Oaklawn Park

8th-OP, $110K, Msw, 3yo, 6f, 4:39 p.m. ET. Novogratz Racing Stables Inc. homebred Munnings Challenge (Munnings) kicks off his career for Brad Cox. The dark bay was produced by the talented and overachieving $20,000 FTKOCT yearling buy Amy's Challenge (Artie Schiller), a five-time stakes winner and narrow runner-up in the 2019 GI Madison S. at Keeneland and third-place finisher in the GI Humana Distaff S. at Churchill Downs. He is the 2-1 morning-line favorite. TJCIS PPS 2nd-SA, $70K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1m, 4:03 p.m. ET. Mass (Not This Time), a...

When a field of 10 enters the starting gate for Saturday's GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park, they'll sure have some big shoes to fill. Twelve months ago, Sovereignty (Into Mischief) embarked on what would become a Horse of the Year campaign with a narrow victory in his seasonal debut and a little more than two months later, joined Spectacular Bid (1979), Thunder Gulch (1995) and Orb (2013) as horses to add the GI Kentucky Derby in the last half-century. Horses such as Union Rags (2012) and...

TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack provides analysis for this weekend's trio of GI Kentucky Derby preps--Saturday's GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream Park and GIII Gotham S. at Aqueduct and Sunday's GII Rebel S. at Oaklawn Park. GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth S. - Commandment (Into Mischief) is a deserving favorite and the horse to beat in this absolutely loaded renewal of the Coolmore Fountain of Youth. He kicked off the New Year in style, splitting horses at the top of the stretch en route to a...

Sprinters--dirt and turf--dominated the week's best female performances. 5--KAPOOR, GP, 2-19, Alw, 6f (VIDEO) Beyer Speed Figure-90 (f, 4, Uncle Mo--Kareena, by Medaglia d'Oro) O/B-Godolphin (Ky). T-Bill Mott. J-Taylor Kingsley. Kapoor has rolled to three consecutive frontrunning sprint wins by a combined 14 1/4 lengths, and she practically snuck into this allowance in the cover of darkness: the conditions were for non-winners of $20k once other than maiden/claiming, and her winners' take from a Tampa allowance score four weeks earlier was $19,175. As expected, the Godolphin pedigree is strong, especially...

Jockey Ramon Vazquez reached an Oaklawn Park milestone on last Friday's card when he captured the sixth race, becoming the 11th rider in the track's history to reach 500 local victories. Riding regularly at the venue since 2012, Vazquez steered Cur Non (Coal Front) in a $16,000 claiming sprint in what was his second win on the card and ninth in the last three racing days. He had first call on five winners the previous Monday to equal a local career high. "I had never been here before [having been...

7th-OP, $125k, OC$125k/N1X, 3yo, f, 6f, 4:35 p.m. ET COLOR COMIN' IN (Rock Your World) overcame a sluggish start and rolled home late to score by three lengths en route to 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard honors on career debut at Churchill last May. The $100,000 OBS March grad was last seen finishing third to fellow 'Rising Star' Percy's Bar (Upstart) in the June 29 Debutante Stakes beneath the Twin Spires and has trained forwardly over this surface for her return to action. TJCIS PPs 1st-GP, $84k, Msw, 3yo,...

Dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse's two projected starters for the GII Rebel Stakes for 3-year-olds had their final workouts for the Mar. 1 race on a chilly Friday morning at Oaklawn, the track said in a press release on Friday. With Kylee Jordan up, Strategic Risk (Noble Bird) breezed five furlongs in 1:00 just after the track opened for training. Following a surface renovation break roughly two hours later, Silent Tactic (Tacitus) covered a half-mile in :47.40 under two-time Oaklawn riding champion Cristian Torres. The track was fast....

The Saffie Joseph Jr-trained White Abarrio (Race Day) will ship to Oaklawn to target the GII Oaklawn Handicap April 18, his trainer said Wednesday. Detailing next starts for his stable stars, Joseph said, "White Abarrio is going to come for the Oaklawn Handicap. That's the plan. Dubai is still in play for Skippy, but we haven't come up with a plan yet." Last seen finishing runner-up to stablemate Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) in the GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park last month, White Abarrio also owns a win in the 2023...

Still undefeated now in two starts, French Friction showed her six-length maiden score was no fluke as she wired the field in Saturday's Dixie Belle Stakes at Oaklawn Park. A proven winner over course and distance in that Dec. 27 debut, the daughter of City of Light stepped into stakes company in her second start amidst a downpour for trainer Mark Casse and owner DJ Stable, the same powerhouse duo behind freshly-crowned champion filly Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro). Breaking from the rail under Cristian Torres, French Friction was outrun in the...

Mark Casse is among the hottest trainers in America, was recently named Chairman of the Board of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company, and continues to help lead the fight to save racing in South Florida. So, there was plenty to talk about when the Hall of Fame trainer joined this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. Casse was the Gainesway Guest of the Week. Casse will head into the weekend with 17 wins from 38 starters at Oaklawn, good for a win rate of 45%. He bolstered his...

Big returns to the races was the hallmark of many of the five fleet fillies this week, but it wasn't the 2025 champ who took down the number one spot. 5. ME AND MOLLY McGEE, SA, 2/7-6th, 7 furlongs (Video) Beyer Speed Figure-93 (2nd). (f, 4, by Vekoma-Molly McGee, by Quality Road) O-Exline-Border Racing, Aaron Kennedy, Mike Burns, Susanna Wilson and Dan Hudock. B-Four Pillars Holdings (Ky). T-Peter Eurton. J-Hector Berrios. This was a best-case-scenario return after she was vanned off the Saratoga track following the GI Test Stakes last...

Looks like the boys must have got on the phone last week. Having watched him throw his weight around all January, it was time to remind Not This Time that he doesn't yet control every neighborhood. The Godfather himself took charge, Into Mischief sending out sons to earn 20 GI Kentucky Derby points on either coast: Plutarch taking the GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes, Renegade the Sam F. Davis Stakes. But he also got together with Not This Time's big rival as young pretender to put a couple of fillies...