The most important number for trainer Ron Moquett this year at Oaklawn might be 75.
More specifically, it is $75,000, the purse amount to begin the meeting for maiden special weights runners. Moquett, who lives adjacent to Oaklawn's backstretch, has approximately 40 horses on the grounds and roughly half are maidens. About half of the maidens are unraced, with a handful of others only having one career start.
Seemingly all are aiming for that $75,000 prize, the highest maiden special weights figure to begin an Oaklawn meeting.
"The majority of my owners are from Arkansas or are motivated to perform well in Arkansas," Moquett said Thursday morning. "We want to run well at Churchill, Keeneland. But, we also really want to run well here."
Many of Moquett's unraced 3-year-olds are well-bred prospects for the trainer's major client, Alex and JoAnn Lieblong of Conway. Among the couple's horses that should be seen at the meeting, Moquett said, are the fillies She Beast and Area.
She Beast, by The Factor, is a half-sister to The Big Beast, a Grade 1-winning sprinter campaigned by the Lieblongs. Area is by 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense. Her dam, Isabell's Shoes, won the $50,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies in 2005 at Oaklawn. She Beast and Area were purchased for $350,000 and $140,000, respectively, at public auction.
Another unraced 3-year-old filly to watch, Moquett said, is Spark Joy, a daughter of Creative Cause who was purchased for $100,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old in training sale. Spark Joy is owned by the It's All About the Girls Stable LLC, which also campaigns impressive 2017 Oaklawn debut winner Our Majesty with Moquett.
Moquett said it's "probably" the best group of maidens he has ever brought to Oaklawn.
"It looks like we're going to need them to be," Moquett said, pointing to the strength of Steve Asmussen and Brad Cox, first and third, respectively, in the 2017 Oaklawn trainer standings.
"If this would have been three years ago, this group of maidens would have won a bunch of races. But now, we have to step it up. Looking at the overall horse picture here, being somebody that's been here for a long time and sits up in the box and watches everybody's horses, it would be a great year to be a fan here. There are some bad-ass horses here."
Moquett was Oaklawn's co-sixth-leading trainer last year and has 198 career victories in Hot Springs since 1999. He saddled 20 winners at the 2017 Oaklawn meeting.
Sports on 01/06/2018