He shares the same foal date (Feb. 28) as Smarty Jones and, like all horses bred in the Northern Hemisphere, ages one year each Jan. 1.
Even so, Jan. 30 is a special date for Street Strategy, winning on the penultimate day of the first month for the second year in a row Friday at Oaklawn Park.
The 4-year-old Street Sense colt emulated his Kentucky Derby-winning sire in a $60,500 entry-level allowance that other tracks might have carded as a stakes race. In a flash, Street Strategy went from dueling for the lead to a five-length cushion in upper stretch. With Calvin Borel looking behind for competition, the Arkansas-owned colt finished 4 1/4 lengths in front after a fast-rated mile in 1:38.20, one of the sharpest performances of the 14-day meeting.
His Jan. 30 victory as a 3-year-old earned Street Strategy a start in Oaklawn's Grade 2 Rebel. Bet down to 8-1 in a field including future Grade 1 winner Hoppertunity, local Grade 3 winner Tapiture and subsequent Preakness runner-up Ride On Curlin, Street Strategy was wide on the first turn and then, according to the Equibase Co. chart, came up "empty."
"We thought he was a lock in the Rebel," Jerry Hissam, Borel's agent, said Friday. "They still don't know what was wrong with him. Whatever it was, it took a year to get over."
Street Strategy, getting 4 pounds from three horses weighted at 122, paid $6.60, $3.60 and $3 as second choice in the eight-horse field. Prosecution, a 2014 Oaklawn winner for trainer Chris Hartman and subsequent three-time winner for Brad Cox off a $16,000 claim, finished fifth as the 8-5 favorite.
Randy Morse trains Street Strategy for Perryville owner Dave Clark's Iron Horse Racing group. Morse developed Moonshine Mullin into a future Grade 1 winner at Oaklawn last year, and in time Street Strategy may recoup the $425,000 he fetched at the February 2013 sale in Ocala, Fla., of 2-year-olds in training. Friday's victory, his third from four starts, was worth $36,300, and other, more lucrative targets may lie ahead for the Kentucky-bred gray or roan colt.
Lasting Impact, an opening-day winner for trainer Paul Holthus, demonstrated again his fondness for Oaklawn with a strong second-place finish, four lengths ahead of 25-1 longshot Big Money Speaks. The 5-year-old Broken Vow gelding has three wins, two seconds and two thirds in eight starts over the track. Starter, a Jan. 23 local winner for Al Stall Jr., was beaten a head for third.
Team Lukas: On the eve of champion filly Take Charge Brandi's 3-year-old debut in the $100,000 Martha Washington, Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Lukas visited the winner's circle twice Friday. Joe Johnson booted home Shere Khan ($33.60) to a surprise victory in the sixth race, while Terry Thompson enjoyed limousine-like comfort aboard odds-on favorite Sugar Saks ($3.20) in the ninth. Sugar Saks, facing maidens after a tiring third-place finish in the $100,000 Dixie Belle opening day, won by 11 lengths, her six furlongs in 1:10.31. Longtime Lukas clients Robert Baker and William Mack own the Kentucky-bred daughter of Sky Mesa.
Former Lukas assistant Bill VanMeter saddled first-time starter Radiant Ruby ($35.60) to a comfortable victory of almost four lengths in the seventh race. Rallying from ninth in a field of 12, Radiant Ruby went six furlongs in 1:11.90 under Jon Court, who rides Take Charge Brandi for the first time in the Martha Washington. VanMeter also owns the 4-year-old Tale of the Cat filly, whose broodmare sire, Grand Slam, raced for Lukas.
Notes: Winning the second race without bleeder medication, Arkansas-bred A.P. Brannigan ($12) earned a $1,080 bonus from Oaklawn in the track's first-year incentive program to race -- and win -- without Lasix. Kelly Von Hemel trains the 4-year-old gelding, clocking six furlongs in 1:13.62 with Glenn Corbett aboard. A grandson of Horse of the Year A.P. Indy, A.P. Brannigan also ran medication free when eighth in his Jan. 19 debut.
Maybelle Slew still has a bounce in her step at age 9, winning the first race ($5.40) as 8-5 favoite. The daughter of Evansville Slew won for the 18th time in 64 starts and for the third time in nine Oaklawn efforts. With Ricardo Santana Jr. aboard, Maybelle Slew went 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:05.92 in her third start for trainer Jonas Gibson, missing by a head to Another Trick in the meet's opening race Jan. 15. Another Trick finished third on Friday, and both she and Maybelle Slew went to new barns on $5,000 claims.
Santana completed a riding double aboard Nearshore ($9.20) in the third race for trainer Ron Moquett and Little Rock horsemen Scott and Joe Ford's Westrock Stables. ... Box Office Appeal ($7.80), claimed for $5,000 from the first race of the meeting, defeated $10,000 horses in Friday's fifth race. It marked the meet-high eighth winner for owner Danny Caldwell and trainer Federico Villafranco and the 14th for leading jockey Ramon Vazquez.
Sports on 01/31/2015