Exclamation Point rekindles Oaklawn love affair

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.– Exclamation Point is kind of a big deal at Oaklawn Park.

He won his career debut here in 2018 – the year after a half-brother, champion Classic Empire, won the track’s Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby.

Exclamation Point has since compiled a 3-for-5 record at Oaklawn and on Sunday will launch his 5-year-old season in the eighth race, an optional $50,000 claiming offering at a mile.

The well-matched field of nine includes Grade 3 winner Colonelsdarktemper, multiple stakes winner Operation Stevie, and leading contenders Shivermetimbers and Lenstar.

KEY CONTENDERS

Exclamation Point, by Concord Point

Last 3 Beyers: 84-82-93

◗ He made fans at Oaklawn in his 3-year-old season, when the well-bred colt with the fun name won a maiden special weight sprint in February 2018. Following the race, his breeders and owners, Steven and Brandi Nicholson, sold an interest in the horse to the Arkansas-based Flurry Racing Stable. Exclamation Point won again in his next start, conquering two turns in a first-level allowance in March 2018.

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◗ Exclamation Point returned to Oaklawn at 4, and won another allowance last April before running second in the inaugural $250,000 Oaklawn Mile in May.

◗ The success helped push his bankroll to $280,300, making him the second leading earner for his dam, Sambuca Classic, who also has produced the stakes winners Uptown Twirl and Anytime Magic. Classic Empire, an earner of $2.5 million, also was bred by the Nicholsons, but was raced by John Oxley and trained by Mark Casse.

◗ Exclamation Point on Sunday will be making his first start since August, when he finished sixth to Silver Dust in the Grade 3 West Virginia Governor’s Cup at Mountaineer Park. He shows a nice series of works at Oaklawn for his return, which will mark his first start for trainer Steve Asmussen. Exclamation Point started his career with trainer Brad Cox.

◗ Ricardo Santana, Jr., has the mount from post 5.

Shivermetimbers, by Shanghai Bobby

Last 3 Beyers: 83-86-80

◗ He has recency on Exclamation Point, having finished a close fifth in a Feb. 9 allowance at Oaklawn.

◗ In 2018, he ran second to Justify, eventual winner of the Triple Crown, in a Santa Anita allowance. Last year, Shivermetimbers was third to Vino Rosso, eventual winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, in the $155,000 Stymie in March at Aqueduct.

◗ Asmussen has given the mount to David Cohen.

Operation Stevie, by Lantana Mob

Last 3 Beyers: 92-77-75

◗ He owns the field’s best last-race Beyer Speed Figure, a 92 for his third-place finish in an allowance sprint Feb. 15 at Oaklawn.

◗ The race was his first of the year and he now moves back to the two-turn configuration of his last win, which came in the $104,000 Gus Grissom in October at Indiana.