Jacobson looks to build on fast start at Oaklawn meet

New York-based trainer David Jacobson swept into Oaklawn Park on opening weekend and won with his first two starters on the first card of the meet Dec. 8. He’ll attempt to keep his momentum going Sunday with Kingdom.

Kingdom will represent the barn in the fifth race, a $50,000 starter allowance for 3-year-olds and up over six furlongs. He enters off a third-place finish in a Dec. 1 starter allowance at Aqueduct.

“I like the race for him,” Jacobson said. “I like that there appears to be very little speed, which he’s full of.”

Kingdom is a two-time winner, and both of those victories have come wire to wire. The 3-year-old son of Golden Lad races for Jacobson, Rockingham Ranch, and David Bernsen.

Ramon Vazquez, the Southern California-based rider who is wintering at Oaklawn, has the mount from post 3.

Vazquez and Jacobson teamed to win the third race on the opening-day card with Stage Left, a half-brother to champion Midnight Bisou. It was the first win of the new Oaklawn season for both men, who will continue to team regularly due to their common bond in agent Bill Castle.

“Bill and I work very good together,” Jacobson said. “Our families have worked together going back 50 years now. Time really flies.”

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Jacobson’s other winner on the opening-day card was Royal Meghan, who was ridden by the Castle-represented Isaac Castillo.

Stage Left won a $50,000 starter-allowance sprint with a Beyer Speed Figure of 89, which is the second-best number at the new meet behind the 96 earned by Tejano Twist in the $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes.

“I’m going to try to find a race back for Stage Left and hopefully repeat the performance,” said Jacobson, adding that a stakes appearance was a possibility for the horse who won the $100,000 Rumson in September at Monmouth Park.

Jacobson led the Oaklawn owner standings through Thursday and had horses entered over the meet’s second weekend of racing. Last year, Jacobson had a handful of runners come in from the East Coast in what were his first starters at Oaklawn.

“Right now, I’ll just test the waters and if we keep doing good, I’ll keep sending horses to run there,” he said. “I flew three horses in last week and I shipped another four horses in the other day. I also brought back a few. Right now, we’re working with a handful of horses at Oaklawn.”

The meet offers record purses, but there’s another reason Jacobson said he’s racing at Oaklawn.

“The racetrack is so accommodating to the horsemen that I can’t look away,” he said. “That’s not taking anything away from New York. New York is amazing, probably the top circuit in the country, if not the world. Oaklawn lends itself to a different type of horse and once in a while we want to take advantage of that.”

Jacobson set a single-season record for trainer wins on the New York Racing Association circuit in 2013, with 164 victories. In the final weeks of this year, he’s watching with great interest to see if Linda Rice, who was at 158 through Thursday, will set a new standard.

“It’s coming right down to the wire, so it’s exciting,” Jacobson said. “In the last month of 2013, when I set the record, I won 30 races in 30 days in New York. When I look back at that I think, ‘Wow!’ It really gets you focused on winning races, things like this. Linda is doing an amazing job.”

As for Jacobson, he said if the record is broken, it will simply give him a new goal to chase.

◗ Give Me a Reason, a son of past Apple Blossom winner Dream of Summer, will move to two turns for a maiden special weight for 2-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on Sunday. The son of Justify is a half-brother to Grade 1 winners Creative Cause and Vexatious.

◗ The Sunday card at Oaklawn will be the last one before a Christmas break that will see racing resume after the holiday, on Dec. 29.

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