HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The 27-year-old owner Staton Flurry has racked up a number of recent stakes wins among his home track of Oaklawn, Fair Grounds, and Sam Houston, and is now eyeing Grade 1 action at Keeneland. Mr. Misunderstood has been the star of Flurry’s stable of 10 horses, winning five stakes last year at 3, including the Super Derby at Louisiana Downs, the Grade 3 Commonwealth Turf at Churchill and the Woodchopper at Fair Grounds. Flurry said he and trainer Brad Cox are leaning toward running the horse in the Grade 1, $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile on April 13 at Keeneland. “We think shortening him back up – a mile, a mile and a sixteenth – is his optimum distance,” Flurry said. Mr. Misunderstood exits a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Mervin Muniz over 1 1/8 miles March 24 at Fair Grounds. Flurry said the horse could head to Pimlico for the Dixie later in the year, or race at Churchill. Exclamation Point is another high-profile runner for Flurry. Flurry bought 50 percent of Exclamation Point – a half-brother to 3-year-old champion Classic Empire – after the horse won his Feb. 3 debut at Oaklawn. Exclamation Point came back to win a first-level allowance at the track March 3, and will put his perfect record on the line in the $150,000 Northern Spur on April 14 at Oaklawn. “We were talking about the Lexington or the Northern Spur,” said Flurry, who owns Exclamation Point with Brandi and Steven Nicholson. “He knows the track here. He likes the track here. He gets to run out of his own stall.” Flurry said he wanted in on Exclamation Point even before the horse debuted at Oaklawn. The horse has been trained throughout his career by Cox. “Right after his first race we negotiated for a week or two and we were able to negotiate a deal,” said Flurry, who met the Nicholsons for the first time on the way to the paddock for the allowance in March. Flurry’s stakes winners include Five O One, who is scheduled to make his two-turn debut Saturday at Oaklawn in the $100,000 Arkansas Breeders’ at 1 1/16 miles. Flurry is hopeful Five O One will appreciate the added ground as a son of Drosselmyer. Last year, the horse won the $100,000 Rainbow at Oaklawn. His name represents the area code in Hot Springs. Flurry is a Hot Springs native who grew up going to Oaklawn. “My family has the parking lots across the street,” he said. “We had several owners and trainers [that parked with us] and I always came over and watched their horses, and just fell in love with it early on.” Flurry bought his first horse in 2012, about three weeks before he graduated from nearby Henderson State University with a degree in business management. The horse won for Flurry. “Once you get your first win you’re hooked,” he said. “We’ve had a really good string of good luck here the last year, year and a half, winning some stakes and winning some good races here at Oaklawn, which always helps you have some money to grow your stable.” Flurry, whose primary business is real estate – he has 90 rental properties – has continued to invest in racing. He has 2-year-olds coming up by Will Take Charge, Oxbow, and Into Mischief. The Into Mischief colt is a full brother to Grade 3 Southwest Stakes winner One Liner named Trivista, after the neighborhood that borders Oaklawn. “That’s the neighborhood I grew up in,” Flurry said. The Will Take Charge colt is out of an unraced Distorted Humor mare, Flurry said. “Will Take Charge was probably my favorite horse ever to watch,” he said. “I wanted one from one of his first crops. “I like the cross on this one. He’s still growing. He’s going to be a late 2-year-old. He’s still got a lot of filling out to do.” The Oxbow juvenile is an Arkansas-bred filly out of a Grade 2-winning mare, Flurry said. The horses will come to Cox after the Kentucky Derby.