Playing catch-up in the trainer standings at Oaklawn Park, defending champion Steve Asmussen is loading the entry box while preparing his stable stars for important next starts.
Trailing Chris Hartman 25-19 with eight racing days left but able to focus on Oaklawn with Fair Grounds' meeting over, Asmussen has five horses on today's card and eight on Thursday's program. The 49-year-old Texan came from behind last year to win his third-straight Oaklawn title and sixth overall, 35-25 over Federico Villafranco.
Hartman opened daylight in the standings with four winners Saturday, three in a row for James Rogers' Black Hawk Stable. Asmussen picked up a winner Sunday with Struck Gold, a 5-year-old gelding that had not raced in 15 months.
Asmussen expected to make a foothold on Rebel Saturday but was disappointed when champion filly Untapable, Tapiture and Bold Conquest were defeated in stakes races March 14. The trainer sent all three to the track for workouts Monday in advance of Oaklawn engagements next week during the Racing Festival of the South.
Untapable worked a fast-rated six furlongs in 1:10.80 in preparation for her April 10 return in the Grade 1 $600,000 Apple Blossom Handicap. The 4-year-old Tapit filly finished a half-length behind front-running Gold Medal Dancer at 1-9 odds in the Grade 2 Azeri, the champion's first start since winning the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff in November at California's Santa Anita Park. It was Untapable's first loss against members of her own sex since late in her 2-year-old season.
The 5-year-old Gold Medal Dancer, trained by Donnie Von Hemel, has since worked a "bullet" five furlongs in 59.20 seconds. Sugar Shock, an Oaklawn stakes winner sprinting and routing, is another contender for the mile-and-sixteenth Apple Blossom on the penultimate day of the meeting. Doug Anderson trains and co-owns the 4-year-old filly, last year's Grade 3 Fantasy winner.
Tapiture, a non-threatening fifth in the Grade 3 Razorback Handicap, and Arkansas Derby hopeful Bold Conquest each went six furlongs Monday in 1:12.20.
Tapiture is pointing to the Grade 2 $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap April 11, which lost a marquee attraction when once-beaten champion Shared Belief was rerouted to the $1.5 million Charles Town Classic in West Virginia April 19. Razorback winner Race Day, trained by Todd Pletcher, is likely to return for the mile-and-eighth Oaklawn Handicap, owner Matt Schera telling track publicists that "we are strongly leaning in that direction." Two Arkansas-owned horses, stakes winner Carve (Mike Langford, Jonesboro) and Street Strategy (Dave Clark, Little Rock), are likely for the Oaklawn 'Cap.
Bold Conquest is on the fringe of Kentucky Derby contenders, needing points in the Grade 1 $1 million Arkansas Derby to ensure a berth in the May 2 race at Churchill Downs. Scoring in four designated prep races, although winning none, Bold Conquest has 17 points, ranking 22nd in the standings. He was third to champion American Pharoah in the Grade 2 Rebel and fourth to Far Right in the Grade 3 Southwest. The Arkansas Derby offers points on a 100-40-20-10 basis.
American Pharoah is returning for the Arkansas Derby after cruising in the Rebel by 6 1/4 lengths, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 100 for his first start since September and outside Southern California. In the interim, the Pioneerof the Nile colt worked five furlongs in 58.60 seconds at Santa Anita, second fastest of 88 works at that distance. Owner Ahmed Zayat and Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert seek their second Arkansas Derby victory in four years, winning with Bodemeister in 2012. Two-time Kentucky Derby-winning rider Victor Espinoza has the mount on American Pharoah, a two-time Grade 1 winner from four starts who earned championship honors last year despite missing the Breeders' Cup because of a minor setback.
Far Right, sitting out the Rebel after winning the Southwest and Smarty Jones, keeps Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith aboard in the mile-and-eighth Derby. The Notional ridgling worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 March 19, his second published drill since the mile-and-sixteenth Southwest. Harry Rosenblum, of Little Rock, co-owns Far Right, trained by Fort Smith-born Ron Moquett.
Sports on 04/01/2015