DAY 44
ESTIMATED ATTENDANCE 6,250
ON-TRACK HANDLE $458,085
OFF-TRACK HANDLE $1,876,716
TOTAL HANDLE $2,334,801
CLASSIX CARRYOVER $1,310.95
WEDNESDAY’S FIRST POST 1:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY’S WAGERING MENU Win-place-show, exacta, trifecta and superfecta wagering offered on all races. Daily double (races 1-2, 8-9). CLASSIX (races 3-8). Pick-3 (rolling begins with race 2. Pick-4 (races 2-5, 6-9).
WEDNESDAY’S SIMULCASTING SCHEDULE 11:38 a.m. Tampa Bay, 11:45 a.m. Mahoning Valley, Noon Gulfstream Park, 12:20 p.m. Aqueduct, 1:50 p.m. Hawthorne, 3:25 p.m. Turf Paradise, 5:00 p.m. Penn National, 6 p.m. Mountaineer, 6:05 p.m. Charles Town, 6:25 p.m. Daytona Beach (greyhounds)
RAINBOW STAKES
Weast Hill’s Feb. 26 career debut was impressive. Weast Hill’s second start on Sunday was even better.
The end result was a 3 1/4-length victory in the $75,000 Rainbow Stakes for Arkansas-bred 3-year-old colts and geldings in 1:09.85, the second-fastest running in 42 runnings of the race and the fastest since 1988, when Eirilino by 5 lengths and was timed in 1:09 2/5, before timing was broken down to hundreths of a second.
Weast Hill, ridden by Jesus Castanon and trained by Brad Cox, led nearly every step of the way, setting sizzling fractions of 21.74, 44.89 and 57.27 before checking in at the finish line ahead of second-place finisher Comic Bird, a first-time starter trained by Tim Ice. We Be Stormin, the slight betting favorite after beating older horses in the Nodouble Breeders Stakes on March 8, was a half length behind Comic Bird, 3 3/4 lengths behind the winner.
Weast Hill is owned and bred by Starsky Weast, who expressed pride in the Rockport Harbor’s geldings accomplishments.
“I raised that horse from the time he was a baby,” Weast said.
Trainer Brad Cox said he was anticipating a big effort from Weast Hill after he worked 4 furlongs in 48.20 in the mud on March 23.
“We thought it set him up for a big effort,” said Cox, who plans to take Weast Hill to Churchill Downs after the Oaklawn season ends.
The test, Cox said, will come when Weast Hill branches out into open company.
“To see if he can compete with those,” Cox said.
Weast Hill certainly looked like he could Sunday, setting by fastest sprint fractions of the day, with his 44.89 timing at the half mile nearly one second faster than posted in any of the other six sprint races, run at various class levels.
Weast Hill, out of the Elusive Quality mare Copperelle, has earned $83,000 in two career starts for Weast.
SUNDAY’S STARS
Competitive balance was the big winner once again in Hot Springs. Nine races, nine different winning jockeys, nine different winning trainers.
NOTEWORTHY
Trainer Steve Asmussen chalked up his first victory of the week in the sixth race when Struck Gold won a $12,500 maiden claimer and paid $20.20. Asmussen, nearing the 7,000 mark in career victory in North America, trails Oaklawn Park meet training leader Chris Hartman 25-19 with eight racing days remaining. The two were tied at 18-18 when racing started on Wednesday. Hartman won four races on Saturday. Asmussen added a victory at Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Sunday and has 6,998 career victories, according to Equibase. … Ricardo Santana Jr. maintained his lead in the jockey standings over Ramon Vazquez, 44-40, as each won a race on Sunday. … Trainer Michael Biehler won his first race of the meet with Another Gear (18.40) in the fourth. Biehler’s victory came with his 33rd start of the meet. Biehler has won 752 races in a career dating back to 1989. … Biehler, according to Equibase, became the 96th trainer to win a race at the 2015 meet.
FINAL FURLONG
Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope told Oaklawn Park media officials he expects “7-9” horses to run in Saturday’s Grade III $400,000 Fantasy Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. The 1 1/16-mile Fantasy begins Oaklawn’s Racing Festival of the South, which features at least one stakes race per day during the final week of the meeting. Sarah Sis, Oceanwave and Pangburn, the 1-2-3 finishers, respectively, in the Grade III $150,000 Honeybee Stakes March 7, are scheduled to run in the Fantasy. Pangburn worked 5 furlongs in 1:00.20 Sunday morning for trainer Kenny McPeek. Another projected local starter is Sweet Opportunity, a March 13 allowance/optional claiming winner for trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel. Von Hemel saddled See How She Runs to win the 2002 Fantasy. Other possibilities include Feathered for trainer Todd Pletcher. Achiever’s Legacy, winner of last year’s $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes at Del Mar, is scheduled to leave her Southern California base to run in the Fantasy, co-owner Richard Robertson told the Oaklawn media department. Pope said a handful of other horses are considering the Fantasy, including the speedy Super Saks for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Post positions for the Fantasy will be drawn Wednesday morning. … Several probable participants in the Racing Festival of the South recorded works Sunday: Champion American Pharoah worked 5 furlongs in :58.60 Sunday morning at Santa Anita in preparation for the April 11 Arkansas Derby. American Pharoah won the Rebel Stakes on March 14 by 6 1/4 lengths at Oaklawn. … Sugar Shock, pointing for the Grade I Apple Blossom Handicap on April 10, worked 5 furlongs in 1:01.20 for co-owner/trainer Doug Anderson. … Carve, a candidate for the Grade II Oaklawn Handicap, recorded a five-furlong bullet work (:59.60) for trainer Brad Cox after the break Sunday morning. … Alex Canchari is appealing a three-day suspension (April 2-4) to the Arkansas Racing Commission, the jockey’s agent, Gene Short, told Oaklawn media department. … Oaklawn surpassed $5 million in claims at the meeting Saturday.