Rampellini: Pick three play at Oaklawn for Monday, Jan. 18
Oaklawn ushers in its program for 3-year-olds Monday with the running of the $150,000 Smarty Jones. It’s the middle leg of a late pick three and we’ll take a look at the sequence encompassing the seventh through ninth races. As for the forecast, the high for Monday is 42 degrees following a Sunday night low of 23 degrees, with little chance of precipitation, according to The Weather Channel.
Race 7 – DOXOLOGY (7) goes for the high-percentage trainer Brad Cox, and for her third career start she will be adding blinkers. She is seeking to become the fourth next-out winner to emerge from an optional $75,000 claiming sprint on Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs. The runner-up returned to take a first-level allowance at Turfway, the sixth-place finisher came back to win the $100,000 Dixie Belle at Oaklawn, and the seventh-place finisher accounted for an optional $50,000 claiming race at Turfway. The winner of the race, Durango, returned in her next start to run second as the favorite in the Dixie Belle. SMALL CITY GIRL (5) and FINLEY’SLUCKYCHARM (2) both also figure, with Finley’sluckycharm winning a 5 ½-furlong race out of the 10-hole last time.
Race 8 – There are expected to be a handful of scratches from the 14-horse Smarty Jones, a one-mile race that will end at the sixteenth pole. WHITMORE (2X) ran Saturday and won an allowance sprint at Oaklawn. KNIGHTS KEY (12) worked five furlongs in a bullet 1:00 here Sunday. CUTACORNER (1A) is entered in an allowance Thursday at Oaklawn. Among the remaining runners, TOWES ON ICE (4) is the horse to beat off a runner-up finish to the well-regarded Mor Spirit in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity. He is shortening up some in distance in a move that seems to well-suit the quick colt looking for his first win at two turns. DISCREETNESS (6) is proven around two turns unlike most of his rivals, and the late-runner also could get an ideal setup as there appears to be a good deal of speed in this spot. His trainer, Jinks Fires, said a concern is the short stretch of the mile run. The configuration would seem to favor Towes On Ice. SHOGOOD (10), like Towes On Ice, is a Grade 3 winner, making the horses the most accomplished in the field. Shogood is looking to recapture his Arlington-Washington form after he was off-the-board for the first time in his career in the Street Sense. He had lost some training time up to that race due to blisters in his throat, according to trainer Scott Becker. SYNCHRONY (8) won an allowance last out over Uncle Walter, who on Saturday ran third in the Lecomte at Fair Grounds. Synchrony is by Tapit and out of the mare Brownie Points, a Grade 3 winner of $951,230.
Race 9 – SAWYERS MICKEY (3) has faced some quality runners in his young career, led by an eventual Grade 1 winner in GREENPOINTCRUSADER. He is moving back to two turns, where he is stakes-placed. TAPSTER (11) might benefit if the track is fast, while his running lines include Smarty Jones entrant BLACK OPS and recent Oaklawn winners WHITMORE and MY CHENNAI XPRESS. ARCH ADVERSARY (10) showed good speed on the turn-back in distance last out and is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Callback. Another who fits well is CORPORATE ASSET (5).
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