HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park has moved into the Racing Festival of the South portion of its meet and the presence of a horse like Saudi Crown in the Grade 3, $500,000 Oaklawn Mile on Saturday underscores why it’s considered the best time of the racing year in Arkansas.
Saudi Crown is the most accomplished horse on the 14-race Arkansas Derby Day card as a Grade 1 winner of $3.2 million. There are a total of four stakes and two overnight stakes on the program that annually draws more than 60,000 patrons to Oaklawn. The eight-hour card begins at 11:20 a.m. Central and the infield is scheduled to be open on an afternoon that could see some showers and temperatures in the high 70s.
The Oaklawn Mile is one of the high points Saturday as Saudi Crown leads an accomplished field of eight that includes stakes winners Emmanuel, The Wine Steward, Just Steel, Dimatic, overnight stakes winner Banishing, and meet standout Payne, who has won all four of his starts this year at the age of 10.
Saudi Crown exits a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park. He set the pace in the 1 1/8-mile race before being overtaken by winner White Abarrio. Saudi Crown was then pointed for the Oaklawn Mile for a couple of different reasons, according to trainer Brad Cox.
“I like two turns with him and I like the distance,” he said. “It’s a good purse, a graded race, and I’m hoping to get him back on track.
“We kept him in training after the Pegasus. He’s been training well and we kind of zeroed in on this race about a month ago.”
The Pegasus has since become a key race, with runner-up Locked coming back to take the Santa Anita Handicap with a Beyer Speed Figure of 109 and third-place finisher Skippylongstocking returning to win the Grade 3 Challenger at Tampa Bay Downs with a Beyer of 103.
As for Saudi Crown, he’s worked right along at his Payson Park base for the Oaklawn Mile. Florent Geroux has the mount from post 8 for FMQ Stables.
“I think the biggest thing is that he breaks well, gets a good forward position,” said Cox.
The Wine Steward launched his 4-year-old campaign last out with a neck win in the Fifth Season on Jan. 25 at Oaklawn. The one-mile race marked his first out since June and for the effort he earned a Beyer of 96. In the days following the start, trainer Mike Maker said the goal for the Gulfstream Park-based runner was a return trip to Arkansas for the Oaklawn Mile. In his final prep, The Wine Steward worked five furlongs March 15 in a bullet 59 seconds. Jose Ortiz has the mount from the rail Saturday.
Maker also trains Emmanuel, a five-time stakes winner making a rare start on dirt. He is 2 for 3 on the main track and Ricardo Santana Jr. has the mount from post 6.
Banishing shortens up a tad in distance after finishing second by a head in the Grade 3 Razorback Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on Feb. 23 at Oaklawn. The race has since become a key one, producing a pair of next-out winners, including Red Route One, who accounted for last weekend’s Grade 3 Essex Handicap at Oaklawn with a Beyer of 98.
Banishing earned a Beyer of 102 for his effort in the Razorback, and it’s the best last-race number in the Oaklawn Mile.
Just Steel is cross-entered in an overnight sprint stakes Saturday.
The Oaklawn Mile will end at the sixteenth pole Saturday.
Matron
The unbeaten Almostgone Rocket will make her first start at 4 in the $250,000 Matron.
The six-furlong race is for fillies and mares. The field of five includes American Band, who won this race a year ago, and Haulin Ice, who was to be crowned the Arkansas-bred of the Year in a Friday night banquet at Oaklawn.
Benedetta adds further depth to the field as a two-time stakes winner, while Holly Dolly also has a pair of stakes wins to her name and Lady Moscato won an overnight stakes two starts back at Oaklawn.
Almostgone Rocket has won her three career starts by a combined margin of 22 lengths. Her last start came June 6, when she won the Jersey Girl at Saratoga with a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 99. Almostgone Rocket covered six furlongs in a quick 1:09.40.
“She’s very fast,” said trainer Brad Cox. “She’s shown that in all of her races. She’s not let us down in the afternoons, and hopefully, we can continue her streak.”
Almostgone Rocket has turned in some sharp works at Payson Park in preparation for her return to action for Frank Fletcher and Ten Strike Racing.
“We were pointing for the Test last summer,” Cox said. “We just weren’t quite where we needed to be to take a swing at a Grade 1. We gave her some time off and she’s returned very nicely. I like what she’s done. I think she’s plenty fit.”
“If she gets away well – it looks like she drew well – I think she’s going to run big,” said Cox.
American Pharoah
Cox has a pair of capable runners in the American Pharoah, a new overnight stakes that pays tribute to the horse that 10 years ago won the Arkansas Derby on his way to capturing the Triple Crown. The 1 1/16-mile American Pharoah is for 4-year-olds and up who have not won a stakes in 2024-25.
Cox will start Bishops Bay and Liberal Arts. Bishops Bay won a second-level allowance at this distance at Oaklawn in his last start Jan. 25.
“He was able to kick away and put some horses away,” Cox said. “Two back, he kind of got caught up in a pace duel. We wheeled him back just a touch quick, so we gave him plenty of time off that last victory, that last run.
“He’s been training well. We’re hoping this is a good step toward hopefully graded stakes in the future. He’s shown that he can compete at that level. Midway through his 3-year-old season he had some really good runs in the Peter Pan and the Ohio Derby and we’re hoping to get him back to that graded stakes level in the near future.”
Prat has the mount from the rail Saturday. Florent Geroux will ride Liberal Arts.
“He’s another horse that’s already been there, at the graded stakes level,” Cox said, referring to Liberal Arts. “He’s put in a few good runs since he’s joined us. He didn’t get away quite that well in the mile race last time there at Oaklawn, the Fifth Season, and we’re hoping he can break, and get a little bit better positioning early in the race, and that will lead to him finishing up well.”
Maycocks Bay figures to get good support off a third-place finish behind Hall of Fame in the Grade 3 Mineshaft last out at Fair Grounds.
◗ Wendelssohn should get good support in the Eclipse, an overnight stakes race at six furlongs. He was second at the distance last out in the Commodore and the winner of that race, Booth, returned to take the Grade 3 Whitmore at Oaklawn with a meet-best Beyer Speed Figure of 107.
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