Oaklawn: Comedero to return for Hot Springs

Comedero, who shipped to Oaklawn from Fair Grounds last weekend and won the $50,000 Nodouble, has now been penciled in for the $75,000 Hot Springs, a six-furlong race at Oaklawn on March 24.

"That's the race we're probably looking at," trainer Michael Stidham said on Monday. "He seems to like that track. It seems like a logical place to be looking."
Comedero ran his Oaklawn record to 4 for 4 with his win in the Nodouble. The six-furlong race was restricted to Arkansas-breds, and he won by more than three lengths in hand, with a Beyer Speed Figure of 89. Comedero was 2-5 in what was his first start since October. He had been sidelined with a severe infection in the hock area of his right hind leg.

"That was a big relief to see him come back like that, and to do it that way," Stidham said. "That's what you're hoping for, but you never know coming off that kind of situation."

Comedero is one of the richest Arkansas-breds in history with earnings of $669,814. He ranks fourth on the all-time leader list topped by Nodouble, who retired with earnings of $846,749.

Recent stakes winner retired

Always in My Heart, who invaded from Oaklawn to win last Saturday night's $50,000 Distaff at Sam Houston, has been retired, said her trainer, Donnie Von Hemel.
"She has a date with Mineshaft," he said of breeding plans for Always in My Heart.
Always in My Heart, a 6-year-old by Hennessy, picked up her first stakes win in the Distaff. Earlier in her career, she had placed in three other stakes and was moved up to third in a division of the Grade 3 Valley View at Keeneland in 2009. Always in My Heart, a winner of 6 of 18 starts and $170,064, is owned by her breeder, Pin Oak Stable.

* Randy Moss, a racing analyst for NBC, will be the featured guest Saturday on "The Morning Line with Mike and Andy," a new radio program that can be heard online at www.horseracingnation.com. It begins at 9 a.m. Central. The show is broadcast live from Hot Springs, on the KZHS 590 AM.