My Boy Jack proves he belongs with victory in Southwest Stakes

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Keith Desormeaux sent My Boy Jack to Oaklawn for the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes in part to get a line on how the horse, a stakes winner on turf, might handle dirt. He got an emphatic answer when My Boy Jack roared to 4 ½-length win over Combatant.

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My Boy Jack ($19.80) had run third to McKinzie in the Grade 3 Sham last month on fast dirt track at Santa Anita, but Desormeaux wanted to run the horse again on the main track to get a true picture of the horse on the surface. The Oaklawn track was muddy and sealed Monday, and Desormeaux was pleased with what he saw from My Boy Jack.

“I don’t think the off track moved him up,” Desormeaux said. “He showed his class in the last race on the dirt. Now, we’re fully confident that the dirt is not a problem.”

My Boy Jack raced in the second flight early in the Southwest, as Mourinho set pressured fractions of 23.46 seconds for the opening quarter and 47.40 for the half-mile. My Boy Jack advanced around the final turn, continued to move up along the rail into the stretch, and had a length on his rivals by the eighth pole. He kept going to cover the 1 1/16 miles in 1:46.

“He didn’t waste any energy going around the racetrack, so he flew home,” said winning rider Kent Desormeaux.

Following the race there was a stewards’ inquiry into the stretch run, but no change was made to the order of finish. It did not involve My Boy Jack.

Mourinho, the favorite off his win in last month’s Smarty Jones at Oaklawn, was hampered by the wet track, according to his rider, Drayden Van Dyke.

“To be honest, I think if the track would have been faster and not the condition it’s in, I still don’t think they would have caught him,” Van Dyke said. “I will blame it on the track. He was swimming through it.”

Keith Desormeaux said he is looking forward to the future with My Boy Jack, who last year at 2 won the Zuma Beach at a mile on turf at Del Mar.

“When you get into these Derby prep races and the fever’s at full pitch, it’s very exciting to see a horse finish that way, especially one you know without a doubt a mile and a quarter is only up his alley,” Desormeaux said.

My Boy Jack picked up 10 points toward the Kentucky Derby, while Combatant earned 4, third-place finisher Sporting Chance 2, and fourth-place finisher Mourinho 1.

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Desormeaux’s initial thought after the Southwest was to give My Boy Jack one more prep before the Kentucky Derby. However, he said he also knows he has to be sure the colt has enough points to get into the race. My Boy Jack has a total of 12.

Desormeaux said My Boy Jack could return to Oaklawn for the Rebel and then the Arkansas Derby, or he might just go right to the Arkansas Derby. Running him elsewhere is not out of the question either, he said.

Those are fun decisions to have to make, said Desormeaux, who said My Boy Jack is scheduled to return home to Southern California on Wednesday.

My Boy Jack earned $300,000 for the win, his second from eight starts. He has now earned $425,145. My Boy Jack races for Don’t Tell My Wife Stables and Monomoy Stables. He is a son of Creative Cause.

Oaklawn handled $6.4 million from all sources on its Monday card. The attendance was estimated at 20,500 by Oaklawn officials.