Long Weekend leads all the way in Bachelor Stakes

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Long Weekend won his second straight stakes race of the Oaklawn Park meet on Saturday, when he withstood a stretch challenge from Echo Town for a head victory in the $100,000 Bachelor.

Eight Rings, the odds-on favorite making his first start since November, pushed a hot pace and finished fifth. A Grade 1 winner at two turns, Eight Rings was cutting back to a six furlongs to launch his season. The Bachelor was restricted to 3-year-olds.

Long Weekend ($6.20) broke on top from the outside, moved to the rail, and set fractions of 21.82 seconds for the opening quarter and 44.97 for the half-mile, pushed along by Echo Town and Eight Rings. In the stretch, Long Weekend dueled with Echo Town, with Long Weekend prevailing on a fast track in 1:09.63. Lykan was third, finishing five lengths behind Echo Town.

“What a tremendous effort,” winning rider Joe Talamo said in a post-race interview broadcast by Oaklawn.

“The fractions were quick, but he was doing it pretty well within himself. When the other horse hooked up with him down the lane, he was all heart from there.”

Tom Amoss trains Long Weekend. Last month, the horse won the $90,000 Gazebo, a six-furlong race for 3-year-olds at Oaklawn.

Long Weekend is a son of Majesticperfection and he is from the female family of Grade 1-winning millionaires Paulassilverlining and Dads Caps.

Long Weekend races for B.C.W.T. Ltd. He earned $60,000 for his win in the Bachelor to improve his career record to 4 for 5 for earnings of $193,928.