Sir Rick ready for Oaklawn Stakes

Sir Rick, who was entered in last month’s canceled Grade 3, $700,000 Sunland Park Derby, still has a mile and an eighth stakes start on his dance card. It will come in next Saturday’s $200,000 Oaklawn Stakes, according to trainer Robertino Diodoro.

The race will share a card with the $150,000 Oaklawn Mile, which will draw Diodoro trainee Pioneer Spirit.

Sir Rick worked at Oaklawn Park on Friday, going five-eighths in 1:03. The Oaklawn Stakes will be his first start since capturing the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby on Feb. 23 at Sunland Park.

“We wanted to get a stiff work over the track,” Diodoro said Friday. “He worked in company with an older horse. He worked very strong.”

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Sir Rick was a four-length winner of the Mine That Bird Derby, earning a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 80. Diodoro sent the horse to his Turf Paradise division after the 1 1/16-mile Mine That Bird Derby, intending to run him in the Sunland Park Derby, which ended up being canceled shortly after it was drawn due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Right after that we brought him to Hot Springs,” Diodoro said. “He’s been here for a little while. He’s had a couple of works over the track. Everything is on go.”

David Cohen has the mount, said Diodoro. Sir Rick, who is a son of Paynter, races for his breeder, Richard Davis.

Taishan, an impressive allowance winner on the Rebel undercard March 14, is being considered for the Oaklawn Stakes, trainer Richard Baltas said on Thursday.

The Arkansas Derby was originally slated for next Saturday but last month was moved to May 2 in response to the Kentucky Derby’s postponement to Sept. 5. Oaklawn officials then moved the Oaklawn Invitational, which had been scheduled for May 2, to April 11 and changed the name to the Oaklawn Stakes.

The turnaround time for an invitational became too quick when the dates switched, said Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope, so this year the race is being run under normal nomination procedures. Pioneer Spirit will be looking for his second stakes win of the meet when he goes in the Oaklawn Mile, which is for 4-year-olds and up. He won a division of the $100,000 Fifth Season on Jan. 25 at Oaklawn. Pioneer Spirit enters the Oaklawn Mile off a third-place finish in the $350,000 Essex Handicap here March 14.

“He’s come back good and trained well,” said Diodoro.

Diodoro, who is the leading trainer at Oaklawn, has another upcoming stakes starter in Canadian champion Sky Promise. He said the horse is being pointed for the Grade 2, $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap on May 2. Sky Promise won the $125,000 Temperence Hill by a neck on March 13 at Oaklawn.