Chief Oakie Dokie gives Coontz first stakes win

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Illinois – Chief Oakie Dokie was the first (and still only) winner for the small-scale young trainer Arthur Coontz when he took a maiden race this spring at Hawthorne. He became Coontz’s first stakes winner when overcoming a difficult trip under C.H. Marquez Jr. to win the $52,956 Springfield Stakes by a neck at Arlington Park on Saturday.

Sir Anthony fought gamely to finish second, a nose in front of Wile E. Peyote, somewhat surprisingly bet down to 6-5 favoritism. Wile E. Peyote tracked from third as Pass the Gravy, hounded to the outside by Sir Anthony, set splits of 24.34 and 48.01 in this one-turn Polytrack mile.

Wile E. Peyote got the perfect trip and couldn’t close the deal, while Chief Oakie Dokie had to steady slightly in upper stretch, then knife between a fading Pass the Gravy and Sir Anthony to come through inside for the victory. He was timed in 1:37.05 for one mile and paid $8.40 to win.

Coontz, 32, has the last two years trained a handful of horses. He has six – three older, three 2-year-olds - stabled at Arlington with Chris Block, who trains Wile E. Peyote. Coontz began working for Block in 2005 as a hotwalker and groom and moved up to assistant, helping with the Block stable star, Giant Oak, during his heyday. Chief Oakie Dokie, also bred and owned by Coontz in partnership with his father, David, and Danny Coker, is a son of the deceased Giant Oak and was produced by the Point Given mare, Lookin Even finer.

There’s one other Giant Oak connections here as Marquez, who recently scored his 3,000th career win, rode Giant Oak in his last three works before his lone Grade 1 win, in the Donn Handicap at Gulfstream.

Marquez worked Chief Oakie Dokie once in preparation for the Springfield, his Polytrack debut, and liked what he felt. He also felt good at the half-mile pole when he smooched quietly to his mount and felt a horse traveling well and in the bridle. Trouble came, but Chief Oakie Dokie had the acceleration and wits to overcome it – win number two for Arthur Coontz.

Strollin the Bayou sprouts wings, wins Purple Violet

Typically, it’s an owner talking a trainer into running in a stakes race. In the case of Strollin the Bayou, trainer Chris Block had to urge the partners in Moabo Stables to enter the Purple Violet Stakes on Saturday at Arlington.

One can see where they were coming from. Strollin the Bayou had been beaten 17 lengths in a two-turn turf race in April at Tampa and was a soundly defeated fifth here at Arlington last month in a first-level allowance race. But Block believed. He decided to try Strollin the Bayou in blinkers, had Carlos Marquez Jr. start working her in the morning, and made an effort to turn the filly into a one-run closer.

All that labor, and then Block watched the filly come into the sweltering Arlington paddock late Saturday afternoon.

“She was dripping wet and shaking like a leaf,” Block said. “I told [Marquez] he had to get her relaxed in the post parade.”

Whatever Marquez did, it worked. Strollin the Bayou still was last of eight at the quarter-pole as odds-on Jean Elizabeth, who had controlled the pace, opened what looked like an insurmountable advantage. But Marquez bumped his filly once, then twice to get her to change leads at the three-sixteenths pole and once leveled off Strollin the Bayou flew home. She passed everyone but Jean Elizabeth with ease and wound up catching her with a few jumps to spare, too, winning the $55.850 Purple Violet by one length.

Strollin the Bayou ($25.40) had run two strong races over Arlington’s Polytrack last summer and clearly enjoys the synthetic surface. She was timed in 1:36.07 for a mile after getting her final quarter-mile in about 23 seconds flat.

Marquez swept the Saturday stakes and has won five stakes races already this meet. For Block, the win tied him with Harry Trotsek at 44 for the all-time Arlington lead in stakes wins by a trainer.