A case can be made for all seven runners in Oaklawn feature

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – There is a horse for just about every kind of handicapping angle in Sunday’s featured eighth race at Oaklawn Park.

Combatant is the class of the field as a Grade 1 winner of $1 million.

Defender has a chance to control the pace on the stretch out from a sprint race.

Hop Kat is in sharp form as the winner of his last three races.

Man in the Can is a horse-for-course at Oaklawn.

M G Warrior has reason to move forward in his second start since October.

Fast Breakin Cash drops in class to the overnight ranks after a stakes-placing.

Treasure Trove goes turf to dirt, and all of his wins have come on the main track.

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The seven older horses make up the field for a competitive conditioned allowance that carries an optional claiming price of $62,500. It will be run at a mile, in a configuration that ends at the sixteenth pole. First post for the Super Bowl Sunday program is an early 12:30 p.m. Central.

Combatant and Hop Kat figure to start as leading contenders. Both come off races for which they earned Beyer Speed Figures of 90, which is the best last-race number in the field.

Combatant was third in the Grade 3 Native Diver at Del Mar in his most recent out Nov. 21. Hop Kat won a third-level allowance at Fair Grounds in his last start Jan. 9.

Combatant will break from post 5. Joe Talamo has the mount for trainer John Sadler. Hop Kat starts from post 7. Florent Geroux has the mount for trainer Tom Amoss.

Defender could show the way from his rail post. He is moving back to two turns after running second in an allowance sprint in December at Hawthorne. The last time the horse went sprint-to-route he was a front-running winner of an allowance, also at Hawthorne. Ramon Vazquez has the mount for trainer Ingrid Mason.

Man in the Can is one of the top Arkansas-breds in training. He is a two-time stakes winner at Oaklawn, taking last year’s Rainbow over fellow 3-year-olds and the Arkansas Breeders Championship over older rivals. Following those starts, Man in the Can won a Churchill Downs allowance over eventual Grade 3 Ohio Derby winner Dean Martini.

“He’s doing well,” trainer Ron Moquett said. “We’ve been looking for a race. He’s kind of out of conditions for Arkansas-breds.”

Ricardo Santana Jr., has the mount from post 4 on Sunday.

M G Warrior made his first start in more than two months last out, when second in a third-level allowance route at Fair Grounds. Hop Kat won that day, for his third consecutive win in a streak started in November at Churchill Downs.

M G Warrior will break from post 3. Martin Garcia has the mount for trainer Brad Cox.