Departing, Smack Smack add intrigue to Fifth Season
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Departing and Smack Smack are two significant additions to the handicap division at Oaklawn Park for 2016 and will make their first starts over the local strip Saturday in the $100,000 Fifth Season. The race begins the march to the Grade 2, $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap, and it drew 12, including Street Strategy, who split the field last out in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
The Fifth Season is for 4-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles.
Departing, a multiple Grade 2 winner and earner of $1.8 million, is part of trainer Al Stall’s division at Oaklawn. Smack Smack, a six-time stakes winner, is housed in Hot Springs with trainer Don Von Hemel.
Fifth Season, Race 8
KEY CONTENDERS
Departing (Last 3 Beyers: 95-92-89)
◗ He starts his 6-year-old season off a runner-up finish in the $250,000 Delta Downs Mile on Nov. 21. Departing rallied from off the pace under jockey Colby Hernandez and was edged by three-quarters of a length.
“He tried really hard,” Stall said. “He just found a surface that he didn’t get along with. Colby said he wasn’t going anywhere down the backside, said his stride wasn’t like it normally is. Colby’s worked him before. The track was wet, drying out, and he just gutted it out and just got beat.”
◗ Departing will be picking up a bit more distance and is moving back to a one-mile track after racing on a six-furlong oval, and both changes are positive for him, said Stall. Departing will break from post 2 under Ricardo Santana Jr.
“I’m assuming he’s going to lay fairly close if he’s happy and gets along with the track,” Stall said.
Smack Smack (Last 3 Beyers: 94-87-87)
◗ Smack Smack, 5, was up for a neck win over Southern California invader Point Piper in the $165,000 Zia Distance Championship in his most recent start Nov. 25.
“He showed a lot of courage there at the end,” Von Hemel said. “I wasn’t sure if he was going to get there in front, but he kind of had another gear right there at the end, and it kicked in.”
◗ Smack Smack is in peak form, having won four races in his last five starts dating back to an optional $40,000 claiming win in July at Prairie Meadows. From there, he took down the $175,000 Governor’s Cup in August at Remington Park.
“He had a long layoff, and when he came back, he was very fat inside, and it took a long time to get him fit,” Von Hemel said. “It was a very hard deal trying to get the horse fit. After he won the race at Prairie Meadows, I was really dead set on running him in the Governor’s Cup. I thought he’d make a good showing of himself. From then on, everything worked well with him.”
◗ Smack Smack will be ridden by Shane Laviolette.
“He’s better at a mile and an eighth than anywhere else, but we’ll try to lay within shooting distance somewhere along the way and see how we get along,” said Von Hemel.