) Feb. 26 by 7 ½ lengths. The Martha Washington and Honeybee were 1 1/16 miles.

The Arkansas Derby will offer 170 points (100-40-20-10, respectively) to the top four finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby. A top two finish likely would give Secret Oath enough points to run in the Kentucky Derby, which is limited to 20 starters.

Secret Oath, with 60 points for her Honeybee and Martha Washington victories, already has secured a spot in the Kentucky Oaks, the nation's biggest prize for 3-year-old fillies. Secret Oath had been under consideration for Saturday's $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 – Oaklawn's final major Kentucky Oaks prep – before Lukas targeted the Arkansas Derby.

The Kentucky Oaks is May 6 at Churchill Downs, the day before the Kentucky Derby.

“The Oaks is still very much right in the middle of our thinking, except the owners did mention the Derby two or three times since then,” Lukas said. “I don't know where they're headed, but the five weeks is terrific.”

Lukas won the Arkansas Derby with Althea, a week after she finished second in the Fantasy. Lukas also finished third in the 1986 Arkansas Derby with another filly, Family Style, a week after she finished fourth in the Fantasy. Althea and Family Style were both Eclipse Award winners at 2 and faced males at 2 in the Hollywood Futurity at Hollywood Park.

Secret Oath will be tackling males for the first time Saturday, but she's the 5-2 program favorite against eight projected opponents.

“She's got a running style and the efficiency of motion is good,” Lukas said. “She places herself in the race. I would say the thing that's probably the biggest concern would be a traffic problem. She's very rangy and tall. I don't know about starting and stopping. In the Honeybee, they shut her down, then just 'Boom!' She amazed me that when she dove into the rail (turning for home), she just (took off).”

Secret Oath is scheduled to break from post 6 under regular rider Luis Contreras and carry 117 pounds, 2-5 pounds less than her male rivals.

“It's a kiss of death to predict it, but I (wanted) 5, 6 or 7,” Lukas said. “I didn't want the inside and I thought the outside's probably not a good idea, either, so that's OK. I don't worry too much about that.”

The projected Arkansas Derby field from the rail out:

1. Kavod, Mitchell Murrill to ride, 122 pounds, 15-1;
2. Chasing Time, Jose Lezcano, 119, 12-1;
3. Barber Road, Reylu Gutierrez, 119, 8-1;
4. Doppelganger, John Velazquez, 119, 3-1;
5. Un Ojo, Ramon Vazquez, 122, 6-1;
6. Secret Oath;
7. Ben Diesel, Jon Court, 119, 15-1;
8. Cyberknife, Florent Geroux, 119, 8-1; and
9. We the People, Flavien Prat, 119, 7-2.

Unbeaten We the People (2 for 2) will be making his stakes debut after two dazzling victories earlier in the meeting for trainer Rodolphe Brisset. Both races were around two turns. We the People, employing stalk-and-pounce tactics, broke his maiden by 5 ¾ lengths at 1 mile Feb. 12 and cleared his first allowance condition by five lengths at 1 1/16 miles March 12.

We the People had been under consideration for several other 170-point prep races around the country before Brisset decided to keep him at Oaklawn because of the attractiveness of a potential five-week turnaround to the Kentucky Derby.

“When you're 2 for 2 at the beginning of April at 3 years old, of course, we think he could be the real deal,” Brisset said. “But we still have to show it. I think the talent is there. We definitely have to be very careful with his brain. We don't want to overthink, but we do have to be ahead of this with him and this is the reason why we just felt like the three weeks, turning back at three weeks here (was best). He knows the place. He knows the racetrack. He's 2 for 2 on it. For us, it makes us a little bit more comfortable to come back at three weeks at a place he knows and then you've got the five weeks where you can adapt, if he does run 1-2, where you can adapt and come up with a plan where you can try to bring him up the best to Churchill.”

The Arkansas Derby brings back Un Ojo, Barber Road, Kavod, Chasing Time and Ben Diesel, 1-3-4-5-8, respectively, in the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) Feb. 26. The 1 1/16-mile Rebel was the final major local prep for the Arkansas Derby and an 85-point Kentucky Derby race.

Barber Road is seeking his breakthrough stakes victory after also finishing second in Oaklawn's first two Kentucky Derby points races, $250,000 Smarty Jones at 1 mile Jan. 1 and $750,000 Southwest (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 29, for trainer John Ortiz.

“That just proves right there that this is a horse for the course,” said Ortiz, who trains the gray son of multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Race Day for former Walmart executive William Simon. “He's proven that he belongs with these type of horses. We're not scared. This horse has given us the trip here. I haven't done anything specific for this horse. He went from his maiden race to here all on his own.”

