FRIDAY'S ESTIMATED ATTENDANCE 1,800
FRIDAY'S TOTAL HANDLE $3,562,650
FRIDAY'S ON-TRACK HANDLE $223,410
FRIDAY'S OFF-TRACK HANDLE $3,339,240
TODAY'S SIMULCAST SCHEDULE Laurel Park, 11:25 a.m.; Gulfstream Park, 11:35 a.m.; Tampa Bay, 11:35 a.m.; Aqueduct, 12:20 p.m.; Fair Grounds, 1 p.m.; Golden Gate, 2:45 p.m.; Santa Anita, 3 p.m.
FRIDAY'S STARS
Jockeys Francisco Arrieta and David Cabrera each won two races Friday.
Arrieta won the first race with Marquee Thunder ($7.60, $4.80, $3.60), covering 1 1/16 miles in 1:46.23, and the eighth race with Mojo Man ($9.60, $4.40, $3.20), covering 6 furlongs in 1:10.58.
Cabrera won the third race with Many Sweet Treats ($13.40, $6.40, $4.00), covering 6 furlongs in 1:11.71, and the sixth race with Cold as Hell ($26.20, $8.00, $4.20), covering 6 furlongs in 1:13.12.
RAZORBACK HANDICAP
Unbeaten Essential Quality, the country's 2-year-old male of 2020, isn't the only stakes entrant for global power Godolphin today at Oaklawn.
About 90 minutes before Essential Quality's 3-year-old debut in the $750,000 Southwest Stakes, Godolphin is scheduled to be represented by another homebred, Mystic Guide, in a major local event for older horses.
Mystic Guide is the 9-5 program favorite for the $600,000 Razorback Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile race that is a major steppingstone toward the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap at 1 1/8 miles April 17. Probable post time for the Razorback, which goes as the seventh of 11 races, is 3:20 p.m.
The Razorback was originally scheduled to be run Feb. 13 before fierce winter weather shuttered racing at Oaklawn for two weeks. It will still mark the 4-year-old debut for the royally bred Mystic Guide, who is by 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper out of millionaire multiple Grade 1 winner Music Note.
Trained by Michael Stidham, Mystic Guide has already built a solid resume in six career starts, winning the $150,000 Jim Dandy Stakes on Sept. 5 at Saratoga before concluding his 2020 campaign with a second-place finish, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the $250,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes on Oct. 10 at Belmont Park.
Stidham said the Razorback figures to lead to longer events because of maturity and Mystic Guide's pedigree. The colt, who didn't race at 2, broke his maiden at 1 1/16 miles, is a Grade II winner at 1 1/8 miles (Jim Dandy) and nearly a Grade I winner at 1 ¼ miles (Jockey Club Gold Cup).
"Those are the races we're going to focus on," Stidham said. "After this, hopefully, we'll be looking at races, a mile and an eighth, mile and a quarter, those type of races."
Stidham said he chose to start Mystic Guide's 2021 campaign in the Razorback because Maxfield, yet another unbeaten Godolphin homebred, was being pointed to the $200,000 Mineshaft Stakes for older horses Feb. 13 at Fair Grounds. Mystic Guide has recorded a series of sharp workouts at Fair Grounds leading up to his 2021 debut.
"The mile and a sixteenth, it'll be a little quicker than what he ran, fractions, in his last couple," Stidham said. "But, I don't see him being worse than like mid-pack, laying third or fourth, something like that."
Millionaire multiple Grade III winner Owendale will be making his Oaklawn debut in the race for owner Rupp Racing and Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox. Based most of the last two months at Oaklawn, Owendale hasn't started since finishing third in the $500,000 Clark Stakes on Nov. 27 at Churchill Downs.
Information for this report was provided by the Oaklawn media department.