Hopper holds off Caddo River in Oaklawn Mile
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Hopper withstood a challenge from Caddo River and went on to a 1 3/4-length win Saturday in the Grade 3, $400,000 Oaklawn Mile.
It was another neck back in third to favorite Smile Happy.
The Oaklawn Mile was the first of four stakes on a card led by the Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby. The track was fast on a sunny afternoon in the 60s, one day after tornados struck about an hour’s drive from Oaklawn. The card is part of the monthlong Racing Festival of the South.
Hopper ($4.80) was cutting back from a start over 1 1/4 miles and settled in third behind Atoka, a 55-1 shot who set fractions of 22.42 seconds for the opening quarter and 45.56 for the half-mile.
Hopper and Caddo River moved to the lead approaching the quarter pole and, after six furlongs in 1:10.98, continued to spar in the stretch. Hopper, who had more in the tank on the cutback in distance, started to move clear of his rival in the later stages. The winner went on to cover the mile, in a race that ended at the sixteenth pole, in 1:37.63, getting a 95 Beyer Speed Figure.
Hopper was coming off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap.
“He came back and worked really well,” winning trainer Bob Baffert said. “I thought this was a good spot for him, backing him up.”
John Velazquez was aboard Hopper, who removed blinkers Saturday.
Baffert said plans going forward are to be determined for Hopper, but he said he will look at the Grade 2, $1 million Oaklawn Handicap. The race will be run over 1 1/8 miles on April 22.
“He’ll be nominated,” he said. “We’ll think about it, if we come back or wait for something else. Right now, we’ll enjoy this.”
Hopper is a 4-year-old son of Declaration of War and the multiple Group 1-winning mare Irridescence, who earned $1.7 million. Hopper was making just the sixth start of his career Saturday.
“I think he’s just learning to run,” Baffert said.
“He’ a big strong horse. He’s bred to go a mile and a half.”
Hopper races for the partnership of Lanni Bloodstock, Madaket Stables and SF Racing. He was winning the second stakes of his career behind the Grade 3 Affirmed last year at Santa Anita. Overall, the horse is 3 for 6 for earnings of $419,000.
Horses entered in the two undercard stakes on Arkansas Derby Day were permitted to race on Lasix, multiple officials at the track said Saturday morning. Entries for the Oaklawn Mile and $200,000 Hot Springs were taken on Monday, when a new Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority medication policy received federal approval. As part of the policy, horses are not permitted to race on Lasix in stakes and as such, the horses were not entered on the diuretic Monday.
However, an injunction in a case in Texas on Friday sent medication rules back to the jurisdiction of the states for at least the next 30 days and as such Lasix use will be permitted in non-Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks points stakes at Oaklawn as dictated by the rules of racing in Arkansas.
The change means horses entered in races like the $150,000 Temperence Hill on Sunday also will now be permitted to race on Lasix.
Oaklawn officials said horsemen were made aware of the ability to race on Lasix in the Oaklawn Mile and Hot Springs on Friday night. In general, Lasix is administered approximately four hours out from a race. All of the horses in the Oaklawn Mile raced on Lasix, according to the chart issued by Equibase.
Oaklawn's meet continues through May 6.
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