HOT SPRINGS - The $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes is the first step on Oaklawn Park’s road to the Kentucky Derby, but it’s been an important first step for several winners in its brief history.
“This has become a race where you have to follow the winner throughout the year,” Oaklawn General Manager Eric Jackson said.
Liberty Bull, the inaugural winner in 2008, captured the $600,000 WinStar Derby about two months later at Sunland Park in New Mexico.
In 2009, Flat Out recorded the first of his seven career stakes victories in the Smarty Jones. Flat Out developed into one of the country’s top older horses, a multiple Grade I stakes winner and bankrolled $3.6 million in his career.
Caleb’s Posse emerged from the fog to win the 2011 Smarty Jones, became a multiple Grade I winner of $1.4 million and narrowly missed being named champion 3-year-old male.
An Eclipse Award didn’t elude Will Take Charge, who began his rise to divisional honors with a victory last year.
The seventh running of the Smarty Jones today at Oaklawn has drawn a field of 10, with Coastline installed as the 5-2 program favorite for owner John Oxley of Tulsa and trainer Mark Casse.
Racing begins today at 1:05 p.m., with probable post time for the Smarty Jones, the eighth of nine races, 4:38 p.m.
Oaklawn will give away baseball caps, while supplies last, with each paid admission as part of a special program that falls on a state holiday - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday and Robert E. Lee’s Birthday.
The 1-mile Smarty Jones, which honors the 2004 Arkansas Derby winner and Eclipse Award winner, was originally created to take advantage of the holiday Monday by opening the season with four days of racing, and boost Oaklawn’s 3-year-old program.
The purse in 2008 was $50,000.
“This whole meet is about one thing - the Arkansas Derby,” Oaklawn Racing Secretary Pat Pope said. “Whatever we can do to have the strongest Arkansas Derby, that’s the game plan.”
The Smarty Jones is worth 17 points in the Kentucky Derby eligibility system, which is used to determine starting preference if more than 20 horses enter.
The Smarty Jones winner will receive 10 points, with the 2-3-4 finishers earning four points, two points and one point, respectively.
Oaklawn’s series of Kentucky Derby prep races continues with the $300,000Grade III Southwest Stakes on Feb. 17, the $600,000 Grade II Rebel Stakes on March 15 and the $1 million Grade I Arkansas Derby on April 12.
Coastline enters the Smarty Jones with better credentials than Will Take Charge at the same point in their careers.
The Smarty Jones marked the first career stakes victory for Will Take Charge, but Coastline won the $60,000 Street Sense Stakes on Oct. 27 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
In his last start, Coastline couldn’t overcome a stumbling start and finished eighth as the favorite in the $1 million Grade III Delta Jackpot Stakes on Nov. 23 at Delta Downs in Louisiana.
“Look at Will Take Charge’s record until he came into this race last year,” Pope said. “There’s quite a few horses, that at this time of the year, have the credentials of a Will Take Charge. That’s exactly why this race is here.”
Pope said he believes maybe a half-dozen Smarty Jones nominees are skipping the race in order to begin their 3-year-old campaigns in the Southwest, at 1 1/16 miles.
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Strong Mandate, for example, is only scheduled to have three preps for the Kentucky Derby: Southwest, Rebel and Arkansas Derby.
But Lukas ran Will Take Charge in the Smarty Jones, Southwest and Rebel and skipped the Arkansas Derby before starting in the Kentucky Derby.
“A lot of trainers are mapping out their game plan, and they also look at their horse,” Pope said. “Do they want the Kentucky Derby to be the fifth race of the year, the fourth race of the year or do they want it to be the third race of the year? Naturally, the horse has to stay healthy, but that’s what we’re looking at.”
Lukas is scheduled to saddle long shot Unstoppable Colby today.
Also entered are Fire Starter, a 10 3-4-length maiden winner for owners Alex and JoAnn Lieblong of Conway, and Walt, who is coming off a fourth-place finish in the $250,000 Springboard Mile on Dec. 15 at Remington Park in Oklahoma City.
Will Take Charge finished second in the Springboard Mile before winning the Smarty Jones.
“This a very strong race for what’s around,” Pope said. “I think it’s a proving ground and horses are trying to take the next step.”Smarty Jones history YEAR WINNER CAREER 2008 Liberty Bull Earned nearly $500,000 2009 Flat Out Multiple Grade I winner of $3.6 million 2010 Dryfly Injuries derailed promising start 2011 Caleb’s Posse Multiple Grade I winner of $1.4 million 2012 Junebugred Fallen down class ladder following illness 2013 Will Take Charge Champion 3-year-old
Sports, Pages 13 on 01/20/2014