Thursday races feature stakes-bound runners

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park opens Rebel week on Thursday with a couple of notable overnight races. The seventh drew Arkansas-bred standout Hoonani Road and the eighth is expected to produce starters for next month’s Grade 3, $600,000 Fantasy.

The Grade 2, $1 million Rebel will be held Saturday on a card that features two other stakes, the Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri and the $350,000 Essex Handicap. The program is one of the most significant of the meet.

In the build up to Rebel Day, Hoonani Road brings local star power to Thursday’s program. He is a three-time stakes winner at Oaklawn and overall is 7 for 8 in Hot Springs.

“He kind of likes that surface – and he’s a very nice horse,” said Wayne Catalano, who trains Hoonani Road for Jerry Caroom.

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The seventh race is an optional $40,000 claiming sprint for 3-year-olds and up bred in Arkansas. It will be run over six furlongs, the same distance as the $125,000 Nodouble on March 28 at Oaklawn. The Nodouble, which is for Arkansas-breds, is a goal for Hoonani Road, said Catalano.

Hoonani Road on Thursday will break from the rail in a field of eight. Channing Hill once again has the mount on the son of Jonesboro.

The eighth race is an optional $80,000 claiming route for 3-year-old fillies that carries first-level allowance conditions. It will be run over a mile and a sixteenth, the same distance as the Fantasy.

Jilted Bride is part of a nine-horse field. She enters off a third-place finish at the same level and distance Feb. 15 at Oaklawn. That race has since grown in significance. Shedaresthedevil, who was second, came back Saturday to win the Grade 3, $300,000 Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn.

Jilted Bride was making her first start at two turns and her first start at 3 on Feb. 15. Tyler Baze has the mount from post 5 for trainer Steve Asmussen.

Asmussen also sends out Fire Coral, a daughter of Curlin who is coming off a maiden special weight win over a mile and a sixteenth Jan. 31 at Oaklawn. She is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Champagne Problems.

Charming Lady invades from Fair Grounds for trainer Tom Amoss. She finished third while making her two-turn debut last out in a first-level allowance over a mile and a sixteenth. The winner of the race, Alta’s Award, finished second in the Honeybee.

Back in Charge, who scratched from the Honeybee, stretches out around two turns after winning her debut in a one-turn mile Feb. 9 at Gulfstream Park. Trainer Ken McPeek said last week that the chestnut filly is the “spitting image” of her sire, Will Take Charge.

Joe Talamo has the mount from post 9.