Oaklawn Park: Please Explain to try to catch Taris in Honeybee Stakes
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Florida shippers Please Explain and Taris should battle for favoritism Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn Park. The 3-year-old fillies are the most accomplished members of an 11-horse field chasing the race’s 85 qualifying points for the Kentucky Oaks.
The Honeybee, worth 50 points to the winner, will be run over 1 1/16 miles. It’s the final local prep for the Grade 3, $400,000 Fantasy Stakes on April 5 and goes as the sixth race on a card that also features the $100,000 Hot Springs Stakes.
Please Explain has taken her game to a new level since she began racing around two turns. She won a maiden special weight race at 1 1/16 miles at Gulfstream Park in her fourth career start Dec. 19, then captured the $66,000 Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in her most recent start Feb. 1.
“I think she was begging to go two turns all along,” said Tom Proctor, who trains Please Explain for Niall Racing. “It looks like the few Curlins I’ve had, that’s what they want.”
Please Explain, to be ridden by Southern California-based apprentice Drayden Van Dyke, will break from the rail, the same post she had for the Suncoast.
“The Suncoast, I thought that was a good race,” Proctor said. “She kind of got away from there lethargically, and I was worried into the first turn.”
But Please Explain began picking off rivals and powered home by six lengths. She figures to be racing off the pace again Saturday.
“I don’t know how far out she’ll be – it depends on how fast they go,” Proctor said. “It looks like there’s some speed in there, so we’ll see.”
Taris, who will be making her two-turn debut, has wired her rivals in both of her starts. She won a maiden special weight race at Aqueduct in December by 11 3/4 lengths, then took the $100,000 Wide Country Stakes, a seven-furlong race at Laurel Park, by 5 1/2 lengths. She will break from post 2 under regular rider Clinton Potts.
“I’d imagine she’d be fairly close to the lead if she gets her trip,” said Todd Beattie, who co-owns and trains Taris.
Taris, in from Ocala, Fla., has been flattered since the Wide Country, with two horses she defeated returning to win optional $50,000 claiming races at Laurel, one by 20 lengths. Taris is a daughter of Flatter.
“We think a lot of her,” Beattie said. “Time will tell, but I think if she continues to progress like she is, the sky is the limit.”
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas will counter with Ireland, third in last month’s $100,000 Martha Washington Stakes, and Courageous Julie, a maiden special weight winner at 1 1/16 miles on Feb. 14.
“Ireland’s last race, if I had to do it over again, in hindsight was probably back a little quick for her,” Lukas said. “And then the trip compromised her, too, which is only racing. Courageous Julie, I’m getting higher on her all the time. She’s training very forwardly, and I think she has no distance limitations.”
Rematch in Hot Springs
Alsvid will try to turn the tables on Apprehender in the Hot Springs, a six-furlong race for 4-year-olds and up. Alsvid lost to Apprehender by a half-length in last month’s King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn.
“He was running hard; he just couldn’t get to that horse,” said Chris Hartman, who trains Alsvid for Black Hawk Stable.
Alsvid had a wide trip from post 9, and Hartman is hopeful that drawing the 2 hole for Saturday might be a benefit.
“I don’t think we’ll be as wide as we were last time,” he said. “We didn’t have much choice. We had to go around. I didn’t think the 9 hole was going to hurt us. It was the way the race unfolded. Apprehender was wide, too.”
Alsvid could get a stalking trip under Ken Tohill.
“I think there’s going to be a little more speed in there, and maybe it plays into our favor better,” Hartman said.
Others in the eight-horse field include Work All Week, who will be seeking his sixth straight win.