Hot Springs

 HOT SPRINGS—Heck, man, I walked enough this week at least twice to meet my two-mile standard for a Pam's Boy mention. I did again today, when I walked for 42:18 on my long way to the Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort press box. ...I have frequently and surely worried irrationally about a missing housecat over the last twenty years or so. However, Joe has run his recent disappearance to a personal-record 27 hours since I let him out at 8 p.m. last night. There was a bit of cat food eaten from a bowl I left on the front porch today, which helps my concern a bit. I have loved Joe since April 4, 2019, but have also truly liked and admired him for at least the last six months. Heck, I despise the unnecessary burden of worry. ...I felt good about the following stories when I turned them in this afternoon and evening:

PETE PERKINS

HOT SPRINGS — This race counted for a lot of money but little else other than pride and contentment for its winner’s connections.

It seems that was enough.

Newgrange was ridden by John Velazquez from the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert to win the Grade III $750,000 1-mile-and-1/16th Southwest Stakes for three-year-old horses in 1:45.83 before an estimated crowd of 27,000 at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort.

“It was pretty exciting to watch,” Baffert said.

Newgrange was the 3-2 favorite and finished 1 1/2 lengths in front of second-place Barber Road, ridden by Ricardo Santana, Jr., and trained by John Ortiz. John Court rode Ben Diesel to third, 2 3/4 lengths behind the winner and also 2 3/4 lengths in front of fourth-place Kavod.

There were 12 horses in the Southwest.

Since a points system was put in place for Kentucky Derby qualification in 2013, the Southwest Stakes has distributed a total of 17 qualifying points to its top four finishers, with 10, 4, 2, and 1 to first through fourth, respectively. However, horses who race at the direction of southern-California-based Baffert were suspended on July 1, 2021 from races at Churchill Downs for two years, including the Kentucky Derby, because of a possible medication violation that involved Medina Spirit, the horse Baffert trained to a win in last season’s Derby.

Consequently, none of his two- or three-year-old horses can earn Kentucky Derby qualifying points until the fall of 2022. The 10 points Newgrange would have earned were eliminated from the total allotted for the Southwest.

Baffert explained Newgrange’s Southwest entry in a text message he sent Tuesday.

“Glad to be running at Oaklawn again,” Baffert said in the text. “I think [Newgrange is] a nice horse. Training well.”

Baffert did respond to a telephone call shortly after the Southwest.

“I’m not going to worry about [Kentucky Derby qualifying points] right now,” he said.

Newgrange was fourth from the gate and third behind the leader Kavod and Classic Moment through the opening quarter-mile in 23.07.

Kavod, ridden by Francisco Arrieta and trained by Chris Hartman, led through the half in 47.32, three-quarters in 1:12.42, and was up 1/2 length at the top of the stretch.

Hartman had said he wanted a more relaxed pace than Arrieta rode when the proven sprinter finished fourth in Oaklawn’s first of four Kentucky Derby-qualifiers, the 1-mile Smarty Jones Stakes on New Year’s Day. However, Arrieta said Hartman had no complaints when told Kavod took the Southwest lead as a matter of will.

“[Hartman] saw the horse go for it,” Arrieta said. “I didn’t try to put him there. We think he’ll be better sprinting.”

Kavod won Oaklawn’s 6-furlong Advent Stakes on Dec. 3, opening day for the racetrack’s 2021-22 season.

As the field turned into the home stretch, Kavod led second-place Ben Diesel, owned by Marshall’s Willis Horton, who was 1/2 length in front of third-place Classic Moment and a length up on Newgrange as the eventual winner ran in fourth. Barber Road was in fifth, 2 1/4 lengths behind Kavod.

Classic Moment, ridden by Martin Garcia from the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, would finish sixth.

“We saw a different dimension today, the way the race set up,” Baffert said. “Pretty proud of the way he ran. Johnny said he was struggling with the track a little bit earlier, and I could tell that. Usually, he’s on the lead, but all the way down the backside, he was in a good spot.”

Newgrange, whose dash to the wire began with a quarter-mile left, passed Kavod to take the lead 20 yards short of the 1/16th pole. Barber Road also dug in late with enough momentum to pass Ben Diesel.

“To be honest, this horse raced a good race,” Santana, Jr. said. “We don’t have any excuse. The winner was much the best. We’ll see when we come back again.”

“I'm very happy,” Ortiz said, “We’re very proud of Barber Road.”

Court also sounded pleased by the result for Ben Diesel.

“We’ve been trying to teach him to sit back off the lead, make one run, and that’s what he did today, get up for third best,” Court said. “He’s still putting in together. These horses are still young. Hopefully, this will give us the points we need, and we’ll work for the Rebel and the [Arkansas] Derby.”

Baffert, who said he will send at least one of his barn’s horses for Oaklawn’s next Kentucky Derby-qualifier, the Grade II Rebel Stakes, seemed elated by Newgrange’s effort.

“He showed some real grit to win that race,” he said. “Love going to Oaklawn Park and winning those big races. It was pretty exciting to watch the stretch. He’ll come back to California, and we’ll figure out our next move.”

PETE PERKINS

HOT SPRINGS — The winner’s jockey did not want to put the cart before the filly.

Briland Farm’s Secret Oath began her march toward a potential stall in the Kentucky Oak’s starting gate with a 7 1/4 length win as the 2/5 favorite in the $200,000 1-mile-and-1/16th Martha Washington Stakes for three-year-old fillies in 1:46.21 before an announced crowd of [] at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort on Saturday.

