The announcement Friday of horse racing's Eclipse Award nominees reflected favorably upon Oaklawn Park's 2017 season.
Gun Runner, for instance, launched his 4-year-old season with a victory in February's Grade 3 Razorback Handicap and won four straight Grade 1 events after a second in the $10 million Dubai World Cup in March. Still in training, the son of undefeated Candy Ride is considered a shoo-in to be named Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male at the Jan. 25 Eclipse Awards banquet at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.
In addition, the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap produced two nominees for champion older dirt female in April winner Stellar Wind and 2016 heroine Forever Unbridled, the latter winning November's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff. Although a non-winner at Oaklawn, Elate is a finalist in the 3-year-old filly division.
Individual nominees include Hall of Fame trainers Steve Asmussen, who conditioned Gun Runner, and Bob Baffert, whose American Pharoah won two Oaklawn prep races in his 2015 Triple Crown season. Others include Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who launched his career at Oaklawn, after winning a season-high 15 Grade 1 races and apprentice jockey Katie Clawson, who had eight Oaklawn winners last year.
Naming of Eclipse Award winners in 17 horse and human categories will unfold during the 114th season of Oaklawn racing. Excitement is high for the 57-day campaign with entries to be drawn Monday for Friday's opening card. Weather has dealt horsemen an early snag with the track closed four days last week, but horses returned to the surface Friday during a temperature warm-up and long-range forecasts looked encouraging.
The promise of record Oaklawn purses, including $75,000 for maiden special weights, has drawn horsemen from across North America. Two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O'Neill, whose previous local visits were for stakes races, is here with a string of horses for the first time.
Another prominent West Coast visitor is Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, a three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby and twice of the Arkansas Derby. Stevens has ridden a winner of each race, including two in the Kentucky Derb, for Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Lukas, who winters at Oaklawn and at age 82 has another Triple Crown contender in Grade 1 winner Sporting Chance.
Agent Gene Short, of Hot Springs, explained the reason for the migration to Arkansas.
"It's just strictly because of the money," said Short, who represents Alex Canchari, Oaklawn's co-third-leading rider last fall, and newcomer Mike Luzzi. "Where else are you going to get a $75,000 (maiden) special weight?"
So many new jockeys will be on the track that nametags might be needed. Besides Stevens, the list includes Alan Garcia, David Cohen, Edwin Maldonado, Fernando De La Cruz, Rodney Prescott, Fabio Arguello Jr., Donnie Meche, Dean Sarvis, Alonso Quinonez and C.J. McMahon.
"It will be interesting to see how long everybody stays," Short said.
Meanwhile, Ricardo Santana Jr. seeks his sixth consecutive Oaklawn riding championship. Although getting a late start after serving a suspension, Santana finished with meet-highs of 53 winners and purse earnings of $2,753,797. He had six more winners than runner-up Ramon Vazquez, who along with co-third-place finisher Geovanni Franco topped $2 million in purses. Luis Contreras, joining the Oaklawn colony after the meet started, placed fifth with 31 winners, many for leading trainer Asmussen.
At age 52, Asmussen seeks his ninth Oaklawn training title, his 41 local winners last year including Gun Runner and stakes performers Terra Promessa (Pippin, Grade 3 Bayakoa) and Ever So Clever (Grade 3 Fantasy). Asmussen posted his 500th career Oaklawn victory last Jan. 16 with the maiden Hence, a multiple Grade 3 winner before his 3-year-old season ended.
Although he could not come up with another Creator, the previous year's Arkansas Derby and Belmont Stakes winner, Asmussen got closer to his first Kentucky Derby victory. The Asmussen-trained Lookin At Lee finished third in both the Arkansas Derby (a race Asmussen has won three times) and Grade 3 Southwest and runner-up to Always Dreaming in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. In September, the Asmussen-trained and Oaklawn-raced Untrapped, owned by Jonesboro horseman Mike Langford, won the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park.
Asmussen led Oaklawn trainers with purse earnings of $2,763,845, his horses winning at a 17-percent clip. Brad Cox-trained horses won 28 percent of their starts, the highest rate for a trainer with at least 25 outings, while Ron Moquett finished second in earnings with more than $1.6 million.
A Greenwood native, the 46-year-old Moquett won Oaklawn's Hot Springs and Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap with 4-year-old Whitmore, who in his seasonal debut ran the fastest six furlongs ever recorded at Oaklawn in January. His new prospects include the fillies She Beast, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner The Big Beast, and Area, sired by 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense and produced by Oaklawn stakes winner Isabell's Shoes. Both unraced 3-year-olds are owned by Alex and JoAnn Lieblong, of Conway.
"The majority of my owners are from Arkansas, or are motivated to perform well in Arkansas," said Moquett. "We want to run well at Churchill, Keeneland. But, we also really want to run well here."
As someone said once in a movie, just follow the money.
"If this would have been three years ago, this group of maidens would have won a bunch of races," said Moquett. "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."
Sports on 01/07/2018