Hillbilly Royalty could have edge in Northern Spur Stakes
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The graded stakes experience Hillbilly Royalty brings into the $100,000 Northern Spur on Saturday at Oaklawn Park could give him a slight class edge over a competitive field of 3-year-olds. The Northern Spur, a one-mile race that ends at the sixteenth pole, will immediately precede the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby.
Hillbilly Royalty will face seven others, including Supermason, a 14-length stakes winner last out at Sam Houston Race Park; Holiday Man and Poseidon’s Way, who finished one-two in a strong allowance last month at Oaklawn; and Big Big Easy, who last out ran eighth to the Kentucky Derby-bound International Star at Fair Grounds in the Grade 2 Risen Star.
Hillbilly Royalty exits the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest Stakes, a Feb. 22 race at Oaklawn in which he finished fifth, beaten 4 3/4 lengths by Arkansas Derby entrant Far Right. Hillbilly Royalty got a chance against such rivals following an impressive win in a Feb. 6 optional claimer at Oaklawn for which he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 93.
“I thought for his first time in a stakes race, he performed pretty well,” Donnie Von Hemel, who trains Hillbilly Royalty for country music artist Toby Keith and his family, said of the Southwest. “He had to check a little when they turned down the backside, but I don’t think that was a real problem. I think he got to the head of the lane with a shot to win the race and maybe came up a little empty the last eighth of a mile.
“We’d run back a little quicker. His other races, he had a lot of time leading up to those races, so maybe we were running back in a couple weeks, and maybe that was a little bit too quick for him. I think he’ll come back and run a nice race.”
Mike Smith has the mount on Hillbilly Royalty from post 3.
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Holiday Man was a front-running winner of a March 20 allowance at 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn. It was his second win from three starts at the meet that opened in January.
“He looked good breaking his maiden here early, going two turns,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Holiday Man for Mike Langford. “I think we were a little bit disappointed in his third race, his one-other-than, but like everybody else here, his training was interrupted [by the weather]. He came back with some nice training and ran extremely well last time.”
Poseidon’s Way finished second to Holiday Man on March 20.
“He ran a big race that day,” said Von Hemel, who trains Poseidon’s Way for Pin Oak Stable. “We didn’t quite get the win, but I thought it was a move forward from his winning race the time before.”
Supermason could be the one to catch after a front-running effort over seven furlongs in a division of the Texas Stallion Stakes on Feb. 14. The 91 Beyer that he earned is the best last-race number in the Northern Spur.
Promise Me Silver on a roll
Promise Me Silver, a multiple stakes winner who is undefeated in six starts, is the one to beat in the $100,000 Instant Racing. The six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies also drew the promising Harbour Island, Indian Annie, and Indian Brava. Promise Me Silver will be seeking to win her sixth consecutive stakes.
Promise Me Silver accounted for the $100,000 Dixie Belle at six furlongs at Oaklawn in her last start at the track Jan. 15. Trainer Bret Calhoun had hoped to stretch her out in distance for the Grade 3, $150,000 Honeybee at Oaklawn, but winter weather hampered those plans. He said he now intends to stick with sprinting, with the Instant Racing serving as Promise Me Silver’s potential springboard to the Grade 3, $200,000 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs on May 1.
Cliff Berry has the mount on Promise Me Silver, who has shown versatility in her races and could get a tracking trip behind Oh Kay See and Indian Brava, both of whom are tucked to her inside in the Instant Racing.
Indian Annie, who won an optional $50,000 claimer in powerful fashion earlier in the meet at Oaklawn, will be cutting back to one turn for the Instant Racing. Asmussen said the distance move is due to restricted training at the hands of winter weather that earlier in the meet gripped Oaklawn.
“I think she had two half-miles in six weeks,” Asmussen said of Indian Annie’s work pattern. “Every time you wanted to do something, it just didn’t work out for her. We’re just going to regroup. She’s got talent, and her best distances will be past this, but it is the right spot to get her going.”
◗ The multiple Grade 1-placed Feathered could move to turf for the Grade 3 Edgewood on May 1 at Churchill, said trainer Todd Pletcher. He said another option is the Eight Belles.
◗ Phenomenal Phoenix, a sharp allowance winner, is a candidate for the Illinois Derby on April 18, said Von Hemel.