Oaklawn Notebook

OAKLAWN PARK NOTEBOOK

JANUARY 25, 2008

by Steve Collison

An impressive opening-day crowd of 20,819 welcomed the 2008 Oaklawn

Park meet on Friday and witnessed Steve Asmussen and Luis Quinonez, last

season's champion trainer and jockey, respectively, take up where they left off

last April. They combined to win the opening-day Dixieland S. with

CARSON'S LEGACY (Carson City). The bay colt took advantage of the racing strip, rallying from fourth place, before winning going away.

On Monday, the Tom Amoss-trained LIBERTY BULL (Holy Bull) moved strongly to

the lead leaving the final turn and held off the strong challenge of his main

rival, Isabull (Holy Bull), to score a narrow win in the inaugural running of the

$50,000 Smarty Jones S. Before an enthusiastic crowd of 11,871, brought out

largely because of a Smarty Jones Bobblehorse promotion, Liberty Bull gave

jockey Eddie Razo a nice birthday present, being one of three wins for the rider

celebrating his 42nd birthday. Razo also won the 2ND race of the day aboard

PROUD AND BOLD (Pentelicus) and the 9TH with GINGER BAY (Golden Missle).

Live racing returns to Oaklawn on Friday with nine races, and a Classix carryover pool at $21,683. Saturday's feature will be the

$50,000 Dixie Belle S. for three-year-old fillies at six furlongs. There

will be weekend racing throughout this month before extending to four days in

February.

TRACK SURFACE

With no turf racing here in Hot Springs, we can concentrate solely on the main

oval which so far has been beneficial to runners coming from off the pace and

racing off the rail. On Saturday, just two winners were produced on the front end and

neither raced near the rail. By Sunday, front runners were faring slightly better, but veteran riders were still not willing to stay on the rail. The same can be

said for Monday.

TRAINER NOTES

Although trainer STEVE HOBBY jumped out to a quick start here with three wins

over the weekend, it's CODY AUTREY and JORGE LARA that I expect to have big

Oaklawn meets. Both have started out claiming horses here who are coming in

fresh with records of having done well in Hot Springs, and each man is adept with

first-off-the-claim runners. Watch for these horses to come back winning for new

connections.

TRAINER PROFILE

ROBERT HOLTHUS is a racing legend here at Oaklawn and not just because he's

this circuit's all-time leader in wins with nine training titles.

Well, actually that is a big part of it. But he's also been able to win the

prestigious Arkansas Derby (G2) with runners like Proper Reality and Lawyer Ron while also capturing his share of $5,000 claimers, showing versatility and unparallel horsemanship. One of his main attributes is

an ability to get the most out of runners who've been away for extended periods.

This stable wins nearly 25 percent with runners such as this while showing a

positive rate of return, which is not an easy accomplishment.

Holthus also hits

an exceptionally high number with his runners dropping just down just one class

level in the claiming ranks. I emphasis "one" because after that his runners

dropping in class don't fare nearly as well. The reason for this is that the veteran conditioner will not undersell his horses, but

he recognizes when a runner

is going bad and then sharply drops them. This acute awareness and understanding

of how his charges are doing physically is the reason his owners love this guy.

The irony here is that there's a window of opportunity when one of his sharply

dropping runners gets claimed. They can win when coming back for their new

connections as some stable will perform procedures that Holthus doesn't condone.

However, that success is frequently short-lived and the horse will soon

disappear.

JOCKEY NOTES

As already mentioned, EUSEBIO (Eddie) RAZO has gotten off to a quick start

here, having won with eight-of-23 starters to lead after the first days of

racing. Considering that he rides for the likes of Hobby and Lara,

we wouldn't expect him to be cooling off anytime soon. Conversely, CALVIN BOREL

has only one win from 18 mounts, which can be directly attributed to the dead

rail where he likes to ride. However, don't expect him to stay inside or down

for long. Veteran JOE JOHNSON has broke out of the gate quickly with four-wins

from 12 mounts.

RECENT CLAIMS TO WATCH

Friday (1/18)

4TH -- MR. PINSTRIPE (Yankee Victor) has been under the care of Hobby for most of his career but has been an underachiever. Now gets

claimed by Lara, and the change of regimen may help this

gelding improve dramatically for his new connections.

Sunday (1/20)

1ST -- JUMPIN PUNCHES (Pulling Punches), a six-year-old mare, was the victim

of a brutal ride while coming off of a four-month layoff. Although she shows

just two wins from 28 previous starts, she was claimed by Autrey

and we have to love this one's chances coming first time back for new

connections.

9TH -- PRETTY GIRL SLEW (Slewacide) came off the bench following four

months of inactivity to win in a professional manner. Trainer Stanley Roberts

doesn't do that well with his layoffs, so would expect this old mare to be moving

forward in a big way for new trainer Randy Morse.

Monday (1/21)

2ND -- PROUD AND BOLD (Pentelicus) returned from a brief

freshening to win going the first time out over the Oaklawn strip. The old timer

was claimed

by trainer Jerry Cart, who tends to fare very well with hard knockers such as

this one.

HORSES TO WATCH

Friday (1/18)

2ND -- SILVER TRIPPI (Trippi) was able to come off the shelf today to win

this starter allowance affair, which was much tougher then your typical race at

this level. Expect the Hobby filly to continue improving while continuing

to handle starter allowance fields.

Sunday (1/20)

4TH -- INDEPENDENCE WAR (Red Bullet), a three-year-old colt, came off the

shelf for Holthus but never had a chance to find his best stride as jockey

Brian Hernandez didn't employ one of his better rides. Would expect this horse to

rebound with or without Hernandez.

6TH -- COLOR ME UP (Aptitude), a talented filly, suffered from breaking from the

extreme outside post going one mile. Was used early out of necessity yet still

managed to give the eventual winner all she could handle.

Monday (1/21)

3RD -- FIVEHAILMARYS (Repent) was on the receiving end of a rare bad ride by Borel.

The three-year-old filly was trapped inside while attempting to

make her move, essentially eliminating any chance of winning. Can easily

bounce back to take first allowance condition.

7TH -- EUPHONY (Forest Wildcat) was washing out in the

post parade and nearly fell down after attempting to run off, and the first-time

starter wouldn't load

into the gate. After all of that, she then turned around a trounced her

competition in

a walk. Since trainer Donnie Von Hemel hits a high-percentage going the second

time around anyway, it's easy to see the sophomore filly repeating next time around.

BEWARE OF THESE

Friday (1/18)

3RD -- CINNAMON COWBOY (Cinnamon Creek), a five-year-old gelding with 18

previous starts, was finally able to win but only because this field of

maidens lacked any talent whatsoever. Wouldn't expect this horse to move on and

do well after stepping out into open company.

Saturday (1/19)

2ND -- I'M BLUFFING (Pine Bluff) is actually a tough call but after

keeping the six-year-old gelding running in the allowance ranks all of last

year, trainer Lynn Chleborad finally decided to drop him into the claiming ranks.

Typically when a stable refuses to drop a horse like this, they usually only do

so once it's too late.

Sunday (1/20)

6TH -- LADY DEVIN SKY (Devil's Bag), a three-year-old filly, was setting only

modest fractions when she suddenly quit once a rival came alongside.

Such a lack of heart is troublesome and this horse will have to drop

substantially down from the maiden special weight ranks to have a shot. Would

also suspect the only way she'll ever win is if provided a clear easy lead that

she can maintain throughout.