Oaklawn Park report

Arroyo Jr. suspension upheld 4-0

HOT SPRINGS - The Arkansas Racing Commission, at its regularly scheduled meeting Saturday morning, voted 4-0 to uphold a three-day riding suspension handed to Norberto Arroyo Jr. earlier this month by Oaklawn Park’s three man board of stewards.

Arroyo’s attorney, Travis Morrissey of Hot Springs, said the jockey will appeal the decision to Garland County Circuit Court.

Arroyo, Oaklawn’s second-leading jockey this year, is already riding through court-ordered stays of two three-day suspensions for riding infractions earlier in the meeting.

Byron Freeland of Little Rock, attorney for the commission, said no dates have been set to hear the first two circuit court appeals, the next step after appeals go before the commission.

Oaklawn’s meeting ends April 12.

Arroyo’s latest suspension was scheduled to run today and March 27-28 after stewards cited him for careless riding in the third race March 7.

According to a ruling dated March 12, Arroyo allowed Derby Hat “to drop down from the outside without being clear,” shortly after the start of the 6-furlong race for $16,000female claimers.

In testimony before the commission, association steward Larry Snyder said Derby Hat, by dropping over without being clear about 100 yards after the start, caused Holy Habit to check and Hot Shoes to clip heels with another horse.

Derby Hat finished fourth, while Holy Habit and Hot Shoes ran seventh and eighth, respectively, in the eight-horse field.

There was no stewards’ inquiry or objection into the race.

Snyder told the commission that stewards could have disqualified Derby Hat, but placing him last still wouldn’t have benefited Holy Habit and Hot Shoes financially - moving them up just one spot in the official order of finish.

Arroyo, who is riding at Oaklawn for the first time this year, has 31 victories and $1,066,049 in purse earnings at the meeting.

Shock wave

Sugar Shock, trained by Doug Anderson, worked a half-mile between Saturday’s third and fourth races in a swift :46.40 under Alex Birzer.

Anderson received permission to work the 3-year-old filly between races, instead of normal training hours (7 a.m.-10:30 a.m.), from Oaklawn and stewards, according to state steward Stan Bowker.

Bowker said Anderson was trying to replicate race conditions of March 8, when Sugar Shock, ridden by Channing Hill, was disqualified from her neck victory in the $150,000 Grade III Honeybee Stakes after ducking out in midstretch to bother the original runner up, Euphrosyne. Sugar Shock, who is being pointed to the $400,000 Grade III Fantasy Stakes for 3-year-old fillies April 5, worked from the half-mile pole to the wire.

Bowker said Hill told stewards immediately after the race that the filly ducked out after seeing something in the infield, perhaps the starting gate. Anderson wanted Sugar Shock to work after the third race because the gate was parked in the same spot as it was for the Honeybee - just behind the sixteenth pole.

Final furlong

There were 15 claims totaling $185,000 on Saturday, the 40th day of racing. Trainer Chris Richard, on behalf of owner Maggi Moss, won a seven-way shake, or blind draw, to claim Dance With Monarch out of the third race for $7,500. There have been 309 claims totaling $4,714,500 at the meeting. … The track was rated fast for the first five races Saturday and wet-fast for the final five races. … Champion English female apprentice Sophie Doyle, seeking her first North American riding victory, finished fifth aboard favored Tobes the Man in Saturday’s fifth race. It was Doyle’s first mount of the meeting.