Lemon Drop Dream by a neck in Count Fleet Sprint Handicap

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Lemon Drop Dream closed into the quick pace contested by Heitai and Alsvid to win the first stakes race of his career Thursday at Oaklawn Park in the Grade 3, $300,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap. He won by neck over Alsvid, and it was another 1 1/4 lengths back to Apprehender in third.

Heitai, the 3-5 favorite seeking his fifth consecutive win, finished fifth. Secret Circle, who was scheduled to start, was scratched earlier in the afternoon after his trainer, Bob Baffert, was informed that the horse was given a tranquilizer Wednesday, shortly after Secret Circle boarded a flight to Arkansas.

Lemon Drop Dream ($16.20) had one horse beaten early in the six-furlong Count Fleet, as Heitai and Alsvid dueled through fractions of 21.30 seconds for the opening quarter and 43.78 for the half-mile. Lemon Drop Dream came roaring down the stretch under Ricardo Santana Jr. to cover the distance on a track rated “fast” in 1:09.15.

“The race worked out perfectly for him. They went 43 and change early,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Lemon Drop Dream for Mike McCarty.

Asmussen and Santana won the Count Fleet for the second year in a row, having scored with Justin Phillip in 2013.

Lemon Drop Dream earned $180,000 for his win, the fourth of his career from 10 starts. He came into the race off a third-place finish to Heitai in the Duncan F. Kenner Stakes at Fair Grounds on March 8. Lemon Drop Dream is a 4-year-old son of Lemon Drop Kid who was bred in Kentucky by Brookdale Thoroughbreds. Lemon Drop Dream is a half-brother to the multiple Grade 2-winning sprinter Woke Up Dreamin.

The Count Fleet was part of Oaklawn’s annual Racing Festival of the South, which continues Friday with the Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap. The $3.3 million series, which features nine stakes over the final week of the meet, closes Saturday with the Arkansas Derby.