HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Grade 2, $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap on Saturday has all the makings of a classic renewal of the storied race with reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty and Triple Crown warrior Journalism both launching their 4-year-old seasons against an elite older horse in White Abarrio. The 1 1/8-mile fixture will be showcased on a 12-race card that includes two other stakes, the $200,000 Bathhouse Row, which offers a berth into the Preakness, and the $200,000 Valley of the Vapors. The infield will be open, if the weather permits. AccuWeather is calling for a high of 66 degrees, with showers and a heavy thunderstorm in the mix. Some project the ontrack crowd could reach 40,000 for a chance to see Sovereignty, who won last year’s Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes over runner-up Journalism, who was the dramatic winner of the Preakness. “We respect the competition,” said Saffie Joseph Jr., who trains $7.7 million earner White Abarrio. “Sovereignty’s a great horse, and I don’t use the word ‘great’ lightly. He is. And obviously Journalism’s not far behind him. It’s a super race. It’s a race that people are going to watch. It’s going to be a fantastic race.” Michael McCarthy feels the same way about the Oaklawn Handicap. “Obviously, getting back into the mix with Sovereignty is a wonderful thing for the fans, a wonderful thing for racing in general,” he said. “Both horses are coming off a little bit of extended layoff, will catch some horses in there that seem to be in form – obviously, White Abarrio was very good in his last start.” The field of six also includes Publisher, the runner-up in last year’s Arkansas Derby who has won his last three starts at Oaklawn; Liberal Arts, who is coming off a stakes win at Churchill Downs; and Duke of Duval, who was an allowance winner earlier in the meet. :: Live racing action at Oaklawn Park! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Sovereignty is making his first start since a 10-length win in the Travers last August at Saratoga. Trainer Bill Mott is looking forward to the new season with Sovereignty, a son of Into Mischief who races for his breeder, Godolphin. “I feel very fortunate and I appreciate the fact that they opted to keep him in training,” Mott said. “Look, we’ve got the reigning Horse of the Year. It’s a big responsibility and there’s some pressure to do all the right things and keep his race record intact, or at least you want to keep him in good form, so it’s a challenge. I feel like he’s going to do his part as long as we don’t let him down and make mistakes with him. “The horse is doing great. We’re optimistic, quietly optimistic, about his chances. We know it’s the first out. We want to get him started and we respect the competition. But we’ve got a good horse, too. It will be fun.” Sovereignty had been considered for both the Oaklawn Handicap and Alysheba, which is next month at Churchill Downs, for his first start of the year. He has shipped in from South Florida. “It was between two races,” Mott said. “We kind of thought if he got ready for the first one, we’d make an attempt for that. The other option would have been the Alysheba at Churchill, but we chose the Oaklawn Handicap, just the mile and an eighth. We weighed the options. He’s run at Churchill twice and won there and that was in his favor, but the Oaklawn Handicap is nine furlongs as opposed to a mile and a sixteenth, and I think we were thinking that maybe the nine furlongs would suit us well.” Journalism also had been debated for the Alysheba. He has prepped for the Oaklawn Handicap with a number of sharp works at his base of Santa Anita. The start will be his first since he finished a good fourth to eventual champion Forever Young in the Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 1 at Del Mar. “We kind of had a couple of soft circles around a few races and just the way the horse was getting ready here, it just seemed like he was asking for more,” McCarthy said. “It was wait until Churchill or go to Oaklawn, and Oaklawn seemed to be kind of in line with his schedule the way he’s been here the last couple of weeks.” White Abarrio invades from South Florida off a runner-up finish in the Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park. “We targeted this race,” Joseph said. “It’s a very historic race, and timing wise from the Pegasus it made sense. He’s never run there, but we feel like it’s a course that he’ll like and we’ve had good success running there. We just stuck with our plan.” White Abarrio will break from the rail under Irad Ortiz Jr. :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  “He’s normally a good gate horse,” Joseph said. “You would think he would be forward. There’s not much speed in the race. He could find himself on the lead. If somebody wanted to go, we could track them. That’s going to be up to Irad. Irad’s ridden him multiple times. We do our part and we let him do his part.” Journalism will start from post 5 under Jose Ortiz. “I would like to see him bounce out of there and find himself in a nice stalking position,” McCarthy said. “At first glance, I’m not sure who the controlling speed will be in there. Obviously, with a fresh horse, you would think he would find himself forwardly placed. “Last year, he showed speed, showed he could come from off the pace, showed he could close from a deep position. This year, we’d like to see him a little bit more handy.” Sovereignty will start from post 3 under Junior Alvarado. “Frankly, he just breaks and he sets his own pace, really,” Mott said. “Just wherever he’s comfortable. Looking at the race on paper, it doesn’t look as though there’s a tremendous amount of early speed in the race.” If the rain develops as forecast and it’s enough to make for a wet track, Sovereignty won on such a surface in the Kentucky Derby and in the Belmont Stakes. “I think the Derby was a fantastic race,” Mott said. “Naturally, it was a full field and it was, for lack of a better word, a horribly muddy racetrack, and for him to get the trip that he got and make up the ground, it was a very similar race to the Belmont. I think Journalism was in front of us leaving the half-mile pole, and turning for home they were laying one-two and we ran him down in both the Derby and the Belmont. Both those races were at 10 furlongs, of course.” Journalism’s signature win came in the Preakness, when he overcame tight traffic and closed with determination to catch a clear leader. “I thought his Preakness was obviously as advertised,” McCarthy said. “It was a very brave performance by horse and rider, and I’m glad everybody came out of it unscathed. It just goes to show what kind of horse he is – he’s got an incredible constitution. As all good horses do, they have an incredible will to win.” That quality will be needed by all Saturday. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.