Carve rested but fit for Fifth Season
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Carve will be making his first start since the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Friday, when he returns to one of his favorite tracks for the $100,000 Fifth Season at Oaklawn Park. The 1 1/16-mile race begins the local road to the Grade 2, $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap on April 11.
Carve is 3 for 6 in Hot Springs, and after a third-place finish in last year’s Oaklawn Handicap, he went on to win the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap and the $200,000 West Virginia Governor’s Cup before eventually finishing sixth in the BC Dirt Mile at Santa Anita on Oct. 31.
“He was doing well, and we took a shot with him,” Brad Cox, who trains Carve for Mike Langford, said of the BC start. “He didn’t embarrass us. I thought he ran his race. He just was 10 lengths behind [winner] Goldencents.”
Carve is one of the better older horses on the grounds at Oaklawn and could go favored in the Fifth Season against Zee Bros, a threat to wire the field off his win in the $350,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel, and Code West, the winner of the $175,000 Governor’s Cup at Remington Park.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 2 Zee Bros. Trainer D. Wayne Lukas is 14-1-2-3 with a $0.51 ROI over the past five years going sprint to route with last-out winners. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
:: Learn more about Formulator | Buy Formulator PPs
:: Follow the @DRFFormulator Twitter feed and get free Formulator facts
Fifth Season (Race 8)
KEY CONTENDERS
Carve (Last 3 Beyers: 87-93-102)
◗ Cox is comfortable with Carve’s fitness level ahead of the horse’s first start in 2 1/2 months.
“After the Breeders’ Cup, we gave him about three weeks off at Churchill Downs, just walked him twice a day,” Cox said. “We started back with him Nov. 21 or Nov. 22, and when we started back, it was with the intention to have him ready for the Fifth Season. He’s had five works going into Friday’s race. I feel like he’s ready. Fitness is not going to be an excuse.”
◗ Carve, who has the speed to keep Zee Bros in his sights, will be ridden by Jesus Castanon.
Zee Bros (Last 3 Beyers: 103-98-77)
◗ Zee Bros will be making his two-turn debut off a 2 3/4-length win in the De Francis on Nov. 15, an effort for which he equaled his career-best Beyer Speed Figure, a 103.
“He rated kindly at Laurel, and then he just blew their shorts off,” said D. Wayne Lukas, who trains Zee Bros for Zayat Stables. “I’m excited about running him. I don’t know that he’s a pure sprinter. I think he may be okay [at two turns].”
◗ Jon Court has the mount from post 2.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 1 Bourbonize. Trainer Kellyn Gorder is 43-10-3-6 with a $3.66 ROI over the past two years going sprint to route on dirt. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan