Essex Handicap: Lukas can continue stakes roll with Last Samurai
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Oaklawn Park just had one Wayne Lukas weekend. It might not be the last one this March.
A week after Lukas brought the 4-year-old filly Secret Oath back from a four-month layoff to sharply win the Azeri Stakes, Lukas brings 5-year-old horse Last Samuarai back from a four-week layoff in the Grade 3, $500,000 Essex Handicap.
Last Samurai already has put together a productive 2023, finishing fourth in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 28 before posting a mild 8-1 surprise Feb. 18 in the $600,000 Razorback Handicap. The horse’s odds are coming down farther Saturday than the amount of weight Last Samurai picks up.
Listed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite, Last Samurai carried 118 pounds in the Razorback and is only up to 121 in the Essex despite a 1 1/2-length win over similar competition.
While he drew the outside post in a 10-horse field, that shouldn’t be much of a handicap. Last Samurai wants to drop back and make a run, and there’s plenty of pace to spread the field and give jockey Cristian Torres the opportunity to slide into a decent spot.
Last Samurai likes Oaklawn, where his record stands at 8-3-2-0, but an even greater key to his success appears to be the anti-bleeder medication Lasix. Racing on Lasix, Last Samurai is 4-3-2 from 10 starts. Without it, he’s 1-1-2 in 13 starts.
The Essex marks the first race since Oct. 29 for Classic Causeway, who won the Grade 1 Belmont Derby on turf last July. Early in 2022, racing on dirt, Classic Causeway was a front-running victor of the Sam Davis and the Tampa Bay Derby. But while his current trainer, Kenny McPeek, has been pleased with Classic Causeway’s training into his 4-year-old debut, the colt faces a difficult, front-end-loaded pace scenario while shipping from Fair Grounds.
The Fair Grounds shippers Tawny Port and Forza Di Oro start for trainer Brad Cox. Forza Di Oro, a 6-year-old with more miles on him than his 11 starts suggest, made his first two starts for Cox this winter at Fair Grounds, racing competitively in the Tenacious and the Louisiana stakes. Cox skipped February racing with Forza Di Oro and said that “a little bit of time has done him a lot of good.”
“His last few works have been really good,” Cox said.
Four-year-old Tawny Port, winner of the 2022 Ohio Derby, was a tame fifth Feb. 18 in the Mineshaft, his first start since August.
“He kind of lost his position going into the far turn. He obviously has to improve. I think he will,” Cox said.
Vittorio’s encouraging second-place finish on Feb. 5 behind Charge It lost some luster when Charge It returned at odds-on to finish second in the Gulfstream Park Mile. Vittorio was returning from a layoff and making his first start for trainer Bill Mott, who has just one winner from 13 Oaklawn stakes starters over the last five years.
Rail-drawn 6-year-old veteran Silver Prospector got class relief and an open-lengths win Feb. 11 in an Oaklawn allowance. He’s going the right direction again, will save ground under Ricardo Santana, and might be the right Essex value play.
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