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The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen DERBY WINNERS: Jockey Luis Saez and Magnum Moon head back to the winners circle after winning the Grade 1 $1 million Arkansas Derby Saturday at Oaklawn Park.
The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen DERBY WINNERS: Jockey Luis Saez and Magnum Moon head back to the winners circle after winning the Grade 1 $1 million Arkansas Derby Saturday at Oaklawn Park.

At dinner hour in Hot Springs, jockey Luis Saez virtually walked the dog in a $1 million horse race at Oaklawn Park.

Magnum Moon led every step of the 82nd Arkansas Derby, giving trainer Todd Pletcher a record fifth victory in Oaklawn's oldest and richest event. With Saez slowing the tempo to a dirge, the 3-year-old Magnum Moon improved to 4-0 lifetime with a four-length triumph over Quip in the first Grade 1 race for all but show horse Solomini.

Though shying from tracks left by the starting gate and drifting outside, the 3-5 favorite went unchallenged down the lane. His first six furlongs in a glacial 1:13.39, Magnum Moon ($3.60) clocked a fast-rated mile and an eighth in 1:49.86 -- no track record on a day none was needed.

"We were in a good position; he broke really sharp," said Saez. "I'm not going to choke him; I am just going to stay there and he was very comfortable into the turn ... traveling pretty good. When I came to the stretch I felt like he was looking at the gate marks so when he got there I touched him a little and he went."

Whether Magnum Moon can get by with such tactics going a mile and a quarter in the May 5 Kentucky Derby is uncertain -- but he'll get the chance.

And, along with West Coast star Justify, 3 for 3 for Bob Baffert, Magnum Moon hopes to become the first unraced 2-year-old to win the Churchill Downs classic since Apollo in 1882.

"I thought he finished with good energy and was pulling away from some nice horses," Pletcher said by phone. "He showed his versatility. He's won a number of different ways now and I think he's proven that he's the kind of horse that doesn't need the race to unfold a certain way, that he's able to make his own kind of race."

A last-out Grade 2 winner at Tampa Bay Downs, where Magnum Moon made his second start, Quip shadowed his rival down the backstretch. Though unable to get by on the far turn, jockey Florent Geroux saved second by a neck over 5-2 second choice Solomini.

"When Luis smooched to his horse, I knew he wanted the lead," Geroux said. "I let my horse settle and he did very nicely."

"We could have tried to go on the lead," said Quip trainer Rodophe Brisset. "I think Florent did the right thing."

Tenfold, Plainsman, Dream Baby Dream, Beautiful Shot and Machismo completed the field -- the previously unbeaten Tenfold laying third at the head of the stretch and with Beautiful Shot close to the pace early.

The Grade 2 Rebel winner March 17, Magnum Moon earned 100 points for winning the Derby, becoming the first horse since American Pharoah (2015) to sweep the two preps. Quip received 40 points for second, the Baffert-trained Solomini 20 for third and Combatant, a hard-luck campaigner all season for trainer Steve Asmussen, 10 for fourth.

A $300,000 Keeneland yearling purchase, Magnum Moon has bankrolled $1,177,800 for longtime Oaklawn patrons Robert and Lawana Low. The Springfield, Mo., couple finished second in Lawyer Ron's Arkansas Derby and third in Barbaro's Kentucky Derby with Steppenwolfer, trained by Arkansan Dan Peitz, in 2006.

Of Magnum Moon, "He had me worried to death when I saw we were on the lead," said Robert Low. "But Luis gave him a masterful ride."

Magnum Moon is one of Pletcher's four Kentucky Derby prospects with Audible (Florida Derby), Noble Indy (Louisiana Derby) and Vino Rosso (Wood Memorial) also coming off major stakes victories.

Magnum Moon joins Graeme Hall (2000), Balto Star (2001), Overanalyze (2013) and Danza (2014) as Arkansas Derby winners trained by Pletcher, whose first of two Kentucky Derby triumphs came in 2010 with Arkansas Derby runner-up Super Saver.

Sports on 04/15/2018

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