Carlos L. faces more speed in marathon

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – There will be some three-turn racing action Sunday at Oaklawn Park, where stakes winners Carlos L., Campaign, You’re to Blame, and Harpers First Ride meet over 1 1/2 miles. The feature comes a day after the Arkansas Derby, as the local meet continues through May 1.

The ninth race is a second-level allowance for 4-year-olds and up that carries a claiming option of $75,000.

Carlos L. won at the 1 1/2-mile distance in his last start when he upset the $150,000 Temperence Hill at 47-1 on March 13 at Oaklawn. A few days following the race, trainer Mac Robertson said he wanted to keep the versatile horse at the distance and would be looking for another race at 1 1/2 miles about a month from the Temperence Hill.

Carlos L., who was a Group 1 winner over 1 5/16 miles in Panama, also has had success sprinting. He won over 6 1/2 furlongs in December at Hawthorne. Carlos L. wired the field that day and two starts later used the same tactics to capture the Temperence Hill.

Alex Canchari has the mount again for the partnership of Good Friends II.

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Carlos L. faces more speed Sunday than he did in the Temperence Hill, including Arrival, who stretches out off a pacesetting effort at a mile, and Harpers First Ride. The three-turn trip will be a new experience for Harpers First Ride, a multiple stakes winner on the cusp of $600,000 in earnings. The longest distance over which he has raced has been 1 3/16 miles, in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special last October. He won, and for the effort earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 101.s

Harpers First Ride is back in the overnight ranks for the first time since August. He comes into Sunday’s race off a fourth-place finish in the $500,000 Essex Handicap, an Oaklawn race March 13 in which he contested the pace. David Cohen has the mount Sunday for trainer Robertino Diodoro. Diodoro also will saddle leading contender Lone Oak, who was second by a neck in the Temperence Hill. He will break from post 2 under Ramon Vazquez.

Campaign and You’re to Blame both would benefit from a solid pace up front. The horses are proven marathon runners, with Campaign a multiple Grade 3 winner at 1 1/2 miles. He was fifth last out in the Temperence Hill and is making his first appearance in an overnight race since February 2019. He won that day at Santa Anita. You’re to Blame is adding blinkers off a seventh-place finish in the Temperence Hill.

The field of seven is completed by Changi, who also would benefit from an honest pace Sunday. He exits a sixth-place finish in a 1 1/2-mile race March 21 at Oaklawn. It was won by Darren’s Fortune, who runs earlier on the card Sunday.

Darren’s Fortune, who is unbeaten at three turns, goes in the sixth race. He will be looking for his fourth consecutive win, after capturing three straight marathon starts by a combined margin of 41 1/2 lengths. Darren’s Fortune is cutting back to two turns, for a 1 1/8-mile starter allowance. He will break from the rail under Francisco Arrieta, who has the mount for Sammy Almaraz and trainer Tom Van Berg.