3YOs Eye First Graded Score in Southwest

The road to the GI Arkansas Derby continues this afternoon at Oaklawn Park with a field of 11 sophomores set to compete for their first graded stakes victory in the 1 1/16-mile GIII Southwest S. With 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points awarded to the winner and the top four finishers from the Jan. 19 Smarty Jones S. back in the starting gate, the Southwest appears to be a wide-open affair. Harry Rosenblum and Robert LaPenta’s Far Right (Notional) rallied up the rail to win the Smarty Jones going away after favored Mr. Z (Malibu Moon) veered out in deep stretch and checked in third. A third-out graduate sprinting 6 1/2 panels at Churchill Downs Sept. 13, Far Right followed with a pair of third-place finishes in that venue’s one-mile Street Sense S. Oct. 26 and the GIII Delta Downs Jackpot. S. at today’s distance Nov. 22. He has been installed as the 3-1 morning line favorite. Although still eligible for a ‘one other than’ allowance, Mr. Z garnered significant attention after a juvenile campaign that included Grade I placings behind Carpe Diem (Giant’s Causeway) in the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity and Dortmund (Big Brown) in the Los Alamitos Futurity. Owned by Zayat Stables LLC and trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, the chestnut got the better of Far Right in the Delta Jackpot, a race where he was beaten a nose by  “TDN Rising Star”  Ocho Ocho Ocho (Street Sense). Trainer Steve Asmussen will send out the pair of Bayerd (Speightstown)–who finished an even second in the Smarty Jones after annexing the Springboard Mile S. at Remington park Dec. 14, and Bold Conquest (Curlin)–who was third in the GI Breeders’ Futurity and second in the GIII Iroquois S. as a juvenile. The latter shows a pair of bullet five-furlong works at the Fair Grounds in recent weeks in preparation for this seasonal debut. While the majority of the entrants hold previous experience either training or racing over the Oaklawn surface, Todd Pletcher sends in  “TDN Rising Star”  J S Bach (Tale of the Cat), who graduated with a wire-to-wire, 8 1/2-length score over today’s same trip in his second career start at Gulfstream Park Jan. 17. The bay, a Donald Dizney homebred, will break from the rail this afternoon. The Truth or Else (Yes It’s True) figures to go postward at double-digit odds, but perhaps can move forward off a juvenile campaign that included a third-place finish in the GI Champagne S. behind Daredevil (More Than Ready) and Upstart (Flatter). “He’s working lights out,” commented trainer Ken McPeek. “It’s still a little ambitious for him, maybe. Calivin [Borel] is really fond of the horse and thinks he could be anything, but he’s going to have to run back to his maiden win and improve. But I think he can do it.”