HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Arkansas-based owner Willis Horton and trainer Dallas Stewart won Oaklawn Park’s first Kentucky Oaks points race last month with Will’s Secret.
They intend on hunting Kentucky Derby points here next Monday.
“We’re looking at the Southwest with Last Samurai,” Stewart said Friday.
The Grade 3, $750,000 Southwest on Feb. 15 doles out Kentucky Derby eligibility points to its first four finishers on a scale of 10-4-2-1.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Whitmore had his first work of the year – and first as a champion – on Saturday at Oaklawn Park. He breezed a half-mile in 51 seconds on a fast track.
Whitmore won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in his last start Nov. 7 at Keeneland. He was given a freshening, and has been back at Oaklawn since just after Christmas, according to his trainer, Ron Moquett.
Last month, Whitmore was named champion male sprinter of 2020 during the Eclipse Awards.
"I'm very happy for him to get the recognition," Moquett said.
They’ve come out of the woodwork for the Feb. 13 Risen Star Stakes, with 13 entered in the Grade 2, $400,000 steppingstone to the Louisiana Derby and points beyond.
The 1 1/8-mile Risen Star is the first 85-point race on Churchill Downs’s Road to the Kentucky Derby; the top four finishers get 50, 20, 10, and 5 qualifying points respectively, through the system Churchill uses to determine the 20 starting slots available in the Derby.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Following Sunday’s card, there will be four consecutive dark days in advance of a four-day race week beginning Friday and culminating with a Presidents Day Monday card.
The feature on the Feb. 15 card will be the $100,000 Hollie Hughes Stakes for New York-bred male sprinters. Amundson is pointing to a repeat in that race for trainer Horacio DePaz and owner Barry Schwartz. Schwartz has won the Hollie Hughes five times, including 2003-05 with Papua.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Tatweej rebounded from a sixth-place finish in the Harlan’s Holiday Stakes on Dec. 14 at Gulfstream Park with a solid allowance win Thursday at Aqueduct.
Tatweej ran by the pacesetting favorite Dreams Untold to win by 3 3/4 lengths. His final time of 1:36.65 was the fastest of 77 one-mile races run at the Aqueduct fall meet. Tatweej, a 5-year-old son of Grade 1 winners Curlin and Tiz Miz Sue, earned a 103 Beyer Speed Figure.
The California-based graded stakes winners Say the Word and Anothertwistafate were the last two finishers in a 12-horse field in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf on Jan. 23 at Gulfstream Park. They have resumed training in California and are scheduled to start in different graded stakes on turf at Santa Anita in March.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Multiple Grade 3 winner Mischevious Alex is among the leading candidates for next Saturday’s $100,000 Gulfstream Park Sprint. The Grade 3 dash closed with 18 nominations that also include Majestic Dunhill and Jackson. The six-furlong stakes will share top billing on the card along with the $100,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint, which lured 16 nominations, topped by Imprimis off his hard-fought neck victory over Extravagant Kid in the Janus Stakes on New Year’s Day.
Jockey Devin Magnon, who sustained significant injuries when his mount fell on him during a Jan. 14 race at Delta Downs, is recuperating in Maurice, La., agent Wes Landry said Thursday.
“He’s progressing very well,” Landry said. “I saw him today. Stopped and checked on him. He looked great, sounded great. He was in real good spirits and anxious to keep going forward.”