The speedy Kavod figures to set the pace from the rail for 2015 Oaklawn training champion Chris Hartman. After winning the inaugural $150,000 Advent Stakes at 6 furlongs Dec. 3, Kavod finished fourth in the Smarty Jones, Southwest and Rebel.

Cyberknife was a sharp allowance winner Feb. 19 at Fair Grounds in his last start for two-time reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox. Cyberknife's only stakes appearance was a sixth in the $200,000 Lecomte (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 22 at Fair Grounds.

“He's doing well,” Cox said. “He's breezed well. He's gotten better. He appears to be improving. I thought his last race was a step forward. Got a really good figure the last race. I think it's going to stack up and probably be one of the better ones in the Arkansas Derby and if he runs that race, I think he's a player.”

The Southern California-based Doppelganger had been with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert – a four-time Arkansas Derby winner – before being recently transferred to Tim Yakteen, a former assistant. Doppelganger exits a runner-up finish in his two-turn debut, the $400,000 San Felipe Stakes (G2), March 5 at Santa Anita.

Because of a two-year ban by Churchill Downs and impending 90-day suspension, sanctions stemming from the disqualification of his 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (medication violation), a handful of Baffert's 2022 Kentucky Derby prospects were transferred to other trainers in late March. Doppelganger previously had been ineligible to collect Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

Kavod and Doppelganger both remove blinkers Saturday.

“I think they're all the ones to beat,” Brisset said. “Everybody's trying to peak now. Everybody wants to see if they're good enough to go in there. I don't do everything based on numbers (speed figures), but if you look right and left, from Beyer to Rag, everybody looks the same, pretty much. Everybody looks the same. Maybe Beyer gives three points more for the filly than the colts. But our horse on the Rag is pretty fast. Brad's horse is fast on the Rag, too. I think the only way to find out is to bring them over there and let them run.”

The post 38 Years Later, D. Wayne Lukas Enters Another Top Filly Against The Boys In Arkansas Derby appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Magdalena Racing Lessee's $125,000 Battaglia Memorial winner Tiz the Bomb headlines an oversubscribed field of 13 three-year-olds that were entered in Saturday's 51st running of the $600,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks (Grade 3) at Turfway Park.

The 1 1/8-mile Jeff Ruby Steaks, run over the Tapeta surface, offers the winner 100 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby Championship Series. The runner-up will receive 40 points while the third and fourth place finishers will tab 20 and 10 points, respectively.

The Jeff Ruby Steaks will go as Race 12 with a post time of 6:23 p.m. (all times Eastern). Turfway Park will have a special early first post of 12:45 p.m. Saturday.

Tiz the Bomb, trained by Kenny McPeek, finished second in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1). The son of Hit It a Bomb tried dirt to start his 3-year-old campaign but finished seventh in the $250,000 Holy Bull (G3). In his first start on Tapeta, Tiz the Bomb was able to hold off the late surge of Stolen Base in the 1 1/16-mile John Battaglia Memorial. Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. has the call from post No. 7.

Also entered in the field is Three Diamonds Farm and Deuce Greathouse's Stolen Base, who will add blinkers following his runner-up effort in the Battaglia; Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Kittens Joy (G3) runner-up Royal Spirit; Winchell Thoroughbreds' Texas Turf Mile winner Red Run; Michael McLoughlin's Black Gold Stakes winner Dowagiac Chief; and SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stable, Siena Farm and Golconda Stable's Blackadder.

Here's the complete field for the Jeff Ruby Steaks from the rail out (with jockey and trainer):

1. Royal Spirit (Chris Landeros, Todd Pletcher);
2. Stolen Base (Gerardo Corrales, Mike Maker);
3. Cabo Spirit (Joe Bravo, George Papaprodromou);
4. Rich Strike (Sonny Leon, Eric Read);
5. Tawny Port (Manny Franco, Brad Cox);
6. Great Escape (Adam Beschizza, Rodolphe Brisset);
7. Tiz the Bomb (Hernandez, McPeek);
8. Red Run (Joe Talamo, Steve Asmussen);
9. Dowagiac Chief (James Graham, Tom Amoss);
10. Optigogo (Rafael Bejarano, Eoin Harty);
11. Constitutionlawyer (Jalon Samuel, Ray Handal); and
12. Blackadder (Edwin Maldonado, Rodolphe Brisset).

Also Eligible: Swing Shift (Gerardo Corrales, Todd Pletcher).

Saturday's Turfway program features six stakes events worth purses of $1.7 million. Other stakes on the afternoon card are the $250,000 Bourbonette Oaks (Listed), a Championship Series race on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks worth 50-20-10-5 points to the $1.25 million Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1); $250,000 TwinSpires.com Kentucky Cup Classic (Listed); the $200,000 Rushaway; the $200,000 Latonia Stakes; and the $200,000 Animal Kingdom Stakes.

