What could be more fitting than for the man who trained Whitmore, one of the greatest horses to run at Oaklawn, to win the Whitmore Stakes?
That is Ron Moquett's goal this afternoon at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, the day before revelers of all ages dress in green for St. Patrick's Day with pro football Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith as grand marshal of the parade on Bridge Street downtown. The 11 races, with two stakes, begin at noon today.
Osbourne makes his second local stakes appearance in the $250,000 Whitmore for older sprinters. His only win in six local starts came Jan. 20, 2023, by seven lengths over Skelly, that one's last defeat for more than a year.
Formerly the Hot Springs Stakes, the Whitmore was renamed in honor of its only four-time winner and bumped to Grade III status after the champion's retirement in 2021. (The Hot Springs has been restored to the stakes schedule but under different conditions.) The Whitmore remains six furlongs, which became the best distance for its namesake, who in 2016 entered the Arkansas (third) and Kentucky derbies.
Sentiment aside, 5-year-old gelding Osbourne will need more than karma to win the prep for the GIII Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at the track April 13. Tejano Twist is back to defend his title, having won the Ring of the Bell by five lengths Dec. 9 over stablemate Necker Island with past Oaklawn stakes winner Sir Wellington third. Another Chris Hartman trainee, Edge to Edge, took the show spot in the Whitmore last March with Tejano Twist a length and a half clear of Miles Ahead in 1:09 "and change."
It took Skelly to beat Practical Joke's 5-year-old chestnut son last out in the $150,000 King Cotton at Oaklawn. That marked the third Oaklawn stakes victory in two seasons for the Steve Asmussen-trained dynamo, with Skelly second in Saudi Arabia last out but looking to defend the Count Fleet title. Tejano Twist was third in the Count Fleet, with Skelly in front by 2 1/4 lengths over Strobe.
Winning the Whitmore under Francisco Arrieta, Tejano Twist keeps Chris Landeros, who rode the gelding to consecutive stakes victories in the Bet On Sunshine at Churchill Downs and the Ring a Bell. Owned by JD Thoroughbreds LLC and Joey Keith Davis, Tejano Twist is a nine-winner with 20 top-three finishes from 29 starts for more than $1.2 million. Breaking from post two, Tejano Twist packs 124 pounds.
Toting the same weight are two Asmussen-trained stakes winners, 4-year-old Ryvit and 6-year-old Jaxon Traveler. Jockey Keith Asmussen scored his first Oaklawn stakes victory on Ryvit in the $150,000 Bachelor last April 25. Tyler Gaffalione was up on May 20, Preakness Day at Pimlico, when the Competitive Edge colt scored a defining victory in the Grade III Chick Lang. With the younger Asmussen up, Ryvit has won at the current Oaklawn meeting and placed fifth in the Ring a Bell.
Ryvit, with almost $750,000 bankrolled, is owned by Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt, the Houston couple whose future champion Mitole won the 2019 Count Fleet over Whitmore, the race's only three-time winner. Whitmore was voted champion sprinter in 2020 after winning the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland.
Like Ryvit two years later, Jaxon Traveler won the Bachelor at Oaklawn at 3 years old. The Munnings horse, still racing at 6, comes off a Sunland Park stake victory Feb. 18 after a fifth-place finish in the King Cotton. In town to ride two horses for Bill Mott, Flavien Prat regains the mount on the Maryland-bred for West Point Thoroughbreds.
Robertino Diodoro targets an upset with Ninja Warrior in the Speightstown 5-year-old's stakes debut. Little Rock attorney John Holleman's horse has won three times at Oaklawn since last March 31. Meet leader Cristian Torres stays aboard.
David Jacobson wheels back recent Aqueduct claim Cowan. Never favored in any of his published races, the 6-year-old Kantharos colt gets in comparatively light here with 121. Ramon Vazquez is aboard.
Keith Desormeaux seeks an upset with last-out Fair Grounds winner Surveillance, four lengths back when fourth in the 2023 Count Fleet. James Graham, GII Azeri winner on Tiny Temper for Dallas Stewart seven days ago, followed the 7-year-old Constitution gelding to Hot Springs.
The ninth race on the card, the Whitmore is set for a 4:23 p.m. start.