HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A year ago, the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park produced an eventual Kentucky Derby winner in Mystik Dan. Saturday’s $1 million renewal again has the potential to have a real influence on the Kentucky Derby trail. The field of 10 includes Grade 1 winner Gaming, the well-regarded maiden winners Patch Adams and American Promise, a $1.2 million son of Tapit in Sandman, the stakes-placed Speed King, and $998,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile winner Tiztastic. “It’s a good race,” said trainer Bob Baffert, who will attempt to win his seventh Southwest with Gaming. “Oaklawn’s races have become very prestigious.” Run at 1 1/16 miles, the Southwest will be showcased as the 10th of a 12-race card that features four stakes and two overnight stakes that together are worth nearly $2 million. First post is 11:25 a.m. Central. The Southwest rewards its first five finishers with Kentucky Derby points on a scale of 20-10-6-4-2. Mystik Dan won last year’s race in the mud, but the forecast for Saturday is for mostly sunny skies and a high of 55. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Gaming is launching his 3-year-old season following a 2024 campaign in which he won the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity over Citizen Bull, then ran second to that one in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Gaming earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 95 in the BC Juvenile, which was tied for the fourth-highest number among all 2-year-old males in 2024. Gaming enters the Southwest off a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 14. “The race at Los Al, I think he just maybe bounced a little bit,” Baffert said. “I learned a lot about him in that race. He’s been doing well since, so I thought this would be a good spot, see how he handles the ship. And he gets some experience into him. He’s healthy. He looks good, and we’ll see what happens.” Gaming has been working at his Santa Anita base for the Southwest, notching five-eighths in a bullet 58.60 seconds on Jan. 11. He will break from the rail under Juan Hernandez. Patch Adams owns the field’s best last-race Beyer, with his 98 ranking as the second-highest number put up by a 2-year-old male in 2024. Patch Adams earned that Beyer for a 10 1/2-length win in a maiden special weight on Nov. 30 at Churchill Downs, where he covered seven furlongs in a blazing 1:20.77. “Shortly after he won the race at Churchill, we circled the Southwest and took him to Florida and trained him there and have been pointing for this for a while now,” trainer Brad Cox said. Patch Adams will be making his two-turn debut in his third start Saturday. “I think he’ll handle it,” Cox said. “He’s a nice horse, good mind, so we’ll see. He’s strong and, mentally, he’s just very smart, does everything you ask of him. He’s a very efficient mover. So, I think he’s got a big future.” Flavien Prat has the mount from post 7. “I think he’ll be forward again,” Cox said. “I’m not necessarily saying on the lead, but forward enough.” Sandman will break from post 6 under Cristian Torres. He won a first-level allowance at a mile on Dec. 13 at his base of Oaklawn. The locals have been battling winter weather the last two weeks, and it interrupted training. “Obviously, the weather’s not been our friend, but the good news is that we were not playing catch-up or anything,” trainer Mark Casse said. “He was in a great place, so having a little bit of weather I don’t think is going to be significant to him.” In the allowance, which ended at the first wire, Sandman was eating up ground late and put up his best Beyer, an 89. “I came away from that race with a smile and some satisfaction,” Casse said. “I’ve held him in high regard since we really started training him, and as I’ve said before, I’d always kind of came away from his races wanting more and I felt like he showed what he had in that last start. “This is a different kettle of fish coming up on the weekend. This will separate the men from the boys.” American Promise popped a 95 Beyer for a maiden special weight win over fellow Southwest entrant Publisher on Dec. 29 at Oaklawn. He set the pace in the mud going 1 1/16 miles. “It was a good, solid race,” trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. “I loved the way he has that ability to get into the race, shows a little speed. But he’s 17 hands-plus, and I think he’s just now growing into himself and finding out that he has some coordination. I really, really liked his effort.” Tyler Bacon has the mount from post 8. “We probably won’t be like his maiden win the other day; we’re not going to be cruising on the lead,” Lukas said. “There’s going to be company everywhere you look, but our horse is very rateable and I think that we’ll try to put him in the race where we have a chance to run down whatever speed shows up.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.