HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A good break will be key for Winnemac Avenue on Thursday when he starts in the eighth race at Oaklawn Park.
“Hopefully we can get him out there running because to get in a good position with him you need to be able to get him in a rhythm,” said trainer Jimmy DiVito.
The allowance is for 4-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles and carries a claiming option of $75,000. It comes on a card that was added to make up for races lost to inclement weather earlier in the meet. A field of eight has signed on, including Grade 1 winner Get Her Number.
Winnemac Avenue – who is named for a street in Chicago – began his Oaklawn season in January with a runner-up finish in a conditioned allowance at a mile. He’s made one start since, in an allowance over 1 1/8 miles Feb. 28. He finished seventh after breaking slowly.
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“The last time the horse didn’t leave the gate good and sometimes he does do that,” DiVito said. “He’s a long horse, and long-bodied horses they’re not really that quick away from the gate usually. So, I worked him from the gate the other day, kind of put his mind on breaking better, and we’ll see how that works out.”
Winnemac Avenue went a half-mile in 48.20 seconds in what was the fifth fastest of 47 moves at the distance April 18.
“He worked really good,” DiVito said. “I’m looking for a pretty good race. The horse has been training good. He needs to get away from the gate, though.”
DiVito likes the distance move with Winnemac Avenue, a son of Tapwrit who races for Doubledown Stables.
“I think the mile and a sixteenth is fine,” he said. “I think the mile and an eighth might be a little too far for him.”
Ramon Vazquez has the mount on Winnemac Avenue from post 4.
“I’d like to see him right there, right close to the lead,” DiVito said. “I don’t think there’s a whole lot of speed in there, the way I looked at the race, anyway.”
DiVito has won with five of his last seven starters, and during that period has had two second-place finishes. His latest winner came last Friday with Coach Jimi D ($16.80).
“We’re on a little bit of a roll,” DiVito said. “Let’s try to keep going.”
Get Her Number is stretching back out to two turns – the site of his biggest career win in the Grade 1 American Pharoah – after sprinting in a comeback race April 4 at Santa Anita. Nik Juarez has the mount from post 2 for trainer Peter Miller.
Relampago Verde is moving back to dirt, where he is a winner, after facing Grade 3 rivals last out on turf at Fair Grounds.
Other contenders in a competitive race include Magic Tap, Tonka Warrior, and Frosted Departure.
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