Equipment changes might be key in Oaklawn Handicap
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Proxy and Charge It will be adding new equipment Saturday when they take on Stilleto Boy, Last Samurai, and Classic Causeway in the Grade 2, $1 million Oaklawn Handicap.
The horses are part of a competitive renewal of the 1 1/8-mile feature, which continues the Racing Festival of the South. The Oaklawn Handicap will be showcased on a 12-race card that includes the $200,000 Bath House Row, which awards the winner a berth into the Preakness Stakes.
The Oaklawn Handicap – which offers its winner a berth into the Pimlico Special – drew five millionaires among seven entrants. Proxy is among those seven-figure earners and also is one of the field’s three Grade 1 winners. He will be adding cheek pieces off a late-running second in the Santa Anita Handicap.
“Proxy, unfortunately, is his own worst enemy because, for whatever reason, he kind of drops out of the race down the backside,” trainer Michael Stidham said. “We’ve worked him in the cheek pieces a couple of times and he’s worked really well with them. So, we’ll try them for this race, hoping he allows himself to stay within striking distance down the backside and, turning for home, gives us a chance to win.”
Stidham – who previously tried blinkers with Proxy – said cheek pieces also work to keep a horse more “focused forward.” The equipment is utilized more overseas than in the United States.
“They’re sheepskin pieces that sit on the side of the bridle and they do similar to what blinkers would do by taking away some of the horse’s vision behind them and it stops them from seeing what the jockey is doing,” Stidham said. “It’s not taking away quite as much vision as the blinkers cup is – it’s a little more subtle.”
Charge It will be adding blinkers after his runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile. Last year, he was second in the Florida Derby and won the Grade 3 Dwyer by 23 lengths to earn a Beyer Speed Figure of 111.
“He’s always been a little bit of a curious colt, and we contemplated putting blinkers on him after the Florida Derby last year and we just didn’t think doing it in the Kentucky Derby was the right move,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “And then he came back and won the Dwyer so impressively that it’s hard to make a change off that. But it’s something that’s been in the back of our minds. We worked him in them since the last race, and I think they make a difference.”
Luis Saez has the mount from post 7. Charge It, weighted at 121 pounds, is a candidate to control the pace for Whisper Hill Farm.
Proxy, at 122, will start from post 4 under Joel Rosario. He’s backing up in distance from 1 1/4 miles. His biggest win came at this trip in the Grade 1 Clark in November at Churchill Downs. Proxy was about a length off the pace that day in his victory over West Will Power.
“It was a race that we needed to see from him,” Stidham said. “In some of his other races, he was coming but not getting it done. In the Clark, he hooked up with West Will Power and at that point they were head and head and it could have gone either way. But Proxy dug in and gave us that spurt we needed to see from him. It was a big turning point for him, taking him to that Grade 1 level.
“He’s been so consistent. He’s always there or thereabouts, and having won the Grade 1 in the Clark was huge for him. He’s got such a wonderful pedigree, being by Tapit and out of a really good mare.”
Proxy, who is from the multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Panty Raid, is a homebred for Godolphin.
Stilleto Boy, at 122 on Saturday, became a Grade 1 winner in the Santa Anita Handicap. Kent Desormeaux was aboard and has the mount again from post 3. Stilleto Boy is cutting back to the distance over which he won last year’s Grade 2 Californian with a 108 Beyer.
“We were thinking a mile and a quarter is almost too far for him, so a mile and an eighth to me is the perfect distance,” trainer Ed Moger Jr. said.
“There’s other speed on the outside of us, so if gets an easy lead, he’ll be there, and if they’re going too fast, he’ll be off of them.”
Last Samurai, the highweight at 123 and the winner of last year’s Oaklawn Handicap, owns the field’s best last-race Beyer. He earned a 101 for his win in the Essex and prior to that put up a meet-high 105 in the Razorback.
“He’s come around mentally,” trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. “He’s always physically been a big, strong horse. He’s just changed mentally. He’s developed into a real nice horse.”
Cristian Torres has the mount from post 2.
– additional reporting by Nicole Russo
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