Oaklawn Park: Golden Lad pointing to Oaklawn Handicap

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Todd Pletcher has saddled the winners of six major stakes during Oaklawn’s annual Racing Festival of the South, and he could add to his record next month. The stable has a handful of horses training toward festival stakes, among them Golden Lad, who won his fourth straight race in the Grade 3, $200,000 Razorback Handicap last Saturday at Oaklawn.

The festival opens on April 5 with the Grade 3, $400,000 Fantasy for 3-year-old fillies. The series of major stakes will be spread out over the final week of the meet, which concludes April 12 with the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby.

“We are hoping to bring Stopchargingmaria for the Fantasy, Golden Lad for the Oaklawn Handicap, Teen Pauline for the Apple Blossom, and someone for the Arkansas Derby, although I don’t know who that is yet,” Pletcher said Tuesday. “That’s what we’re hoping. We’ve got almost a month until that happens, but that’s what we have penciled in at the moment.”

Pletcher had a festival double in 2006, taking the Fantasy with Ready to Please and the Apple Blossom with Spun Sugar. He won the Oaklawn Handicap a year later with Lawyer Ron, and last season picked up his third Arkansas Derby win with Overanalyze. Pletcher’s other Arkansas Derby wins came in 2000 with Graeme Hall and in 2001 with Balto Star.

Golden Lad made his stakes debut in the Razorback and stormed home by 6 3/4 lengths for his breeder, E. Paul Robsham Stables. He had won three straight optional-claiming races at Gulfstream Park leading up to the Razorback, for which he earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 102.

“He’s a horse we always felt had a lot of ability, and he’s kind of putting it all together, improving with each start,” Pletcher said. “We’re excited about what he’s going to do. If he continues to train well and all goes accordingly, he’ll come back for the Oaklawn Handicap.”

Golden Lad on Wednesday flew from Oaklawn to his Palm Meadows base in Florida. The Grade 2, $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap is April 12.

Stopchargingmaria, eyeing the Fantasy, won last year’s Grade 2 Demoiselle and Grade 3 Tempted, both at Aqueduct. Teen Pauline, a candidate for the Grade 1, $600,000 Apple Blossom on April 11, has won stakes in her last three starts, the most recent the Grade 2 Top Flight at Aqueduct.