Multiple stakes winner Private Prospect points to Southwest Stakes

Private Prospect, a multiple stakes winner who finished a troubled ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, is being pointed for the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest at Oaklawn on Feb. 16, trainer Mike Campbell said Friday.

Private Prospect made his 3-year-old debut Jan. 19 in the $150,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn and finished fourth, 2 3/4 lengths behind the winner, Far Right. He breezed Thursday at Oaklawn, traveling five furlongs in 1:03.

“We let the horse pick it up very quickly the last eighth of a mile, then gallop out strongly,” Campbell said. “It was a perfect work.”

Alex Birzer was aboard for the move and has the mount in the Southwest, said Campbell.

Campbell was pleased with Private Prospect’s effort in the Smarty Jones, which came one start after he had a shoe issue in the Breeders’ Cup. He noted that the horse had to steady behind a rival past the five-eighths pole, altered course, then rallied while spotting most in the field as many as seven pounds due to the conditions of the race. The start also was Private Prospect’s first since Nov. 1, noted Campbell.

“I was encouraged by his race,” Campbell said. “I think we’ll move forward from that race.”

Private Prospect won two stakes last year, including the $100,000 Prairie Meadows Juvenile Mile, and ran second by a head in the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Futurity. He races for Mellon Patch Inc.