Cupid latest California raider for Baffert in Arkansas Derby
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – It was here at Oaklawn Park one year ago that American Pharoah had his final tune-up before launching himself among the stars, becoming the 12th Triple Crown winner.
“It goes by so fast,” Jimmy Barnes, trainer Bob Baffert’s top assistant, said Thursday.
Barnes was walking Cupid around the barn’s shed row after his first day on the track here, a gallop. The routine has become pretty standardized by Baffert and Barnes in recent years. They ship in to Oaklawn a few days before the race, give their horses a spin or two over the one-mile oval, make off with races like the Rebel and Arkansas Derby, and the locals, as in “High Plains Drifter,” ask, “Who are you?”
“You know,” Clint Eastwood replies in the movie.
They know here, too.
“I like coming here. I don’t know if they like me coming here,” Barnes said.
Cupid heads a field of 12 in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, which highlights the closing-day card at Oaklawn. It goes as race 11 on the 12-race card. There are three other stakes on the card, most notably the Grade 2, $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap for older horses such as Effinex, Melatonin, and Upstart.
There is a pick four on races 7 through 10 and another on the final four races of the day. First post is 12:30 p.m. Central.
The Arkansas Derby, at 1 1/8 miles, offers 170 points overall, including 100 to the winner, under the system used by Churchill Downs to determine the field for the May 7 Kentucky Derby should more than the maximum of 20 runners enter. It and the Lexington Stakes (17 points overall), run Saturday at Keeneland, are the last of the 34 races offering qualifying points.
Entering Saturday, the 20th-ranked horse has 32 points. Cupid already has 50 points from the Rebel, so he’s in the Derby field, but this race will be pivotal for the likes of Whitmore (24 points), who was second in both the Southwest and Rebel, and Suddenbreakingnews (10 points), who won the Southwest but was stuck in rush-hour traffic in the Rebel.
Other prominent contenders include Creator, third in the Rebel behind Cupid and Whitmore, and Dazzling Gem, who was third in the Louisiana Derby on March 26 and will become the only horse this spring to run in a pair of 170-point races.
Unbridled Outlaw makes his second start of the year, having finished second against older runners in an allowance race on the Rebel undercard. American Pioneer dives into the deep end of the pool after beating maidens in his second start, also on the Rebel undercard. Gettysburg was second most recently to Lexington runner Collected in the Sunland Festival of Racing, which this year replaced the Sunland Derby.
They all have to get past Cupid, who sped to the front after a tardy start in the 1 1/16-mile Rebel, set a sharp pace, and still turned back his 13 rivals. He will try to emulate American Pharoah’s Oaklawn Park raids. He won the Rebel, as did American Pharoah, and will be favored in the Arkansas Derby, as was American Pharoah. He is the 2-1 favorite on the track’s morning line.
Cupid was eager to train Thursday morning, so he galloped. Jogging would not have been enough.
“He’s too happy and fresh right now,” Barnes said.
Arkansas Derby, Race 11
KEY CONTENDERS
Cupid, by Tapit
Last 3 Beyers: 95-88-72
◗ He is 2 for 2 since being sent two turns and has improved his Beyer Speed Figures every time, with a career best last time out.
◗ Though he sped to the front last time out, he stalked and pounced in his maiden win, so if someone inside him is intent on the lead, he should be able to adjust.
“He’s high-strung, but in a good way,” Baffert said Thursday from California, where he will watch the race at home on what he calls his “Grade 1 couch.”
◗ Baffert has nicknamed Cupid, a gray son of Tapit, “the Great White Hope.”
Whitmore, by Pleasantly Perfect
Last 3 Beyers: 92-89-86
◗ He finished 1 1/4 lengths behind Cupid when second in the Rebel and will employ similar late-running tactics Saturday. Irad Ortiz Jr. returns for the mount.
“I’m going to tell him to let him settle where he settles, pick a spot, time it right, and see if we can make a little money,” said trainer and co-owner Ron Moquett.
Suddenbreakingnews, by Mineshaft
Last 3 Beyers: 86-93-77
◗ He had finished first or second in all six of his starts before a compromised trip in the Rebel, where he took up when initially rallying on the far turn and was last of 14 with five-sixteenths of a mile to go. He rallied for fifth.
◗ He broke from the outside post of 14 in the Rebel and the outside of 13 in the Southwest but landed post 4 in this race.
“I’m very happy about that,” trainer Donnie Von Hemel said Thursday. “He’s trained well since the Rebel, and he’s put on some weight, too.”