Instant Replay could move on to Southwest Stakes next

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Instant Replay could get a shot at next month’s Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park after winning a first-level allowance at the track in eye-catching fashion Monday. Instant Replay was returning to two turns and finished with a flourish in the 1 1/16-mile race run right before the featured $150,000 Smarty Jones.

“He had been working very well and ran to those works,” said Wayne Catalano, who trains Instant Replay for Gary and Mary West Stables. “We were happy with the performance and hope to move forward.”

Catalano said Instant Replay would be nominated to the upcoming 3-year-old stakes at Oaklawn, including the Southwest. The 1 1/16-mile race will be run Feb. 16.

Instant Replay won his debut in a one-mile maiden special weight race at Parx on Sept. 23. He then cut back to one turn for a pair of races at Churchill Downs before stretching back out to two turns at Oaklawn.

“That’s what we’ve been looking to get with him,” said Catalano.

Instant Replay was a $440,000 yearling purchase at the Keeneland September sale in 2013. He is a son of Lemon Drop Kid; a half-brother to Amie’s Dini, a two-turn stakes winner at Oaklawn; and a full brother to Kid Kate, a six-time stakes winner who earned $478,829.

Catalano has a division of 30 horses at Oaklawn. He said he’d wanted to come to Arkansas for the past few years, but this season, things came together. Catalano also has horses at Fair Grounds and in Florida.