It’s Derby Day! No, not in the traditional sense, what with racing suspended in much of the country owing to the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in, among other things, the Kentucky Derby being postponed from Saturday until Sept. 5. For the first time since 1945, when the Kentucky Derby was run on June 9, horses won’t be competing in the shadow of the twin spires on the first Saturday in May. Oaklawn Park stepped into that void, and stepped up. Oaklawn reworked its stakes schedule and postponed the Arkansas Derby by three weeks to the track’s closing day on Saturday. And when 22 3-year-olds entered the race last Sunday, the track split the Arkansas Derby into two divisions, each worth $500,000. Churchill Downs announced both would be worth 170 points overall, including 100 to the winner, on the system it uses to determine the field for the Derby four months hence. “We’re trying to make the best of a very, very difficult situation,” Louis Cella, Oaklawn’s president, said in a press release. “On the one hand, it is the worst of times to be racing without fans in our grandstand. On the other, we have a large number of exceptional 3-year-olds wanting to run in our Arkansas Derby. We simply did not want to see anyone lose that opportunity.” “The Cella family, what they’ve done is a godsend,” Jack Wolf, the managing partner of Starlight Racing – which has favored Charlatan in the first division and the longshot Saratogian in the second division – said on a national teleconference earlier this week. “The Cellas always do the right thing for the horse.” The Arkansas Derby will be races 11 and 13 on a sensational 14-race card that begins at noon local time and includes a full field of 14 for the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap for older horses, as well as several compelling allowance races. :: Arkansas Derby: News, fields, past performances, and more Charlatan is making his stakes debut in the first division of the Arkansas Derby, but his brilliant maiden and allowance wins at Santa Anita – in which he got Beyer Speed Figures of 105 and then 106 – coupled with the first division looking as though it came up far softer than the second division should make him a strong favorite. Charlatan also looks to have a decided pace edge in the 1 1/8-mile race. The horse who looked as though he would be best able to apply some early pressure, Shooters Shoot, will be scratched after spiking a fever, according to his trainer, Peter Eurton. With a rail draw, the strategy with Charlatan is obvious – go to the front and improve your position from there. “He’s just got to get out of there running,” said Bob Baffert, who trains Charlatan. “No rating from the one hole. He’s quick. I just want him to break well, then hope he doesn’t go too fast.” Martin Garcia, who relocated to Oaklawn for this meet and was second in the jockey standings entering racing on Thursday, takes over for this race on Charlatan, replacing Drayden Van Dyke. Charlatan invites comparison to Justify, Baffert’s 2018 Triple Crown winner. Both did not race at 2, won a sprint debut and then a two-turn allowance before their stakes debut, and the ownership group is similar. Baffert called Charlatan “a smaller version of Justify.” :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2020: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more “Justify, you bring him out of his stall, and he just keeps coming,” Baffert said. Anneau d’Or, second in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Los Alamitos Futurity, seeks to bounce back from a dull try in a division of the Risen Star at Fair Grounds on Feb. 15. He added blinkers that day, but they are being removed Saturday. “I don’t have a good excuse for him. Scoped him, jogged, did his blood, covered all the bases,” his trainer, Blaine Wright, said Thursday. “Just hoping he had an off day.” Wright sent Anneau d’Or to Oaklawn on Sunday. “Wanted to get in early this time, let him take a deep breath,” he said. Gouverneur Morris was fourth behind Tiz the Law in the Florida Derby on March 28, his second start of the year. He got Beyer Figures of 88 in both his starts this year. “This being his third start off the layoff and with good, consistent training should bring him forward,” said his trainer, Todd Pletcher. Basin, last year’s Hopeful winner, was third in the Rebel and fourth in the Oaklawn Stakes in his two tries going two turns. He drew the outside post. The outsiders Crypto Cash, Jungle Runner, Mo Mosa, My Friend’s Beer, Winning Impression, and Wrecking Crew complete the field.