Alsvid eyes Hot Springs Stakes
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Alsvid, the millionaire who won his 8-year-old debut Jan. 26 at Oaklawn, will be considered for the $125,000 Hot Springs Stakes here on March 11, trainer Chris Hartman said Friday. The race is the local springboard to the Grade 3, $400,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap, which Alsvid won in 2015.
Alsvid was a one-length winner of an optional $50,000 claiming race last month and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 81.
“He ran a good race,” Hartman said. “It wasn’t too taxing on him, so that’s a good thing at 8 years old.”
Hartman trains Alsvid for Black Hawk Stable.
Sprinters featured Sunday
Hartman will have a new sprinter in action in Sunday’s sixth race, where he sends out Mesoma in an optional $35,000 claiming race for 4-year-olds and up at six furlongs. Hartman claimed the horse on behalf of Joe Davis for $25,000 on Jan. 21 from the horse’s first start in about a year. Mesoma ran a troubled third. Hartman said the horse’s company lines from Kentucky were one of the reasons he liked Mesoma.
“That horse ran with some really good horses,” he said. “He outran Race Day by eight lengths, and he ran with Wilbo. I really don’t know what the holdup on the horse was. Hopefully, he proves to be a good claim.”
The field Sunday includes Mr. Z, the winner of the 2015 Ohio Derby, and Double Ours, who could go favored. Also on the card, Triple Crown nominees Conquest Wildcat and Floroplus meet Reckling in an optional $62,500 sprint for 3-year-olds First post for the Super Bowl Day card is earlier than usual at 1 p.m. Central.
Texas Chrome on his way
Texas Chrome, the winner of the 2016 Super Derby and Oklahoma Derby, is scheduled to arrive at Oaklawn Park in mid-February, trainer J.R. Caldwell said Thursday. The horse has been jogging at a training center. Texas Chrome was freshened following a ninth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 4. He was recently named Texas-bred Horse of the Year.
Caldwell has a division of horses at Oaklawn. He trains Texas Chrome for Keene Thoroughbreds and recently picked up horses for another prominent client in James and Ywachetta Driver. He said Keene Thoroughbreds and the Drivers are among his owners in favor of sending a division of horses to Churchill Downs following Oaklawn.
Caldwell said it will be the first time he has applied for stalls at the Louisville, Ky., track. If successful in obtaining stall space, the barn’s Churchill division would include Texas Chrome. Other horses in the Caldwell operation include the stakes-winning 3-year-old filly Country Candy.
