Torres looks set for another big day with pair of allowance favorites

Jockey Cristian Torres has a good chance to sweep the two richest races on Sunday at Oaklawn Park. And it wouldn’t be the first time he’s done so at the meet that just opened.

Torres won a pair of $150,000 stakes Dec. 10. His mounts Sunday are in first-level allowances worth $104,000 each, with Jackman going in the eighth race, for 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs, and Pretti Xtreme in the ninth, for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles. Both horses are trained by Karl Broberg.

The races close out the second week of the meet at Oaklawn, which will not race Dec. 23-25 in observance of Christmas.

Jackman could go favored Sunday as a winner of three of his last four starts. The victories have all come under Torres.

“Every time I ride him he gives me everything he has,” Torres said. “We understand each other pretty good. I let him be, and he always gives me everything.

“He’s the type that goes into the gate and knows what he has to do.”

Jackman won a $10,000 starter allowance at seven furlongs Nov. 19 at Remington Park.

“He really impressed me, the way he broke and relaxed in front,” Torres said. “When I asked him down the lane, he was still there.”

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As for the distance move Sunday, it’s a good fit, Torres said.

“Honestly, I like him better short than seven-eighths,” he said.

The chief threat in the 12-horse field appears to be Angkor, who was the runner-up in a first-level allowance over seven furlongs last month at Churchill Downs.

Pretti Xtreme is moving back into the overnight ranks after finishing second in the $100,000 Treasure Chest at Delta Downs. She’s also moving back to a distance over which she is a multiple winner. Torres will be riding Pretti Xtreme for the first time Sunday.

Following the race, which is the nightcap, Torres will prepare for Christmas in Hot Springs.

“My family’s coming over,” he said of relatives from Florida. “It’s going to be our first Christmas here. It’s going to be a special Christmas.”

Trainer Garroutte dies at 89

Jimmy Garroutte, a classic racetracker who trained horses for six decades, died Wednesday at his home in Hot Springs, Ark., according to daughter Jami Fenner. Garroutte, who had congestive heart failure, was to have had a 90th birthday party on Saturday.

Garroutte was a native of Fairfax, Okla., who launched his racing career as a jockey. He began riding races at the age of 14 and won his first race at Ak-Sar-Ben, Fenner said.

She said Garroutte later joined the U.S. Army, serving on mounted patrol during the Korean War. He also represented the United States in equestrian jumping competitions when stationed in Berlin.

“He was very proud of that,” Fenner said.

As a trainer, Garroutte won the 1981 Hot Springs Handicap with Gallant Serenade and the same race in 1982 with Skate.

Visitation is from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Gross Funeral Home in Hot Springs. A Celebration of Life service is set for 1 p.m. Monday at the Arkansas Racetrack Chaplaincy chapel at Oaklawn.

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