The special day program can be viewed on TVG and fans can wager on www.TwinSpires.com, the official wagering provider of Turfway Park and the Kentucky Derby.

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Tami Bobo's Simplification and C2 Racing Stables LLC and La Milagrosa Stable LLC's White Abarrio are scheduled for a long-awaited rematch in Saturday's $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa at Gulfstream Park.

The 71st running of the Curlin Florida Derby will headline a 14-race program with 10 stakes, including six graded stakes, worth $2.2 million in purses. The all-stakes Late Pick 4 and Late Pick 5 pools will both be guaranteed at $750,000. First-race post time is set for 11:30 a.m.

Simplification has been installed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite after drawing Post Position No. 3 Wednesday, while White Abarrio is rated second at 3-1 after drawing Post Position No. 7.

The full field is as follows:

1. Strike Hard (20-1)
2. Classic Causeway (7-2)
3. Simplification (5-2)
4. King Of Truth (50-1)
5. Pappacap (10-1)
6. Charge It (7-2)
7. White Abarrio (3-1)
8. Cajun's Magic (30-1)
9. O Captain (20-1)
10. Clapton (30-1)
11. Steal Sunshine (30-1)

Antonio Sano-trained Simplification was no match for Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained White Abarrio in the Feb. 5 Holy Bull (G3), in which he finished second, beaten 4 ½ lengths, following a troubled start and a wide trip. A rematch between the two Triple Crown prospects was put on hold when Joseph opted to bypass the March 5 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) in favor of training White Abarrio up to the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby. Simplification took full advantage of the Holy Bull winner's absence, scoring a dominating victory.

While White Abarrio has had a few minor setbacks on the road to the Florida Derby, Simplification has kept a steady schedule of development during the Championship Meet. The son of Not This Time, a front-running winner of the Jan. 1 Mucho Macho Man, has demonstrated a new dimension since being sent around two turns. He closed for second in the mile 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull before rating in seventh on the backstretch in the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth before making a sweeping move to the lead and drawing away to win by 3 ½ lengths.

“I love this horse,” Sano said. “He has so much heart.”

Sano, who ventured from Venezuela to South Florida in 2009, saddled 2017 Fountain of Youth winner Gunnevera for a third-place finish in the Florida Derby. A Florida Derby victory remains a priority for Venezuela's all-time winningest trainer with more than 3,000 victories.

“I'd be very proud for me, my family, my clients and for Gulfstream,” said Sano, who has saddled more than 860 winners in the U.S. “My house is Gulfstream. I'd be happy to win this race in my house.”

The ultimate goal, of course, is the Kentucky Derby (G1) on the first Saturday in May.

“The Kentucky Derby is five weeks after the Florida Derby. I know there will be different horses, but I think my horse will have a chance,” said Sano, who saddled Gunnevera for a seventh-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.

Starters in Gulfstream Park's tradition-rich stakes for 3-year-olds have gone on to win 58 Triple Crown races, including 24 runnings of the Kentucky Derby. Participants in this year's Florida Derby will vie for 170 qualifying points for the May 7 Kentucky Derby with 100 going to the winner, 40 to the runner-up, 20 to the third-place finisher and 10 to the fourth-place finisher.

Simplification, who has already earned sufficient points to be included in the Kentucky Derby field, is one of four entrants in the Florida Derby field of 11 that is eligible for a share of the $100,000 Florida-Bred Bonus, which will be distributed on a 70-20-10 basis for an in-the-money finish. There will also be a $100,000 'Win Only' bonus available to offspring of Florida Sire Stakes-nominated stallions.

Jose Ortiz has the return call aboard Simplification.

White Abarrio had missed a couple of workouts prior to his overpowering victory over Simplification in the Holy Bull, prompting Joseph to point directly toward the Florida Derby to give the Kentucky-bred colt sufficient time to bounce back from such a dazzling performance under less-than-optimal conditions.

Unfortunately, the Joseph trainee spiked a fever early last week, forcing Joseph to readjust his training schedule, cancelling a scheduled workout Sunday in favor of a three-furlong blow-out Tuesday.

“All his works had gotten better and better. But things never seem to go the way you want them to, and we got a curveball thrown at us,” said Joseph, who expressed satisfaction with the swift breeze in 34.96 seconds. “We'll hope he shows up in the race. If he does, I think he's as good as any of the horses.”

Because he didn't run in the Fountain of Youth, White Abarrio has one chance in the Florida Derby to earn his way into the Kentucky Derby field.

“If you're good enough, you're going to make it,” Joseph said. “You don't want to be there if you don't have a chance to win. He acts like he's good enough. His Holy Bull was impressive. If he would repeat that you would think he'd have a very good chance.”

