Clairiere, Jackie's Warrior both gearing up for big stakes at Oaklawn
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Steve Asmussen has broken camp at Fair Grounds, and he brought some heavy hitters with him to Oaklawn Park. Jackie’s Warrior, last year’s male sprint champion, and Clairiere, who finished in the top three for champion 3-year-old filly, both are now here, and will make their next starts in coming weeks.
First up will be Jackie’s Warrior, who is slated to make his first start of 2022 in the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Handicap going six furlongs April 16. Jackie’s Warrior has not raced since the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar, in which he finished sixth and from which he emerged with a chip in his left knee.
“He’s doing unbelievable,” said Asmussen, admiring Jackie’s Warrior as he went back to his stall after spending time in a round sand pen, where Asmussen fed him an apple. “He shipped up Saturday. He’ll have two works here before the Count Fleet.”
Jackie’s Warrior returned to the work tab Feb. 27 at Fair Grounds and had five drills there before heading to Oaklawn.
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Jackie’s Warrior also began his 2021 campaign here last year, finishing third in the Southwest Stakes. After that, he was pulled off the Kentucky Derby trail and concentrated on sprints, which resulted in four stakes wins and an Eclipse Award.
Both Jackie’s Warrior and Clairiere are age 4.
Clairiere is set to make her next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Apple Blossom for older females going 1 1/16 miles April 23. The Apple Blossom could turn out to be the race of the meet, as both Ce Ce, the champion female sprinter of last year, and Letruska, last year’s champion older female on dirt – and, respectively, the last two winners of the Apple Blossom – are also intended for the race.
Clairiere will be making her 12th career start in the Apple Blossom, but her first at Oaklawn. Last year, she was one of the best of a division whose champion was Malathaat, the Kentucky Oaks winner. Clairiere began the year as though she will again be a major player for a year-end championship, as she won an allowance race at Fair Grounds in a gallop March 16 in her first start since finishing fourth four months earlier in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
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Both Clairiere and another top-class 4-year-old filly whom Asmussen trains, Pauline’s Pearl, are homebreds owned by Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Stables. Asmussen said Pauline’s Pearl, second to Ce Ce in the Azeri here March 12, will make her next start in the Grade 1 La Troienne at Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Oaks undercard May 6.