Jackie's Warrior starts title defense in Count Fleet Sprint Handicap
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen has a slew of top contenders on the 12-race card Saturday at Oaklawn Park.
But there’s a horse that will stop handicappers in their tracks.
“He’s one pretty substantial animal,” Asmussen said.
That would be Jackie’s Warrior, the champion male sprinter of 2021. He’s launching his 4-year-old season in the featured Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap.
“It’s just fabulous to have him back in training,” Asmussen said. “We’re excited about running him. Not a lot of Eclipse champions go back in training.”
The presence of Jackie’s Warrior will relegate a very good sprinter in Bob’s Edge to the role of second choice Saturday. The latter is in peak form, attempting to win his third consecutive stakes.
“I think there’s a horse called Jackie’s Warrior that’s going to be a pain in my rear end,” quipped his trainer, Larry Jones.
The Count Fleet drew six older horses, including the comebacking Empire of Gold, Southern California shipper Letsgetlucky, and stakes winners Mojo Man and Chipofftheoldblock.
The six-furlong race is being showcased on the inaugural Hall of Fame Day at Oaklawn. The track has brought together 14 members of the Hall of Fame to be part of an autograph session and winner’s circle presentations.
On the track, Jackie’s Warrior will be making his first start since a championship 3-year-old campaign in which he won four graded stakes for owners J. Kirk and Judy Robison. At the top of the list was the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial in August at Saratoga. The Grade 1 race was a thriller, with Jackie’s Warrior a neck winner over the previously undefeated Life Is Good, who would go on to win the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and Pegasus World Cup.
“The Allen Jerkens, the race with Life Is Good, it doesn’t get any better than that,” Asmussen said. “That was a great horse race.”
It was one of three straight races Jackie’s Warrior won leading into the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 6 at Del Mar. The streak included a wire job in the Grade 2 Gallant Bob at Parx Racing, for which he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 110. It was one of the best numbers of 2021.
“He is brilliantly fast,” Asmussen said. “I think he’s got a few 43-and-4 half-miles on his form. You don’t see that a lot.”
Jackie’s Warrior was the 1-2 favorite in the BC Sprint. He set the pace and finished sixth, 4 1/2 lengths behind winner Aloha West. Jackie’s Warrior emerged from the race with a bone chip in a knee, which has since been removed. For his return, the horse has been prepping at Fair Grounds and Oaklawn, where he worked a bullet five-eighths from the gate in 59.40 seconds on April 3.
“He’s big, strong, and fast,” Asmussen said of the 4-year-old version of Jackie’s Warrior.
It bodes well for an exciting 2022 campaign, which will blast off Saturday when Jackie’s Warrior breaks from post 5 under Joel Rosario carrying 123 pounds.
“I hope this is a prep for the Churchill Downs,” Asmussen said of the Grade 1, $750,000 race on May 7. “Obviously, we’d also like to return to Saratoga, where he’s won four graded stakes from four starts.”
Those wins include the Grade 1 Hopeful at 2.
Bob’s Edge made just two starts at 2 in 2020, including a maiden special weight win in November at Churchill. Downs He’s come into his own this meet as a 4-year-old, taking both the King Cotton and Grade 3 Whitmore.
“He was a late foal to start with, and then he wasn’t precocious on top of that, so everything he’s done his whole life, he’s been coming from behind,” Jones said. “He’s been making up ground on his whole crop.”
Bob’s Edge even employs a come-from-behind running style, which figures to be on display when he breaks from post 6 under Luis Quinonez at 121 pounds.
“We’re right next to Jackie’s Warrior, and we may need binoculars to keep an eye on him,” Jones said. “We hope we don’t lose contact.
“But with where Jackie is, it kind of makes the inside horses have to play their hand a little bit. There’s a couple of horses that are very fast and with Jackie being outside, they’re going to have to scoot away from there. Hopefully, we get a good pace to run at.”
Bob’s Edge races for Michael Freeny, Patricia Freeny, and Jennifer Grayson Taylor.
Asmussen will be part of the Hall of Fame festivities alongside Bill Boland, Calvin Borel, Ramon Dominguez, Earlie Fires, Sandy Hawley, Chris McCarron, Bill Mott, Don Pierce, Laffit Pincay Jr., Edgar Prado, Jose Santos, Gary Stevens, and Nick Zito.
First post is 12:10 p.m. Central.