ARCADIA, Calif. – Roll On Big Joe may eventually get to Oaklawn Park this year after winning his first stakes in Saturday’s Grade 3 Palos Verdes at Santa Anita. Trainer Bob Hess Jr. had Roll On Big Joe slated to start in the $145,000 Commodore Stakes for sprinters at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 22 until expected heavy favorite Big City Lights was withdrawn from the $100,000 Palos Verdes Stakes on race morning. “I’d rather run here anyway,” Hess said on Sunday. With Big City Lights out of Saturday’s field, Roll On Big Joe led throughout the six-furlong Palos Verdes, winning by four lengths in 1:08.60. Roll On Big Joe earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 102. By comparison, Big City Lights earned a 103 for an easy win in the California Cup Sprint at six furlongs at Santa Anita on Jan. 18. :: Santa Anita Clocker Reports are available every race day. Access now. Roll On Big Joe is scheduled to resume racing in the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap, a $500,000 race at six furlongs at Oaklawn Park on April 12. “I think we’ll give him eight weeks and run in the Count Fleet,” Hess said. “I like the spacing and I want to keep him at six furlongs.” Roll On Big Joe showed hints of high-class ability in the last 12 months, winning allowance races at six furlongs last May and 6 1/2 furlongs on Jan. 3. Last September, Roll On Big Joe finished second by 6 1/4 lengths to Straight No Chaser in the Grade 2 Santa Anita Sprint Championship. “In hindsight, it was a good effort and indicative of things that happened over the next few months,” Hess said of Roll On Big Joe’s loss in September. Straight No Chaser later won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and was named the champion sprinter of 2024. Straight No Chaser is scheduled to start in Saturday’s Group 2 Riyadh Dirt Sprint, a $2 million race at six furlongs in Saudi Arabia. Roll On Big Joe, a 5-year-old gelding by the Malibu Moon stallion Prospective, has won 5 of 15 starts and earned $298,580 for the partnership of Rancho Temescal, White Fence LLC, and Richard Hale Jr. Roll On Big Joe had a career-high six starts last year, winning twice. He equaled that win total for the year on Saturday. “We’ve always liked him,” Hess said. “The owners were patient with him when he was young and allowed him to go through some growing pains.” Big City Lights was held out of the Palos Verdes by trainer Richard Mandella, who said on Sunday that the 6-year-old would benefit from more time between starts. “I got worried I would empty him too much,” Mandella said. “He runs good fresh.” Mandella said race options for Big City Lights include two springtime six-furlong races: the Grade 3 Whitmore Stakes, which has a purse of $250,000 and is at Oaklawn Park on March 15, or the Group 1 Golden Shaheen Sprint, a $2 million race at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on April 5. Mandella said on Sunday that he was “leaning Dubai” with Big City Lights, who won the 2024 Palos Verdes. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.