The son of Race Day was purchased by his current connections after debuting at Gulfstream Sept. 24 with a 6 ¾-length triumph. He went on to win an optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream by four lengths five weeks later. White Abarrio concluded his 2021 campaign with a third-place finish in the Nov. 27 Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) at Churchill Downs behind Smile Happy and Classic Causeway.

Tyler Gaffalione has the return mount on White Abarrio.

Like Simplification, Kentucky West Racing LLC and Clarke Cooper's Classic Causeway has thrived since his last meeting with White Abarrio.

Classic Causeway, a first-out winner at Saratoga last summer before finishing third in the Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland and second in the Kentucky Jockey Club at 1 1/16 miles, captured the Feb. 12 Sam F. Davis (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs in his 2022 debut in advance of a dominating front-running 2 ½-length triumph in the March 12 Tampa Bay Derby (G2).

“It just seems like he came out of the Tampa Bay race – the Tampa Bay Derby – so well that it seemed logical to me to just ship him down the road rather than to take him to Kentucky and maybe fight the elements up there. The weather can get funny in the spring,” said trainer Brian Lynch, who was targeting the April 9 Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland.

With his victories in the Sam F. Davis and Tampa Bay Derby, the son of Giant's Causeway has already earned his way into the Kentucky Derby field.

“I never get too far ahead of myself. I live for today and pray for tomorrow,” Lynch said. “We'll take it one day at a time and hopefully, he keeps taking us in the direction he's taken us and keeps improving, because the waters will get deeper. But he does seem like the right horse to be doing it with.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. is set for a return aboard Classic Causeway, who was rated as co-third choice at 7-2 with Whisper Hill Farm LLC's Charge It.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher is slated to seek a record seventh Florida Derby success when he saddles Charge It, a son of Tapit who is coming off an eye-catching 8 ½-length maiden victory at Gulfstream Feb. 12.

Charge It, who is out of a daughter of multiple Grade 1 stakes winner Take Charge Lady, is scheduled to make his third career start in the Florida Derby after losing a photo finish in his debut and graduating impressively. Pletcher saddled Constitution (2014) and Materiality (2015) for Florida Derby wins in their third starts.

Luis Saez has the return call.

Rustlewood Farm Inc.'s Pappacap, who scored an impressive debut victory at Gulfstream last May, is slated for a return run in the Florida Derby. The Mark Casse-trained son of Gun Runner followed up his maiden win with a victory in the Best Pal (G2) at Del Mar. The Florida-bred colt went on to finish second in both the American Pharoah (G1) at Santa Anita and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Del Mar to complete his 2-year-old campaign.

Pappacap began his 3-year-old campaign with a third-place finish in the Lecomte (G3) at Fair Grounds, three-quarters of a length behind Call Me Midnight and a half-length behind runner-up Epicenter. He turned in a disappointing eighth-place finish in the Risen Star (G2) at the New Orleans track in his most recent start.

“I've scratched my head trying to figure out why he hasn't run better. Every indication is that he's a really good horse,” Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse said. “There are a lot of questions, especially after his last performance.”

Edwin Gonzalez, who was aboard for Pappacap's winning debut, has the call.

OGMA Investments LLC and Jack Hardin Towell Jr.'s O Captain, who rallied from 11th and last to finish third in the Fountain of Youth, is expected by his connections to appreciate the added distance of the Florida Derby.

The son of Carpe Diem entered the Fountain of Youth off a front-running debut victory at 5 ½ furlongs and a third-place finish in the six-furlong Limehouse, both at Gulfstream Park.

Joel Rosario is scheduled to ride O Captain for the first time Saturday.

Miracle's International Trading Inc.'s Strike Hard, who rallied from 12th to finish fourth behind Classic Causeway in the Sam F. Davis last time out, enters the Florida Derby with two victories and five in-the-money finishes at Gulfstream. The Matthew Williams-trained son of Flashback finished second behind Simplification in the Jan. 1 Mucho Macho Man two starts back.

Junior Alvarado, who rode Strike Hard in his maiden-breaker and his runner-up finish in the Mucho Macho Man, returns to the saddle.

Carrie Brogden's Steal Sunshine, a Bobby Dibona-trained son of Constitution who finished second in a recent Gulfstream optional claiming allowance; Daniel Alonso's King of Truth, runner-up in a pair of starter allowances in his last two; Stonehedge LLC's Cajun's Magic, a son of Cajun Breeze who finished fifth in the Holy Bull last time out; and Arindel's Clapton, a son of Brethren who won a Florida-bred optional claiming allowance last time out, round out the field. Cajun's Magic and Clapton are eligible for the $100,000 FSS 'Win Only' Bonus.

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