Hollis ideally drawn outside in Whitmore Stakes
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Retired champion Whitmore won three runnings of the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap and four runnings of the Hot Springs at Oaklawn Park. On Saturday, the track will honor its hometown hero with the Grade 3, $200,000 Whitmore Stakes.
The six-furlong race was formerly the Hot Springs, and this newly graded edition has drawn a competitive cast led by Hollis, Bob’s Edge, and Greeley and Ben.
Hollis has gone 2 for 3 this meet. He set a 5 1/2-furlong track record in a Dec. 10 allowance for which he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 109. Following a fifth-place finish in the six-furlong King Cotton, he won a 5 1/2-furlong allowance on Feb. 20.
“Hollis is living in his Holli-wood world,” said John Ortiz, who trains the multiple stakes winner for WSS Racing and 4 G Racing. “He came out of that last race in tip-top shape. He’s just a horse that hasn’t lost any momentum.”
Hollis will break from the outside post in a field of nine and will again be ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr.
“I love it,” Ortiz said of the draw. “We drew the inside in the King Cotton. Being back on the outside, we can decide if we need to be up in front or if not, sit. He likes to sit and pressure horses just as much as he likes being up front.
“There’s plenty of capable horses in this race, and some speed in here, too. Hopefully, he’ll be able to have a smart trip. That’s what it’s going to come down to. Ricardo knows him.”
The multiple stakes winner Greeley and Ben enters the Whitmore off his third consecutive victory, which came over $16,000 starter-allowance foes Feb. 21 at Oaklawn. He put up a Beyer Speed Figure of 91.
“He did what he does,” trainer Karl Broberg said of the horse, who was winning for the 19th time in 30 starts. “Both the second- and third-place finishers came back to win, so I’m impressed with that.”
But Broberg said Greeley and Ben is not certain to run Saturday.
“We’ll see how it all plays out,” he said Tuesday. “The spot is ridiculously tough. Hollis, with an outside draw, to me looked absolutely unbeatable.”
Greeley and Ben drew post 3. Broberg has given the mount to David Cabrera.
Bob’s Edge won the $150,000 King Cotton over both Hollis and stakes winner Nashville in his last start Jan. 29 at Oaklawn. Bob’s Edge closed from next to last in the eight-horse field and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 97. He’s since worked a bullet five furlongs in 59.40 seconds on March 14 at Oaklawn. Luis Quinonez has the mount for trainer Larry Jones.
Whitmore, who has been out during training hours this week at Oaklawn, is to make a special appearance at the races Saturday. There also will be a variety of giveaways celebrating the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner, who overall won 15 of 43 starts for earnings of $4.5 million.
The Whitmore goes as the seventh race and shares a card with the Grade 3, $500,000 Essex.