HOT SPRINGS -- Nothing at Oaklawn Park overshadows the significance of the Road to the Kentucky Derby this time of year, but rich competition comes today.
The $500,000 Grade III Southwest Stakes for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 mile -- each in pursuit of the 17 Road to the Derby points available for the top 4 finishers -- will share today's graded-stakes stage. It will come one race after the Grade III Razorback Handicap, also with a purse of $500,000 for horses 4 years old and up going 1 1/16 mile.
The Razorback has a scheduled post of 4:35 p.m., and the Southwest is set for 5:10 p.m.
The Southwest's connection to the 2018 Kentucky Derby should attract the bulk of Oaklawn's draw.
Four trainers with expected Southwest starters have shipped their entrants to Oaklawn, including Bob Baffert, who has sent Mourinho from California. Mourinho won the first of four Oaklawn Races that offer points on the Road to the Derby -- the 1-mile Smarty Jones Stakes on Jan. 15 -- and is the 2-1 morning-line Southwest favorite.
Also shipped in for the Southwest are Keith Desormeaux trainee My Boy Jack from California. Todd Pletcher trainee Road to Damascus and Seven Trumpets, trained by Dale Romans, have both worked for the Southwest in Florida.
Among trainers with regular stables at Oaklawn, D. Wayne Lukas has two in. His trainee Sporting Chance will start for the first time since winning the Grade I 7-furlong Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Sept. 4. Lukas has also entered Kentucky Club.
The Southwest will be the first two-turn race for Sporting Chance, owned by New York businessmen Bob Baker and Bill Mack. Sporting Chance had a bone chip surgically removed from a knee shortly after the Hopeful and has not raced since.
"This is just the first race of his 3-year-old campaign, and we'll move forward no matter what," Lukas said. "We'd like to see him run well, but we're not going to go kicking the dirt ... if he doesn't win the race."
Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen has trained three Southwest entrants -- Smarty Jones runner-up Combatant, Retirement Fund and Zing Zang, who finished fourth in the Grade III LeCompte Stakes at Fair Grounds on Jan. 13. Each has worked at Oaklawn through February.
"They are three very talented 3 year olds that it will take races like this to sort out," Asmussen said. "But I think that they obviously deserve this opportunity."
Brad Cox trainee Ezmosh is entered in the Southwest, with Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens scheduled to ride. Ezmosh finished second by a neck to Lukas trainee Bravazo in an optional-claiming allowance race at Oaklawn on Jan. 13.
"You'll hear from him again," Lukas said moments after Bravazo's win over Ezmosh. "You'll hear from the horse that finished second, too. Both of those will be in the mix."
Bravazo moved into the thick of it with a win at 21-1 in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds on Saturday. The Risen Star is the first race on the Road to the Derby to offer a total of 85 points. Bravazo's 50-point winning share is enough to practically ensure qualification for the Kentucky Derby. Since the points system was put into place for the 2014 season, no horse with 32 or more points has failed to qualify.
Stevens rode Bravazo in the narrow victory over Ezmosh last month at Oaklawn but passed on an opportunity to ride him in the Risen Star in favor of Brian Williamson trainee Streamline, the winner of the Grade III Bayakoa Stakes for fillies and mares at Oaklawn on Saturday.
Stevens said he did not regret his decision.
"I'm tickled to death," he said. "I'm tickled for Wayne, and I'm happy with Streamline and for Brian. What a great job he's done. And I'm also really confident in Ezmosh. Brad Cox has done a very good job with him, and he proved in that race with Bravazo that he can run."
Lukas said success in the Southwest will require Sporting Chance to run well.
"I think this is the best prep race at this time of year so far," Lukas said. "You got Baffert's horse who ran so impressive coming back, and then Todd's horse is very, very good. You drop those two in, and then you got a Grade I winner like Sporting Chance, and then Steve has three ... nice horses going in there. This is a very good race."
Sports on 02/19/2018