Oaklawn Park: Tiz Miz Sue ready to roll in Bayakoa

Oaklawn Park/Coady Photography

Tiz Miz Sue hasn't raced since finishing fifth in the Spinster at Keeneland last October, but earlier in the year she won the Grade 3 Azeri at Oaklawn (above).

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Tiz Miz Sue has come to hand so quickly for trainer Steve Hobby that she will be launching her 6-year-old season a month earlier than scheduled Saturday, when she starts in the $100,000 Bayakoa at Oaklawn Park.

“I think she’s ready to run,” said Hobby, who trains Tiz Miz Sue for Cresran LLC. “She’s really trained spot on.”

The Bayakoa is a stepping-stone to the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap here April 12. A 1 1/16-mile race, the Bayakoa drew a field of seven fillies and mares, including She’s All In, who finished fourth to Joyful Victory in the $400,000 Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston on Jan. 26, and Don’t Tell Sophia, a scintillating winner of the $75,000 Pippin at Oaklawn in her last start Jan. 19.

Tiz Miz Sue last raced in October, finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Spinster on Polytrack at Keeneland. It was a rare off-the-board finish for the mare, and Hobby felt she did not handle the synthetic surface. Prior to that race, Tiz Miz Sue’s season included a win in the Grade 3 Azeri at Oaklawn in March, a third in the Apple Blossom, and a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap, a race in which she finished a neck behind champion Royal Delta.

“She ran huge,” Hobby said of Tiz Miz Sue’s effort in the Delaware Handicap. “You get that close to Royal Delta, you got to be happy.”

Tiz Miz Sue on Saturday will break from post 4 under regular rider Joe Rocco Jr. She will be removing blinkers, Hobby said.

“She’s always trained pretty much without them,” he said. “She just had been wearing them since she was young, so I didn’t change anything. But she’s working so well without them right now, I’m just going to run her without them.”

Hobby was nearing the 1,000th Thoroughbred training victory of his career, having entered Friday’s races at Oaklawn at 998 wins.

Don’t Tell Sophia put herself in the filly and mare picture at Oaklawn last month, when she rolled to a more than seven-length win in the Pippin. Robby Albarado has the mount for trainer Phil Sims, who co-owns the mare with Jerry Namy.

Borel resumes quest for 5,000

Jockey Calvin Borel, who because of a wrist injury has not ridden in a race since Dec. 28, will be back in action Saturday at Oaklawn. He enters the card one win shy of 5,000 career victories. Borel has two mounts on the program, in the third and sixth races. When he hits the milestone, the city of Hot Springs will distribute free commemorative Calvin Borel trading cards to those ontrack at Oaklawn.

Borel, 47, was found to have a broken bone in his left wrist Jan. 8. He is a three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby.