Arnett feeling quite at home at Will Rogers

New Mexico-based trainer Jon Arnett is starting horses for the first time this spring at Will Rogers Downs in Oklahoma, and it’s going pretty darn well.

Entering the May 4 card at Will Rogers, Arnett had sent out 20 runners to an 8-2-2 record. One of his winners, Shred the Rules, easily captured an open handicap sprint March 21, and he’ll try to win the same sort of race again in the co-featured ninth on Wednesday’s 10-race card.

Shred the Rules stretches out from 5 ½ furlongs last time to six furlongs Wednesday, but it’s stronger competition more than longer distance that stands in his way. Shred the Rules is 3-3-0 from eight six-furlong starts and has a useful stalk-and-pounce style that could serve him as well Wednesday as it did last month at Will Rogers.

Oil Money moves into an open handicap race after scoring a narrow 18-1 upset in the $50,000 Highland Ice at Will Rogers last month, a stronger race than the one Shred the Rules captured. But Oil Money is a dedicated front-runner and Arnett might have an answer for him in Knox Court. Knox Court won a $15,000 nonwinners-of-three Will Rogers claimer March 30, and since the class rise into Wednesday’s spot seems formidable, it’s a decent guess Knox Court will deploy every bit of his early speed breaking from post 1. If he engages Oil Money early and can draw the capable Bending Saint into a hot pace, all the better for Shred the Rules, who blew out a half-mile May 1 at Sunland.

Race 7 is the filly-and-mare companion to race 9, though it is carded at 5 ½ furlongs. It matches Drip Brew and Ima Discreet Lady – who were respectively first and second, separated by a neck, in an April 15 race at this class level and distance – against several capable opponents new to this Will Rogers division. Chief among that group is Ari Gia, a Minnesota-bred sprinter who has proven competitive in open allowance races and minor stakes. Ari Gia hasn’t raced since Sept. 1 but has posted a long, strong-looking string of Turf Paradise drills for Jose Silva Jr., who owns and trains her.

Silva has a second entrant, Tee Em Eye, who ran well enough to win Wednesday’s start when she captured the Bold Ego Handicap on Jan. 4 at Sunland Park. Tee Em Eye prefers to stalk the pace and could take advantage of a strong early and middle pace.

But so, too, could Ima Discreet Lady, who was closing hard on Drip Brew at the finish of the April 15 race after Drip Brew shook loose on a clear lead. Ima Discreet Lady, just a 4-year-old, breaks from the rail and can get a more relaxed trip waiting to make one run Wednesday than she did in her most recent start.