Oaklawn

1st-Oaklawn, $110,000, Msw, 2-23, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:43.48, ft, 3 1/4 lengths. CLEVER AGAIN (c, 3, American Pharoah--Flattering {Ire} {GSW-Ire, SP-Eng}, by Galileo {Ire}) finished runner up in his debut going 4 1/2 panels at Keeneland last April and was benched for the remainder of the season. Marking his return while stretched past a mile for the first time, the 2-1 favorite took control from the onset, led at every call and was 3 1/4-lengths clear of Shepherd (Laoban) at the wire. A full-sister to English and Irish champion Love...

In racing as in life, good things come to those who wait. And while we have had to endure an extra 24 hours for Sunday's rescheduled GII Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, the wait may just prove worth it as a full, competitive field of 3-year-olds line up with 50 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby on the line. The top three runners from the GIII Southwest Stakes face each other once again Sunday with Speed King (Volatile) taking top billing back on Jan. 25 over a hard-closing...

Oaklawn Park has postponed Thursday, Jan. 30's card, rescheduling it to Monday, Feb. 3. Severe weather, including possible flash flooding, is forecasted for the area for Thursday. The Jan. 30 race date was originally added to make up for other race dates lost to winter weather. Weather has repeatedly played havoc on Oaklawn's calendar this season. Live racing is expected to resume Friday, Jan. 31.

Weather woes continue to plague Oaklawn Park, which is cancelling the Monday, Jan. 20 card in advance due to the forecast of freezing temperatures, according to an update from officials at the Hot Springs track. The race card originally slated for Jan. 20--Martin Luther King, Jr. Day--has been rescheduled to Thursday, Jan. 23. A four-day racing weekend is anticipated at Oaklawn with the addition of Jan. 23, highlighted by the $1-million GIII Southwest Stakes for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 25. Racing at Oaklawn was cancelled for most...

Oaklawn Park, like much of the country impacted by recent winter weather, will add Thursday, Jan. 30 to the current racing calendar in an effort to recoup lost days of live racing. In a release from the track, officials at Oaklawn said the added day was in collaboration with the HBPA and additional days may be added later in the meet. Racing at Oaklawn was cancelled for most of Dec. 28 and for the entire weekend of Jan. 10-12  due to weather. Live racing in Hot Springs is slated to...

Millionaire and GSW/GISP Manny Wah (Will Take Charge--Battlefield Angel, by Proud Citizen) has been retired at the age of nine and will enter stud at Robert and Tyree Wolesensky's Leadem Farm in Leola, Arkansas in a deal brokered by Jay Goodwin and co-breeder Martha Jane Mulholland. Winner of the GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes in 2022, Manny Wah started 48 times spanning seven years for owner Susan Moulton and retired with earnings of $1,012,499. In 2024, he earned placings in both the GIII Toboggan Stakes and the GIII Tom...

With severe winter weather continuing to plague parts of the country and more on the way, Oaklawn Park has canceled racing for the entire upcoming weekend. Live racing was originally scheduled for Friday to Sunday, Jan. 10-12, but will now resume Friday, Jan. 17. The Hot Springs track has not yet announced a rescheduling of the races that were to be held this weekend. One black-type race--the $150,000 Pippin Stakes for fillies and mares, 4-year-olds and up, going 1 1/16 miles--was slated for Saturday, Jan. 11.

Already a two-time stakes winner with 10 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby in his possession, Coal Battle doubled that total Saturday and made it three in a row with a strong win in Saturday's Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park. Clearly a horse that can take his track with him (he's now made six starts over six different surfaces and on slop, mud, grass and fast going), the son of MGSW Coal Front jumped up last time out to upset the Remington Springboard Mile Dec. 13 at...

The previous time that he had neared rock bottom, it turned out that Allen Poindexter still had a ways to fall. Fell pretty hard, all the same: kept drinking all the way down from Missouri, in fact he bought a bottle of Dom Perignon after reaching Florida and drank it on a park bench outside the treatment center. Then he went into the bathroom, tripped, hit his head on a lavatory. He'll show you a scar over his eye. In fairness, he lasted the 30 days inside, and afterwards actually...

The surest sign that autumn is upon us is that we are already beginning to look ahead to next spring. In the racing world, that means the release of the 2025 Road to the GI Kentucky Derby qualifying schedule, and the list of points-awarding prep races that came out Friday contained a few tweaks. Two stood out--a schedule addition and a rule change. Churchill Downs Inc., the gaming company that controls the Derby and the points system that determines which horses get into the race, locked up a prime piece...

What started out as one of racing's best feel-good stories in years ended in tragedy Wednesday at Oaklawn when the fleet Iowa-bred Tyler's Tribe (Sharp Azteca) died following a four-furlong workout. Afterward, the track issued a press release in which it said that trainer Tim Martin's entries for the final week of racing at Oaklawn were being scratched by the stewards. "In the interest of all parties, Oaklawn must take these actions to properly investigate the matter," the statement read. It also said that there would be an investigation regarding...

Valentine Candy took home the fourth stakes win of the Oaklawn meet and gave his conditioner Steve Asmussen his ninth Bachelor S. The colt's run of Hot Springs black-type success began late in his juvenile year when he won the Advent S. in early December and later that month when he captured the Renaissance S. Turning the calendar to his 3-year-old season, the chestnut won the Ozark S. Feb. 10, but shipping to Turfway he finished just off the board in the Animal Kingdom S. Mar. 23. Back on his...