Get Her Number the wild card in six-horse Arkansas Derby; tries Concert Tour a second time

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Get Her Number is the wild card in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday at Oaklawn Park - the kind of horse who could step up and run a big race in the year’s final major prep for the Kentucky Derby.

The Arkansas Derby drew six horses Tuesday led by the undefeated Concert Tour. The mile and an eighth race anchors a 13-race program and will be supported by the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap, Oaklawn Mile, and Carousel Stakes.

The complete Arkansas Derby field from the rail, with riders, is Super Stock, Ricardo Santana Jr.; Caddo River, Florent Geroux; Hozier, Martin Garcia; Get Her Number, Francisco Arrieta; Concert Tour, Joel Rosario; and Last Samurai, Jon Court.

In the Count Fleet, champion Whitmore will break from post 2 in a seven-horse field that also drew C Z Rocket. It will go as the 11th, while the Arkansas Derby is slotted as race 12 on a program that starts at noon Central.

The stakes are part of the Racing Festival of the South, a series of eight major races over the first three Saturdays in April. The first four finishers in the Arkansas Derby will earn points for the Kentucky Derby on a scale of 100-40-20-10.

:: KENTUCKY DERBY 2021: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more

Get Her Number was a Grade 1 winner at 2, taking the 1 1/16-mile American Pharoah last September at Santa Anita over eventual graded stakes winners Rombauer and Spielberg. He earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 84.

“That was a really good race he ran that day, sitting just off the pace,” said Peter Miller, who trains Get Her Number for Gary Barber. “He ran a big race and I think that race would certainly put him in the picture on Saturday.”

Get Her Number has raced once since the American Pharoah, finishing a troubled seventh in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel won by Concert Tour on March 13 at Oaklawn. He was farther off the pace than usual, and encountered trouble in the stretch. Following the race, the horse returned home to his San Luis Rey training center base in Southern California.

“He was a little banged up,” Miller said. “When he got bumped, he kind of took a little piece of the skin off his ankle. So, that set us back at little. He breezed a half-mile [Monday], out five-eighths, looked really good.”

Miller said he likes the transition Get Her Number has made from 2 to 3.

“I think he’s more mature,” he said. “He’s a little bigger, looks stronger.

“I don’t think the distance is going to be a problem for him. You never know until they go through it, but he seems like a horse who wants to run long.”

The first stakes on the card Saturday is the Carousel, which drew six led by Frank’s Rockette and Edgeway. The Oaklawn Mile goes as the ninth race with a field of nine led by By My Standards, Rushie, and Wells Bayou.

The forecast for Saturday is a high of 74 degrees with a 25 percent chance of rain, according to the Weather Channel. The infield is scheduled to be open Saturday.