Oaklawn Park
Miller Racing's Claret Beret (Not This Time) hit the front at the top of the Oaklawn Park stretch and refused to be pulled back by a charging Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) to win the GI Apple Blossom Stakes, a 'Win and You're In' for this year's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Keeneland. The now 5-year-old mare has shown a remarkable uptick in form since being claimed by Saffie Joseph Jr. just about one year. Since winning her first start for him at Gulfstream, a $70,000 handicap race by 19 3/4 lengths,...
Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro), fresh off an Eclipse Award-winning season in 2025, opened her 4-year-old campaign with a win in the Feb. 7 GIII Bayakoa Stakes--a victory trainer Mark Casse called "the best race she's ever run." Things didn't go quite as well when the filly faded to third in the Mar. 7 over a sloppy Oaklawn surface in the GII Azeri Stakes, but she will look to get back on track when she returns in the GI Apple Blossom Handicap Saturday at Oaklawn Park. She is the 9-5 morning-line favorite...
The 2025 GI Preakness Stakes winner Journalism (Curlin) will ship to Hot Springs for the Apr. 18 running of the GII Oaklawn Handicap where the colt could face reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty (Into Mischief), according to a Friday post on X by co-owner Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. The tweet read, "JOURNALISM turned in a strong 5-panel move at Santa Anita Park in 1:00 3/5 this a.m. and has been declared all set by Michael McCarthy to make his seasonal debut in next Saturday's GII $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap with...
2nd-GP, $68k, Msw, 3yo, f, 5fT, post time: 1:21 p.m. ET CODE (Tiz the Law) gets her career underway here for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm, who teamed to race her 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard half-brother Locked (Gun Runner) to six wins from 11 starts, including a blowout success in the 2025 GI Santa Anita Handicap. Unsold on a bid of $245,000 as a foal at Fasig-Tipton November in 2023, the Mar. 13 foal is out of a winning daughter of SW & GSP Gabriellina Giof (GB)...
Oaklawn President Louis A. Cella and the late Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas will be honored together with inclusion to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Apr. 10. Lukas was among the first trainers to operate a national racing stable at Oaklawn Park and the Hot Springs track became a regular winter home for his horses preparing for the Triple Crown trail. Oaklawn has been guided by the Cella family for more than a century, with Louis A. Cella representing the fourth generation of leadership. Since becoming president...
It was a fantastic week for fast maidens--the top five all registered 92+ on the Beyer scale. 5) OUT OF THE WOODS, OP, 4/3-7th, 1 1/16m VIDEO Beyer Speed Figure-92 (g, 3, Constitution--Sensitive, by Divine Park) O-Little Red Feather Racing, Madaket Stables, Panic Stable and William Strauss. B-Daniel Burke and Kathleen Burke Schweizer (Ky). T-Phil D'Amato. J-Ramon Vazquez. After repeatedly running into Baffert buzzsaws, Out of the Woods was sent to Oaklawn for higher purses and softer maidens. His recent sharp breezes indicated the change might be positive, and he...
6th-OP, $110K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 4:25 p.m. ET. FEMINISM (Curlin) makes her first start for trainer Steve Asmussen. Initially a $200,000 Fasig-Tipton October Yearling buy, the filly posted a 10 flat breeze during OBS June, then sailed through the ring to become the sales topper when Gus King took her home for $975,000. The first-time starter is out Mufajaah (Tapit), who had a fair amount of success visiting the Larry Snyder Winner's Circle at Oaklawn where she won, among other races, the GIII Bayakoa Stakes. The dam of eight...
Equibase Company, the Thoroughbred industry's official database for racing information, has incorporated two changes to its performance-based horse rating that takes into consideration the weight of accomplishment at the highest levels and early career recognition for maiden special weight winners with limited starts, the data gather said in a press release on Wednesday. The Equibase rating--which is intended to provide an unbiased performance score based on race outcomes and measurable factors such as speed, race strength, track conditions and trip factors--launched last fall with inaugural ratings races conducted at Santa...
Well, he's not going to give it up without a fight. Yes, of course the whole narrative is random: he can hardly sit the boys down, tell them to get out there and remind everyone who's boss. But however unwittingly, Into Mischief has certainly obliged us with a dramatic and immediate response to the first serious test of his monopoly since claiming a first general sires' title in 2019. It has been clear for a while that the eventual succession was likely to concern Not This Time and Gun Runner,...
'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard', Further Ado (Gun Runner) was tabbed by track oddsmaker Nick Tammaro as the 8-5 morning line favorite in a field of nine 3-year-olds for Saturday's 102nd running of the $1.25 million GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, Keeneland said via a press release on Tuesday. Contested at 1 1/8 miles on the main track, the Blue Grass offers 200 qualifying points for the GI Kentucky Derby. The winner receives 100 points with a sliding scale of 50-25-15-10 points to the second- through fifth-place finishers. The...
The GI Arkansas Derby undercard at Oaklawn Saturday produced two of the top five fastest maidens of the last week, while Pretty Boy Mia (Beau Liam) outran his auction tag with a dominant win at Aqueduct to garner the list's top spot. 5) FLEEK, OP, 3/28-12th, 1 1/8m VIDEO Beyer Speed Figure-81 (c, 3, Flat Out--On Fleek, by Curlin) O-Poindexter Thoroughbreds. B-Allen Poindexter (Ky). T-Chris Hartman. J-Rafael Bejarano. In the race before the GI Arkansas Derby at the same distance, Fleek continued his steady improvement to win going away at...
Mike Repole and Robert and Lawana Low's Renegade (Into Mischief) exited his victory in Saturday's GI Arkansas Derby in fine form and will return to his South Florida base of Palm Beach Downs on Tuesday, according to trainer Todd Pletcher. "I just love the progression that he's making," Pletcher said. "Very, very happy for the Lows and the Repoles. Great win for them. We're just fortunate to have a colt of this quality." In his previous start, Renegade was a 3 ¾-length winner of the Sam F. Davis Stakes at...