The Martha Washington distributed 17 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points, with 10, 4, 2, and 1 to the first through fourth finishers, respectively.

Secret Oath, from the Oaklawn barn of 86-year-old Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, now has 10 of those points.

“You know what, it’s a long way until the Oaks,” Secret Oath’s jockey Luis Contreras said. “I don’t want to say anything about that more than I have to, but I can tell she’s run amazing.”

Winchell Thoroughbred’s Optionality, ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr., and trained by Steve Asmussen, also a member of the National Museum and Hall of Fame, finished second in the field of six, 4 3/4 lengths in front of third-place Como Square, ridden by 50-year-old Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez. Hypersport, ridden by Tiago Pereira and trained by Ingrid Mason, finished fourth, 14 lengths behind by the winner.

 

“What was I thinking down the stretch?” Lukas said. “ ‘Oh boy, boy, here she comes.’ I said, ‘Let her roll.’ ”

Lukas is best known as the trainer of 17 Triple Crown-series winners, including four in the Kentucky Derby, and a record 20 Breeders’ Cup champions, but he also has trained four winners of the Kentucky Oaks.

Lukas is the last to have trained consecutive Oaks winners, with Open Mind in 1989 and Seaside Attraction in 1990. As an example of his generational diversity, Lukas’ first Oaks winner, Blush With Pride in 1982, was ridden by Willie Shoemaker. Shoemaker led U.S. jockeys in wins as early as 1950, when Lukas was a 15-year-old high school basketball player in Wisconsin.

When asked to compare Secret Oath to other three-year-old fillies he has trained over his 49-year career, Lukas mentioned Winning Colors, his most accomplished by virtue of her win in the 1988 Kentucky Derby.

“The way she runs and everything, she’s a lot like Winning Colors,” Lukas said. “She’s not as heavy or as massive as Winning Colors, but she’s got that stride.”

In the Martha Washington, Secret Oath started third from the gate but was fourth by the first turn behind Optionality, Cupid’s Music, and Como Square, respectively, in quarter-mile splits of 24.49, 25.92, and 25.33 through three-quarters in 1:14.50.

Secret Oath, similar to the way she marched away with an allowance win at Oaklawn on New Year’s Eve, passed those in front with no apparent effort and led by 5 1/2 lengths at the head of the stretch.

“I had so much horse the whole way,” Contreras said. “Even in the stretch, I never really let her go. I think I have a lot of horse, yes. She made it look so easy. When I moved her out in the clear, she just exploded.”

Everyone else seemed impressed.

“I saw [Secret Oath] at three-eighths, and when I saw [Contreras] pass me that easy, there was no way I was going to beat him,” Santana, Jr., said. “My horse ran well, just second-best.”

PETE PERKINS

HOT SPRINGS — Trainer Larry Jones, 65, said this result was his favorite in recent memory.

Jones trained and Luis Quinonez road Bob’s Edge, owned by Michael and Patricia Freeny’s and Jennifer Grayson Taylor,  to a 2 3/4-lengths win over second-place Home Base in the $150,000 King Cotton Stakes for horses four years old and up before an estimated crowd 0f 27,000 at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort on Saturday.

Seven Nation Army, ridden by Ramon Vazquez and trained by Ron Moquett, finished third, 1 1/4 lengths behind Home Base and 2 1/2 in front of fourth-place Bolder.

“It was high point, especially over the last couple of years,” Jones said. “My stable’s down to 11 horses, so we don’t have the quality stock that we once did. A lot of my owners have passed away, but Mr. Freeny tries to have nice horses. He only has one each year, but he tries to have good horses and that’s enough.”

The top four ran at respective odds of 7-1, 27-1, 14-1, and 61-1, good for minimum trifecta and Superfecta payoffs of, in order, $476.95 and $1,070.94.

Though each unwittingly assisted the winner’s success, the top three favorites were favorites for good reason.

Nashville, a five-year-old son of Speightstown, came into the King Cotton with a record of 5 3-1-0. His number of outings was in part limited by an injury sustained when his undefeated streak was stopped at three with a fourth-place finish in the Grade I 7-furlong Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita Park on Dec. 26, 2020.

Nashville’s racing comeback from a near-12 month layoff did not start until his loss to Hollis last month and continued with a seventh-place finish as the 1-1 favorite in the King Cotton.

Hollis, a seven-year-old gelding by Street Sense and maternal grandson of Pulpit, achieved his career highlight to date in his last start, when he outran the 2/5 favorite Nashville in 5 1/2-furlong optional-claimer in an Oaklawn-record 1:02.12 on Dec. 10. He broke the mark set by Sis Pleasure Fager set on Feb. 15, 1984.

Hollis, off in the King Cotton at 2-1, was ridden to a fifth-place finish, a head behind Bolder, by Ricardo Santana, Jr.

Collusion Illusion, by Twirling Candy, was the field’s only Grade I winner, a status earned in the Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego on Aug. 1, 2020.

Nine of Collusion Illusion’s previous 11 career starts were in graded stakes.

“My horse couldn’t get ahold of the track,” Velazquez said.

Nashville was eighth from the gate and rushed to lead through the opening quarter-mile in 21.90.

Bob’s Edge was seventh through the first, third by a head off the leader Home Base through the half in 45.60, but led by 3 1/2 lengths at the head of the stretch.

“It kind of helped with Nashville breaking slow,” Jones said. “He really had to use himself to get up into the race, and that made him a little easier to go by down the lane.”