Smack Smack, Code West face off in opening-day Fifth Season

Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., drew entries for its Friday opener on Monday, and Smack Smack and Code West will lead a field of 10 for the featured $125,000 Fifth Season. The race will go as the eighth on a nine-race card that starts at 12:35 p.m. Central.

Oaklawn drew large fields despite the fact that freezing temperatures forced the cancellation of training on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The track averaged more than 10 horses a race for Friday.

Oaklawn will have an extended four-day opening weekend, racing through Monday. The forecast for Friday calls for a high of 54 degrees and a 70 percent chance of precipitation, according to The Weather Channel.

Highlights of the Friday card include an optional $62,500 claiming sprint for fillies and mares that drew the stakes winners Marquee Miss and My Master Plan.

Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel, who retired from riding last meet but returned to the saddle later in the year in Kentucky, is named on five horses Friday. Jose Ortiz, who led all North American-based riders in wins in 2016, is spending opening weekend at Oaklawn and also is named on five horses, including Pinson in the Fifth Season.

Ricardo Santana Jr., who won last year’s riding title, is not named on horses because he is completing a suspension for a riding infraction from the Oaklawn meet in 2016.