Oaklawn Park

After finishing fifth and seventh, respectively, in Saturday's GII Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park, Tracy Farmer's La Cara (Street Sense--Cara Caterina, by Bernardini) and Shortleaf Stable's Quietside (Malibu Moon--Benner Island, by Speightstown) have each been retired. La Cara, a homebred for Farmer conditioned by Mark Casse, won both the GI Central Bank Ashland Stakes and GI DK Horse Acorn Stakes in 2025, in addition to the 2024 GIII Pocahontas Stakes and last year's Suncoast Stakes. The now-4-year-old bay made two starts in 2026, finishing off the board each time. She...

The splendid Splendora set the pace, took the GI B. Wayne Hughes Beholder Mile at Santa Anita Park and made headlines. Now, let's get to this week's rankings: 5. REGALED, OP, 3/7, GII Azeri Stakes, 1 1-16 miles (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure- 93 (2nd) (m, 5, by Mohaymen-Ascot Walk, by Daaher) O-Ribble Farms and Front Page Equine. B-Chris Baccari (Ky). T-Whit Beckman. J-J.D. Ramos. Her come-from-the-clouds style is probably more suited to 1 1/8 miles than the Azeri's 1 1/16 miles, but she made up four-plus lengths in the final...

A Baffert longshot in a Santa Anita maiden race (that isn't a misprint) tops this week's list. 5). MAYKOMOTION, TAM, 3/7, 7 furlongs (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure- 84 (c, 3, by Vekoma--Maymont, by Unbridled's Song) O-Bona Venture Stables and Bianco Stable. B-Dominique Damico (Fla). T-George Weaver. J-John Velazquez. He couldn't match strides with the likes of Jackson Hole in his first start in December, but outran these from the start and was drawing away through the final quarter. His five half-siblings to race have been predominantly cheap claimers, but this...

All eyes may have been on Eclipse champion 3-year-old filly Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) in Oaklawn's GII Azeri S. Saturday, but it was Majestic Oops (Majestic Harbor) who sprung the upset for a career high. Racing in the colors of Medallion Racing, Evan Trommer, Agave Racing Stable and Sheila Regan, Majestic Oops left the gate sharply before taking back on the inside behind La Cara (Street Sense). She waited in third with Nitrogen to her outside behind La Cara's :23.78 and :47.17 fractions, then tipped out coming off the turn as...

Oaklawn Park will support a new purse incentive designed to reward horsemen who support the track for the remainder of the 2025-2026 racing season, Oaklawn announced Saturday. Beginning with Condition Book 4 released March 19, 2026, the incentive will apply to the 25 remaining scheduled race days of the meet and, per the release, "will reward races that attract larger fields." Under the new structure, Allowance and Maiden Special Weight races will receive an additional $5,000 in purse money for each official starter above nine betting interests, except for stake...

Jockey Serafin Carmona remained hospitalized at CHI-St. Vincent in Hot Springs following a spill in Thursday's ninth race at Oaklawn Park. Carmona, riding for the first time at Oaklawn this season and with five wins to his credit, was aboard 84-1 Balandeen Storm (Balandeen) in a state-bred maiden $50,000 claimer and was making a move on the far turn when he was shut off and clipped heels, throwing Carmona to the ground. The horse got up and jogged away before being caught by the outrider and was vanned off the...

So-called prediction markets have become all the rage across a wide swath of topics, from election results to gas prices to the amount of snowfall might occur in a given place. The Kentucky Derby and horse racing at large? That topic was the subject of a panel entitled 'Prediction Markets and Wagering: An Emerging Threat To Horse Racing and Interstate Horseracing Act Revenue' during Thursday's session of the National HBPA Conference at Oaklawn Park. Speakers agreed that prediction markets have the ability to dwarf even sports betting in America. The...

Last Sunday's GII Rebel Stakes third-place finisher Litmus Test (Nyquist) will stay in Hot Springs to contest the GI Arkansas Derby March 28 for trainer Bob Baffert. Speaking of his Arkansas runners from last weekend, Baffert said that while his GIII Honeybee Stakes winner Explora (Blame) had shipped back to California, Litmus Test would remain at Oaklawn through the end of the month. "I didn't want to bring him all the way back here and ship him back," Baffert said. "He's there. I want to give him another chance. I...

Everett Dobson, chairman of The Jockey Club, pledged to collaborate with horsemen to find solutions to racing's many challenges and ways to grow the sport while delivering the keynote address at the National Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association Conference at Oaklawn Park Wednesday. Dobson acknowledged some of the divisions between The Jockey Club and the National HBPA, including The Jockey Club's support of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the constitutionality of which the National HBPA is challenging in court. But Dobson stressed the common goals shared by the two...

Silent Tactic (Tacitus), winner of the GIII Southwest S. Feb. 6 and narrow runner-up in Sunday's GII Rebel S., will be pointed to the $1.5-million GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Mar. 28, per trainer Mark Casse. "I thought Cristian (Torres) gave him a good trip," Casse said. "He was a little keener, which wasn't surprising to me because he's trained keener. He ended up settling for Cristian, but it took a little bit of doing. He was wanting to go. I think if you look at his numbers, especially if...

Pegram, Watson and Weitman's Explora (Blame) stayed close throughout and once in front, the even-money choice proved too tough to run down as she held off Counting Stars to take Sunday's GIII Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn Park. Longshot Knickleandime (Knicks Go) went to the front as Sneaky Good (Into Mischief) to the inside and Explora on the outer, took up chase through an opening quarter in :23.45. As the 15-1 chance continued to show the way, the even-money choice Explora pressured her to the outside through a :47.70 half. With...

Making his seasonal debut Saturday, the now 4-year-old Magnitude (Not This Time) looked every bit the classy individual he was as a 3-year-old, beating up on an overmatched field to take down the GIII Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn Park Saturday. Last year's winner of the GII Risen Star and the GII Clark prepped for bigger things to come Saturday as the 4-5 favorite but had to deal with a pesky second choice in Nu What's New (Munnings) who rocketed into the race off a 12 1/2-length performance facing local allowance...