Claret Beret has ability to overcome outside draw in competitive allowance

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Claret Beret has been favored in her last four starts, and it will be interesting to see if she will again be the public’s choice in a competitive second-level allowance Friday at Oaklawn Park.

Claret Beret has won three of her last four starts, her most recent a nose win at this 1 1/16-mile distance in a first-level allowance for fillies and mares. The Beyer Speed Figure of 81 that she earned is one of the best last-race numbers in the field Friday.

“It’s a pretty evenly matched race, I think,” said Greg Compton, who trains Claret Beret. “There’s some horses that have run a little stronger sprinting, but around two turns everybody looks pretty even, so I think it’s going to come down to who gets the trip.”

Claret Beret will start from the widest gate when she breaks from post 9 under Ramon Vazquez.

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“I would say her last race she didn’t have the best trip on the inside,” Compton said. “She was in tight a few times, made a couple of different runs. She’s shown she doesn’t have to have the perfect trip, that she’s good enough to overcome not having the best trip. She’s going to have to show she can do it again because I don’t know what kind of trip she’ll get from” the far outside.

Claret Beret began her career racing over synthetic and turf surfaces. Her most recent races have come on dirt. The daughter of Not This Time and the stakes-winning mare Bessie M was a $62,500 claim by her current connections in October.

“She’s just a solid filly,” Compton said. “You can’t really argue much with her record on dirt. She’s run five times with four wins, so she obviously is a dirt horse.”

Compton co-owns the 4-year-old with Danny Brown and Charis Brown.

“If she handles this race, I told Mr. Brown that the Dig A Diamond could be a spot for her,” Compton said of a stakes later in the meet at Oaklawn.

The field Friday includes stakes winners Flashy Lass and Ba Dee Yah. Absinthe is stakes-placed, having run second in last year’s Dig A Diamond.

Normandy Queen is a new face on the scene as she was formerly based in Southern California. She is stretching back out in distance after a sprint race to start her season and is 2 for 2 at two turns. Ricardo Santana Jr. has the mount from post 4 for trainer Ron Moquett.

Miss Hebrides will get good support after winning an entry-level allowance by more than seven lengths in January at Oaklawn. She’s raced once since, and was second at this level and distance Feb. 2. Julien Leparoux has the mount for trainer Kenny McPeek.

Thorpedo Anna’s local gallop

Thorpedo Anna, the reigning Horse of the Year set to run Saturday at Oaklawn in the Grade 2 Azeri, is scheduled to have a local training session Friday morning, according to McPeek.

McPeek said Thorpedo Anna will likely gallop in the first set after the renovation break, which will be at approximately 9 a.m. Central. As part of the session, he plans to have Thorpedo Anna walk through the indoor paddock at Oaklawn.

Patrons are welcome to watch Thorpedo Anna on Friday morning. Parties should enter the grandstand by the American Pharoah statue, according to Jason Milligan, vice president of racing for Oaklawn.

Thorpedo Anna was scheduled to ship from Fair Grounds to Oaklawn on Thursday.

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