HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Brad Cox won Oaklawn Park’s first Kentucky Derby points race earlier this month with Catching Freedom in the Smarty Jones and now has several runners under consideration for the second leg of the series, the Grade 3, $800,000 Southwest.

The 1 1/16-mile race is Jan. 27.

Oaklawn’s other points races are the Rebel on Feb. 24 and the Arkansas Derby on March 30.

Cox said plans for Catching Freedom are to be determined. He won the Smarty Jones by 2 1/2 lengths on Jan. 1. Catching Freedom is now 2 for 3 for Albaugh Family Stables.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Timberlake, one of the top prospects for this year’s Kentucky Derby, could launch his 3-year-old season in the Grade 2, $1.25 million Rebel at Oaklawn Park, according to his trainer, Brad Cox.

The 1 1/16-mile points race for the Kentucky Derby is Feb. 24.

Timberlake won last year’s Grade 1 Champagne at the Belmont at Aqueduct meet in October, one start after running second in the Hopeful at Saratoga. He wrapped up his season on Nov. 3, when he finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Subsanador, a three-time Group 1 winner in Argentina in the last two years, will start in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes on Jan. 27 at Santa Anita instead of the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park the same day, trainer John Sadler said Sunday.

“I think I’ll keep him here,” Sadler said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Exaulted, winner of the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile last May and three other races in 2023, will miss the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on March 2 at Santa Anita because of a disrupted training schedule this winter.

Trainer Peter Eurton said over the weekend that the absence of daily use of Santa Anita’s infield training track in recent months because of a lengthy renovation has limited Exaulted to jogging on the main track.

Louisiana-based trainer Shane Wilson aimed a good portion of his stable to races early in the Fair Grounds meet, before Kentucky stables fully settled in for the winter. That proved a successful plan, but Wilson hardly has slowed through late December into January. Since Dec. 15, Wilson’s 12 winners are the most among Fair Grounds trainers, and through Sunday he held a commanding lead in the trainer standings, 24 to 11 over Brad Cox.

Track Phantom had his first timed workout since capturing the Gun Runner Stakes on Dec. 23 at Fair Grounds when he breezed five furlongs in 1:02 on Sunday.

Track Phantom, a Quality Road colt trained by Steve Asmussen, ran well losing a pair of one-turn miles to begin his career before winning a two-turn maiden at Churchill and the 1 1/16-mile Gun Runner, where he contested a taxing pace and held solidly for a 1 1/4-length victory. Asmussen has said since the day after the Gun Runner that he plans to run Track Phantom in the Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 20 at Fair Grounds.

Honor Marie, the eye-catching winner of the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes in his 2-year-old finale Nov. 25, moved forward in his work pattern over the weekend, going a half-mile Sunday in 49.20 seconds. The breeze was Honor Marie’s second since returning to the work tab with an easy three furlongs on Dec. 31. Honor Marie had a light December after shipping to Fair Grounds, trainer Whit Beckman said, and remains on schedule for his 3-year-old debut Feb. 17 in the $400,000 Risen Star Stakes.