Exclamation Point impresses in debut for Cox

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn leading trainer Brad Cox flexed some of the barn’s 3-year-old muscle over the weekend with Classic Empire’s half-brother Exclamation Point winning his debut Saturday and Cheponera punching her ticket to the Grade 3, $125,000 Honeybee with an authoritative allowance victory Friday.

Exclamation Point won a maiden special weight over six furlongs by 2 1/2 lengths. He covered the distance in 1:10.59 and for the effort earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 77. Cox said the horse could run back in the middle of March.

“We’ll give him probably 30, 40 days between races,” Cox said. “We’ll bring him back, work him two or three times. We’ll shoot for a first-level allowance going a mile, or a mile and a sixteenth, get him around two turns at Oaklawn. It’s the logical next step.”

Exclamation Point is owned by his breeders, Steven and Brandi Nicholson, who also bred Classic Empire, winner of last year’s Arkansas Derby for John Oxley and trainer Mark Casse. Exclamation Point is a son of the Tapit stallion Concord Point.

The race Saturday was won on the front end, with Exclamation Point taking the field though an opening quarter in 22.21 seconds and a half-mile in 45.71. In the late stages, the horse, who was wearing blinkers, shied twice from a right-handed tap of the whip from jockey Fernando De La Cruz, then proceeded to gallop out strongly.

“Going into the first turn he kind of got pressed from the outside,” Cox said. “It forced the jock’s hand to kind of go with it. I would have liked to see him off of it. The way the race happened, it didn’t happen that way. He responded well and galloped out really well.”

Cheponera, also ridden by De La Cruz, stalked the pace, overtook the leaders, and shuttled home for a 3 1/4 length win in the 1 1/16-mile allowance for 3-year-old fillies. It was her first start at two turns, and her second straight win behind a $30,000 maiden-claiming race at a one-turn mile Nov. 23 at Churchill Downs.

“She stepped up,” Cox said. “The first couple of races she just didn’t perform quite as well as we thought she would. She’s gotten better with distance. Her last two races have been really nice.”

Cheponera, a daughter of Flat Out who races for Ten Strike Racing, earned a Beyer Figure of 78 and will be pointed to the Honeybee, a 1 1/16-mile race March 10 at Oaklawn that serves as the final stepping-stone to the Grade 3, $400,000 Fantasy on April 13.

The first local prep for the Fantasy comes Saturday with the running of the $125,000 Martha Washington at a mile. Cox said Sassy Sienna, who has been pointed to the race since a 9 1/2-length allowance romp here Jan. 15, will start for new ownership. Medallion Racing has purchased the filly from Zayat Stables. Gary Stevens has the mount Saturday, Cox said.

◗ Jim Byers will call the races at Oaklawn this Friday through Sunday as track announcer Vic Stauffer will be playing in the National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas. Stauffer said Byers would be at Oaklawn on Thursday to get a feel for things ahead of Friday. Byers has been subbing at Sam Houston and is the announcer for Lone Star.

◗ Oaklawn announced Saturday it will not receive horses that have been at Turfway Park since Jan. 24. Turfway has a barn under quarantine due to a horse testing positive for the equine herpesvirus. The horse was euthanized Friday, according to a Daily Racing Form report by Byron King.

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