OAKLAWN PARK NOTEBOOK
JANUARY 27, 2006
by Mark Weatherton
The Oaklawn season opened on a high note, with two days of sunshine, cheap
corned beef and 58,878 fans who wagered more than $4 million and,
additionally, more than $1 million on Instant Racing each of the first two days.
It was the first pair of back-to-back million dollar days for the machine program. The
first day attendance was the best in a decade and a half, but a cold steady
rain on Sunday probably reduced the crowd and the handle.
The 5 1/2-furlong Dixieland S. featured three-year-olds hoping to hitch a
ride on the Kentucky Derby (G1) bandwagon. The race was overloaded with early
speed and appeared to be setting up well for the strong-finishing Corredor De Plata
(El Corredor), but he wound up being a late scratch. As a result, and even
though closers had been dominating, bettors turned to the speedy trio of well-publicized colts: Catonight (Katowice), Urban Guy (Marquetry) and Fidrych (Grand Slam). Of
the nine who went postward, seven were classified as E types, one was an E/P Type
and there was only one P type, the eventual winner.
CELLULOID HERO (Glitterman) was away last and Seth Martinez took him from
post 8 to the rail and managed to advance to seventh in the first
quarter-mile. He continued the ground-saving path while edging closer to the lead
group and was nestled just behind the pacesetters when they turned for home. Even
though the going was tight, Martinez stayed patient and got his charge through
on the rail in midstretch, persevering by a half-length at the wire and giving McLean
Robertson his first Oaklawn Park stakes score.
After a brief tussle, favored Catonight took command well before the
first call and stayed out front until collared in the stretch by runner-up Urban Guy,
who in turn gave way to the winner. Catonight was out-bobbed for the show money by Fidyrch, who changed
tactics by rating off the pace. All three of these
showed talent and should not be downgraded too much for this effort. A kinder
track could see a nice move forward for any or all of them.
Older fillies and mares took the spotlight in the American Beauty S. going
six furlongs on Saturday. A very short field of five allowed Steve Asmussen’s
MORE MOONLIGHT (More Than Ready), last year’s Dixie Belle S. winner, to
control the pace with slow fractions and have just enough left to hold off the
hard-charging Josh’s Madelyn (Quiet American) by a diminishing half-length. Third-place finisher Immune To Gloom
(Citidancer) offered a decent late run but lost the place money by a neck.
The winner earned her first score since last year’s Oaklawn meet when Asmussen dominated stakes racing. The victory resulted from a heady ride by
Luis Quinonez, one of three on the day.
Quinonez won with 25 percent of his mounts and led the opening weekend with five
victories. Robby Albarado, only riding opening day, found the winner’s circle
three times and Cindy Noll-Murphy, John McKee and Terry Thompson joined him with
three wins apiece. Two newcomers to the Spa, Belen Quinonez (Luis’ younger brother) and
apprentice Beverly Burress, each claimed two first-place finishes.
It was no surprise that Asmussen saddled four winners to take an early lead
among the conditioners. Bob Holthus and Joe Martin each had two winners, with
Martin only sending two postward, so he’s 100 percent.
The opening weekend saw an unusual bias in that the track strongly favored
late runners, which while not unprecedented is still rare. For comparison,
opening day a year ago saw four winners who led at every call and four others
who had grabbed the lead by the second call. This year there was no winner who led
either of the first two calls on Friday’s opener.
This pattern was repeated on the second day as well, with only one winner
leading either of the first two calls and that came in a short field of five. Rain produced a sloppy track for Sunday
and may have helped early speed slightly — one wire-to-wire run and two who led
at the second call — but most winners again came from off the pace.
HORSES TO WATCH
Friday (1/20)
5TH – Highly regarded JOLTED AND JOSTLED (Storm Cat) flashed some of his
expected talent with a very convincing performance, besting a solid field of
maiden special weights. His maiden win came with an exclamation mark as he won
at the mile distance from the 12 gate, something that happens at Oaklawn only
once every couple of years. This effort may have earned the John Servis
trainee a shot at a prep race for the Arkansas Derby (G2) — either the Southwest S. or the Mountain Valley
S.
The following three horses all deserve another chance. Each led every call
but the final one while running against a strong bias. With a more speed
favoring surface, each has an opportunity to get their picture taken:
4TH – ANGEL’S SHADOW (Laffer)
6TH – ILYA BALOS (Unreal Zeal)
9TH – ROCKIN REGAL (Regalstaff)
Saturday (1/21)
6TH – STALWARTLY (Gone West) broke his maiden at first asking. The well bred
dark bay colt got a good pace to run at and used a strong late run to score a
convincing win over 10 quality rivals. Another arrow in the Asmussen quiver.
7TH – THUNDER MISSION’s (Pulpit) win was much stronger than it appears on
paper. After a quarter-mile, Francisco Torres moved his mount aggressively into
third along the rail and seemed to be looking for the lead when he had to check
up hard and appeared to lose all chance as he fell from third to
next-to-last. However, he gathered the chestnut gelding and held his path along
the rail and squeezed through and outlasted the leader, prevailing by 1 1/2
lengths. In spite of the horrible trip, Thunder Mission posted the second
fastest six-furlong time of the three day weekend. Torres should be given extra
credit for the ride.
Sunday (1/22)
4TH – BISCUITS AND BUNS (Gold Fever) won with a wire-to-wire performance
while running against the track bias. The chestnut, in her first trip on an off
track, apparently took to the sloppy going.
6TH – A bizarre mishap occurred during the latter part of the stretch run
when apparent winner ERMINE (Exchange Rate) shed her jockey only yards from the
line. The filly reacted sharply, veering to the left, in response to what was
reported as a slight tap of the whip by Torres. At the time, she was several
lengths ahead and pulling away far enough that some touts had probably “put a
ring around her.” Torres was taken to the hospital and did not appear seriously
injured, but is awaiting tests. Ermine was corralled by an outrider and also
appeared fine. She should be strongly considered next out.
8TH – WAKKI GOLD (Formal Gold), a three-year-old filly out of the Holthus
barn, closed impressively in spite of a very sluggish pace. This second career
victory came over entry level allowance competition and represented a leap
forward after breaking her maiden against bottom-level claimers at Churchill
Downs.