Oaklawn Park notes: Gentlemen's Bet has first workout

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Gentlemen’s Bet had his first published work in seven weeks Monday at Oaklawn Park, beginning his wind-up for a 5-year-old campaign that could start next month in the Grade 3, $300,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap. The six-furlong race at Oaklawn on April 10 would be the horse’s first since he ran a bold third last November in the $1.5 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

“Right now, I’d he say he’s more of a prospect for the Count Fleet than he is to miss it,” said Ron Moquett, who trains Gentlemen’s Bet for Harry Rosenblum.

Gentlemen’s Bet was all set to make his seasonal debut Feb. 8 in the $100,000 King Cotton at Oaklawn, but a spell of winter weather led his connections to pass the race, which ended up being brought back the following week due to an ice storm. Gentlemen’s Bet has since been in somewhat of a holding pattern, in part due to weather-related training interruptions and also because his connections are in no rush with the horse whose endgame is a return trip to the Breeders’ Cup.

“We’ve really got no [agenda] other than we’re working backwards from the Breeders’ Cup to try to go there,” Moquett said. “But we would like to be in this Count Fleet, and if all things work like they should, then we’ll be there. We’re not going to rush the horse at all. We’re going to let him drag us where he’s supposed to be, instead of us pushing.”

Moquett said he’s used the winter downtime to build up the horse for the new season.

“I did send him to go get oxygen therapy, which I usually do about four or five times a year,” he said of an eight-day stay in Kentucky. “We’ve sent him to get oxygen therapy quite a bit. We use it as a replenishing deal. We taxed him pretty hard to try to get to the races here, and then when we didn’t make it – we got stopped because of the weather – it was kind of like, ‘OK, let’s regroup, start over.’ ”

Gentlemen’s Bet worked in company Monday under jockey Greta Kuntzweiler, breezing a half-mile in a leisurely 53.20 seconds.

“We wanted to stretch his legs a little bit and were very happy with everything,” Moquett said. “The main thing we wanted, I told the riders, was nice and consistent all the way around there, and then gallop out smooth. We didn’t want land-speed records. We know he’s fast. We’re just trying to get him to a spot.”

Gentlemen’s Bet has won five of nine starts, including last year’s $122,000 Iowa Sprint Handicap at Prairie Meadows with a Beyer Speed Figure of 107. He also won a Churchill Downs allowance with a 107 one start prior, a race in which he covered six furlongs in a blazing 1:07.80. Moquett said the horse’s first work following the Churchill race was in some ways similar to his move Monday.

“He worked so slow he didn’t get a time,” Moquett recalled. “That’s just how he is.”

Gentlemen’s Bet was prominent throughout the BC Sprint and finished 1 1/2 lengths behind winner Secret Circle.

Arroyo suspension upheld

The Arkansas Racing Commission on Saturday upheld a three-day suspension handed to jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr. by the Oaklawn board of stewards. The suspension, his third of the meet, is for a riding infraction. Arroyo has appealed the three rulings – which total nine days of suspension time – to circuit court and is riding on a stay, according to commission attorney Byron Freeland. Arroyo is the second-leading rider at Oaklawn.

◗ Please Explain, a half-sister to the $1.2 million Malibu Moon colt who topped the Fasig-Tipton Florida select sale of 2-year-olds Monday, breezed here a few hours before the sale. She went a half-mile in 48.60 seconds with clockers getting her final quarter in 23.20 seconds. She galloped out five furlongs in 1:01 and six furlongs in 1:14.60. Please Explain is pointing for the Grade 3, $400,000 Fantasy at Oaklawn, according to trainer Tom Proctor.

◗ There have been 319 claims totaling $4,874,500 in transactions between stables heading into Thursday’s card at Oaklawn.

◗ Commissioner, who was third Sunday in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby, is being pointed for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 12, said Elliott Walden, CEO of WinStar Farm.

– additional reporting by Jay Privman