Oaklawn Park: Coastline must use his speed from outside in Smarty Jones

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – It’s time to start sorting out the 3-year-olds at Oaklawn Park.

The $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes on Monday – won a year ago by Will Take Charge – is the first of three preps for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby. Coastline should go favored in the field of 10 by virtue of his win in last fall’s Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs.

His rivals – also chasing 17 Kentucky Derby preference points to be divided among the first four finishers on a scale of 10-4-2-1 – include Fire Starter, a double-digit maiden winner at Laurel Park; Whyruawesome, fifth in the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot; Walt, fourth in the $250,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park; and A Step Ahead, a full brother to Grade 1 winner Giant Oak.

Coastline is seeking to rebound from an eighth-place finish in the Jackpot on Nov. 23, a race in which he was favored but fell to his knees at the start after the ground broke out from under him. He was seeking his third straight win following a maiden special weight at Keeneland and the Street Sense.

“Hopefully, we’ll have a better start,” trainer Mark Casse said.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

The break will be key for more than one reason. Coastline will start from post 10 in the Smarty Jones, a one-mile race that will end at the sixteenth pole. He has the speed to secure position, having been prominent throughout the Street Sense, a one-turn mile Oct. 27.

“We’ve got real high hopes for Coastline,” Casse said. “The race he won at Churchill, the Street Sense, is kind of a key race. The horse that was fourth, Almost Famous, of course came back to win impressively, the horse that was second came back to win, and Ride On Curlin won the other day” at Oaklawn.

Shaun Bridgmohan has the mount on Coastline.

Walt has won 2 of 3 starts, with his lone loss coming in the Springboard Mile, in which he made a five-wide bid to finish 5 3/4 lengths behind the winner, Louies Flower. Ken Tohill has the mount for trainer Chris Hartman.

“The horse lost about four lengths in the middle of the race,” Hartman said. “Going into the half-mile pole, he backed out of the race, then made a run to just get nosed out at the wire for third.

“We really don’t know what happened. Kenny doesn’t know what happened. The horse acted like a shoe or something hit him. He just sort of stopped and literally backed out of it.”

Son of a Preacher and Unstoppable Colby both exit races won by Gold Hawk, who on Saturday was to start as the probable favorite in the Grade 3 Lecomte at Fair Grounds. Son of a Preacher was second to Gold Hawk in a first-level allowance Dec. 27.

“He was beaten by a good horse, a nice horse by Empire Maker,” said Bret Calhoun, the trainer of Son of a Preacher.

The story was the same for Unstoppable Colby, who faced Gold Hawk in a maiden special weight in his last start Nov. 30.

“He ran second in a Churchill Downs race that is kind of a pivotal race,” said trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who is seeking his second straight Smarty Jones victory. “Gold Hawk has come back and won since. I think [Unstoppable Colby] is a pretty nice, little horse. He got a little tired that day. He had a two-, three-length lead on that horse in the stretch. I think he deserves a chance in here.”

Steve Asmussen, the trainer of Gold Hawk, will be represented locally by D’cajun Cat, who makes his two-turn debut off a third-place finish in the Sugar Bowl Stakes at Fair Grounds on Dec. 21 in what was his first start since June.

“I don’t think the distance will be a problem for him,” Asmussen said.