Smack Smack can achieve millionaire status by winning Fifth Season
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Don Von Hemel has been coming to Oaklawn Park longer than the track has run the Fifth Season Stakes, which he will try to win for the second time in his career Friday with near-millionaire Smack Smack. Von Hemel’s first win in the race, inaugurated 28 years ago, came in 1996 with No Spend No Glow.
The Fifth Season is for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles and serves as the opening-day feature. Its name is a clever reference to Oaklawn.
“You go through winter, spring, summer, and fall, and that’s the fifth season,” Von Hemel, 82, said of the Oaklawn meet, where he has been a regular since the 1970s.
With a win Friday, Smack Smack would push his career earnings beyond $1 million. He faces nine others, including fellow Grade 3 winner Code West, 2015 Ohio Derby winner Mr. Z, and 2016 Smarty Jones winner Discreetness.
The Fifth Season highlights a nine-race card that starts at 12:35 p.m. Central. The forecast calls for a high of 56 degrees and a 40 percent chance of rain, according to The Weather Channel.
Fifth Season, Race 8
KEY CONTENDERS
Smack Smack, by Closing Argument
Last 3 Beyers: 84-84-81
◗ The eight-time stakes winner has banked $930,430 while winning 10 of 30 starts, all for his breeder and owner, Dream Walkin’ Farms Inc. Smack Smack, who just turned 6, hit a high note in July, when he won the Grade 3 Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows.
“It’s been a pleasure to train him,” Von Hemel said. “He’s stayed sound when a lot of horses don’t, and he’s an easy horse to train, an easy horse to be around. No bad habits.”
◗ Smack Smack has generally employed a stretch kick to get the job done, and he could get the right setup behind Code West, Mr. Z, and Chief of Staff, who has been racing at Santa Anita.
“I’d like to see them go that first quarter in 23 flat, a half in 46 and change, and me being about four, five lengths off the pace, and run on by them,” Von Hemel said. “That’s what I’d like to see!”
◗ Regular rider Shane Laviolette has the mount from post 6.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 6 Smack Smack. Trainer Don Von Hemel is 22-6-4-3 with a $3.89 ROI over the past five years in dirt routes in the first start following a layoff of 45 days or more. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Code West, by Lemon Drop Kid
Last 3 Beyers: 86-88-73
◗ He turned the tables on familiar rival Smack Smack last out when he won the $150,000 Zia Park Distance Championship while Smack Smack was second. Three starters from that Nov. 23 race have come back to win their next out, including Mobile Bay, who captured the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic at Fair Grounds.
◗ Luis Quinonez has the mount from post 3 for trainer Boyd Caster.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 8 Chief of Staff. Trainer Jack Van Berg is 29-1-4-1 with a $0.40 ROI over the past five years in the first start following a trainer switch. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan