DAY 42 of 57
SATURDAY'S TOTAL HANDLE $10,114,419
SATURDAY'S ON-TRACK HANDLE $24,638
SATURDAY'S OFF-TRACK HANDLE $10,089,781
TODAY'S POST TIME 1:05 p.m. (Spectators not allowed)
SATURDAY'S STARS
Martin Garcia won three races and Channing Hill won two.
Garcia won the seventh race with Cardamon ($20.40, $7.60, $5.40), covering 6 furlongs in 1:10.87) and the eighth race with Finnick the Fierce ($14.40, $5.20, $3.80), covering 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.60 after Winning Impression was disqualified. A steward's inquiry ruled that Winning Impression bumped Answer In coming down the stretch. Winning Impression was dropped to to fifth.
Garcia won the 10th race with Don Vito Corleone ($52.60, $22.20, $10.20), covering 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.81. On the season, Garcia has won 38 races in 195 starts.
Hill won the sixth race with Hidden Ruler ($11.80, $11.60, $6.40), covering 6 furlongs in 1:10.98. He won The Purple Martin with Kimari ($7.80, $4.20, $3.20), covering 6 furlongs in 1:10.57. On the season, Hill has won eight races in 76 starts.
RETURN OF THE BAND
Millionaire Grade I winner Street Band is scheduled to work Monday or Tuesday in advance of a scheduled start in the $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap for older fillies and mares April 18, trainer Larry Jones said Saturday morning.
Street Band will be breezing for the first time since finishing fourth, beaten 8 ¼ lengths by Serengeti Empress, in the $350,000 Azeri Stakes on March 14, the final major local prep for the Apple Blossom. The Azeri, run over a sloppy, sealed surface, continued Street Band's pattern of following up a strong performance with a disappointing one, Jones said.
Among the country's leading 3-year-old fillies of 2019, Street Band won the $400,000 Fair Grounds, then finished sixth in the $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks, won the $200,000 Indiana Oaks, then finished third in the $600,000 Alabama Stakes and won the $1 million Cotillion Stakes before finishing eighth in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff.
"She does not prefer the mud track and it was also the every-other race that was her time to throw a bad race," Jones said. "So, if that was her bad race, it will be very similar to the Alabama, when she came out of it and won the Cotillion. We're right on Street Band's schedule. It may not be Larry's schedule, but, apparently, it's Street Band's schedule."
Jones said Sophie Doyle, Street Band's regular rider, is scheduled to have the mount for the 1 1/16-mile Apple Blossom.
Jones saddled Havre de Grace to win the 2011 Apple Blossom, one of her five stakes victories that year en route to Horse of the Year honors.
FANTASY UPDATE
Larry Jones has won the Fantasy, Oaklawn's biggest prize for 3-year-old fillies, three times and said he may have a starter in the $400,000 event May 1 in unbeaten Quick Decision, who cleared her first allowance condition sprinting Thursday.
Ridden by Terry Thompson, Quick Decision ($17.20) came from just off the pace to post a three-quarter length victory for Jones and longtime client Brereton Jones, who bred and owns the daughter of Istan. Quick Decision, who has never raced around two turns, broke her maiden Feb. 17.
Larry Jones said the 1 1/16-mile Fantasy is now in play after it was moved from its original date, April 10.
"We're going to take a look at it and see, but that is what we're going to start training toward," Jones said. "There aren't a lot of other options right now. That's stepping off the deep end pretty quick, or could be, but we've just have to go take our shots."
Jones won the Fantasy in 2003 with Ruby's Reception, his first career graded stakes victory, in 2008 with Eight Bells and in 2011 with Joyful Victory.
Nominations for the Fantasy close April 23.
CALIFORNIA IMPACT
Several Southern California-based trainers are happy they set up barns at Oaklawn in 2020 and today's ninth race at Oaklawn is a good example of the influence these California trainers are having on the program.
Two entrants, Ginobili and Rager, have traveled roughly 1,600 miles for an entry-level sprint that will be over in roughly 70 seconds. In a perfect world, Ginobili and Rager could be running against others in their backyard, Santa Anita.
"It's crazy," Rager's trainer, Andrew Lerner, said Friday afternoon. "The hard part is if you don't run them, the owners, understandably, they don't want to be paying day rate at the track. It's expensive and I get that. But if you put them on a farm for two months, then you've got to bring them back and they're not as fit. You've got to kind of backtrack and you take a few steps back. It's a weird position to be in for everybody."
Faced with that weird position, Lerner said he vanned Rager to Oaklawn a little over a week ago. Trainer Richard Baltas, already with a small string at Oaklawn, now has seven horses on the grounds after Ginobili was flown to Arkansas Friday.
Baltas is among seven Southern California-based trainers with divisions this year at Oaklawn, the others being Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer, Doug O'Neill, John Sadler, Phil D'Amato, Peter Miller and Peter Eurton.
"We were lucky that we had horses stabled there and a barn set up," Baltas said Thursday afternoon. "We're happy and pleased that we came to Oaklawn."
Post time for today's ninth race is 5:09 p.m. Central.
FINAL FURLONG
K J's Nobility will be pointed for the $165,000 Arkansas Breeders' Championship for Arkansas-breds at 1 1/16 miles May 1, trainer Cecil Borel said Tuesday morning. K J's Nobility, runner-up in last year's Arkansas Breeders' Championship, won the $100,000 Nodouble Breeders' Stakes for state-bred sprinters March 28. ... Night Ops, winner of the $350,000 Essex Handicap for older horses March 14, worked a half-mile in :51.20 over a sloppy track Saturday morning for trainer Brad Cox. ... Multiple stakes winner Mr. Jagermeister worked 5 furlongs in 1:01.40 Saturday morning in preparation for the $350,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap for older horses April 18.
Information for this report was contributed by Oaklawn media department
Sports on 04/05/2020