Oaklawn stakes winners go splish-splash

A small dance floor can become awfully crowded at times, which Swing and Sway discovered Saturday at Oaklawn Park.

The 4-year-old filly's half-length victory in the $147,000 Carousel Stakes came after unexpected adventure in a five-horse field. Checked inside on the second turn, the bay daughter of Maclean's Music moved outside for her winning move under David Cabrera, causing trainer Ron Moquett some momentary concern.

"I was questioning the move at the quarter pole and then I was stating (Cabrera's) brilliance in the stretch," said Moquett after the filly's second stakes win of the meet and the conditioner's fourth. "Trainer's play-by-play: 'What are you doing? Oh, yeah, great, that worked great."'

Even with more difficulty than in the $125,000 American Beauty, which Swing and Sway won by almost eight lengths in front-running fashion, Cabrera sensed he was riding the one to beat.

"She was so calm in the paddock ... doing everything right and I knew she could run big," Cabrera said. "I thought if I broke on top I would just sit there. As the speed got going pretty fast, I just let her sit where she was comfortable and she responded to me. That's what I was expecting of her and that's what she gave me."

Swing and Sway paid $8.80 to win, clocking six furlongs in 1:11.20 over a surface rated sloppy and before an estimated 20,000 on track. Thoughtless, a last-out Oaklawn winner for trainer Mac Robertson, was second by a length and three quarters over even-money choice Vertical Oak, a Grade 2 winner at Saratoga last year but 0 for 3 at Oaklawn. Last-out meet winners Impasse and Mythical Tale completed the field in the 39th Carousel.

Swing and Sway, purchased for $185,000 at a Florida yearling sale, has earned $350,540 for Little Rock owners Scott and Joe Ford (Westrock Stable). Her previous stakes win before this year came last June against fellow New York-breds at Finger Lakes going six furlongs.

Ghost story

Glacken's Ghost, like his famous sire, appreciates a wet track in a big race at Oaklawn.

As a 3-year-old, Smoke Glacken used his 1997 Southwest Stakes victory as a springboard to an Eclipse Award as champion male sprinter. By eight lengths, Smoke Glacken won the Southwest in the slop on a turbulent March Saturday that a tornado ripped through southwest Arkansas, causing extensive damage to the Prescott farm owned by trainer Steve Wren.

Under virtually the same conditions that his sire prevailed at Oaklawn, although in April and with temperatures much colder, Glacken's Ghost splashed home a winner Saturday in the $100,000 Arkansas Breeders'. Despite bumping a rival in upper stretch, the 5-year-old gray or roan gelding used stalking tactics to a 2 1/4-length triumph as 2-1 favorite, paying $6 to win.

Chantmeupbaby, second at 19-1, was three quarters clear of 2017 Arkansas Breeders' winner Racer with 2017 Rainbow Stakes winner Five O One a half-length farther back in fourth. J.E.'s Handmedown, longshot winner of Oaklawn's $100,000 Nodouble Breeders' going six furlongs, was sixth of nine in the two-turn feature for older Arkansas-bred horses.

Ridden by Alex Canchari, Glacken's Ghost won for the second time at the meeting, getting a mile and sixteenth in 1:47.05 and duplicating his Feb. 15 winning effort over a muddy track at the same distance.

"You can put him wherever, on the lead or behind the other horses; he just does whatever you ask him to," Canchari said. "I am lucky to get to ride a horse like that."

Trainer Mac Robertson credited Canchari with "a really good ride from the outside (10) hole," one worth $60,000 for owners Greg Giles and Hugh Robertson. A three-time Oaklawn winner in 2017, his 4-year-old season, Glacken's Ghost has earned $266,440 from 11 local starts, rewarding Sparkman breeder Bill McDowell.

Asked if his father, himself a trainer, will be pleased with the victory, Mac Robertson said "it just wasn't enough. ... He likes those hundred-dollar bills. And you can print that."

Sports on 04/08/2018

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