Newly minted millionaire Combatant targets Oaklawn Handicap

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Combatant will make his next start in the Grade 2, $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap on May 2, according to his trainer, John Sadler.

Combatant won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap in his last start March 7. He is owned by Hronis Racing, which purchased the 5-year-old horse at auction in November at Keeneland.

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Combatant went over $1 million in earnings last out, and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 101.

“He’s really just thriving right now,” Sadler said Thursday from Southern California. “He’s still with me at Santa Anita. He’ll fly in the week of the race.”

Combatant won a first-level allowance over a mile and a sixteenth at Oaklawn last May. He also ran third in the track’s Grade 2 Rebel and fourth in its Grade 1 Arkansas Derby back in 2018.

Sadler said that Joel Rosario, who rode Combatant in the Santa Anita Handicap, has the mount in the Oaklawn Handicap.

Sadler has a division of horses at Oaklawn for the first time. He had won 10 races with 11 seconds from 54 starters at Oaklawn through Friday, and had stable earnings of $369,907.

Other potential starters for the Oaklawn Handicap include By My Standards, winner of the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic last month at Fair Grounds; Warrior’s Charge, winner of the Grade 3, $500,000 Razorback Handicap in February at Oaklawn; and Tax, Trophy Chaser, Pirate’s Punch, Night Ops and Sky Promise.

– additional reporting by David Grening, Mike Welsch