With winter weather the big story in Arkansas on Wednesday, Oaklawn Park took immediate action to ensure horses' safety.
Track officials called off today's nine-race card after near-record lows in Hot Springs since Monday night. Live racing is scheduled to resume Friday with a nine-race program starting at 1:30 p.m.
Oaklawn will remain open for gaming and simulcast racing, the gaming center until 3 a.m.
The cancellation took place on the scheduled fifth of 57 racing days at Oaklawn this year. The track normally adds races to a card rather than reschedule the full program.
Belle ringer
By virtue of two wins against males last year, filly Amy's Challenge has generated as much publicity as any 3-year-old currently stabled at Oaklawn.
Local racegoers can see for themselves when the daughter of Artie Schiller makes her seasonal debut in Saturday's $125,000 Dixie Belle Stakes. Going six furlongs, the seven-horse field includes undefeated stakes winner Minit to Stardom and two-time Kentucky winner Mia Mischief.
Trainer Mac Robertson said he is pleased Amy's Challenge made the Dixie Belle rather than wait for the $125,000 Martha Washington next month.
"If I don't run in there, I'm stuck running a mile in three weeks," Robertson, who trains the filly for longtime client Joseph Novogratz, said after a December workout.
The filly earned a daily "bullet" for her half-mile breeze of 47.70 seconds Dec. 17, fastest of 70 horses clocked at that distance.
Amy's Challenge enters her 3-year-old season with fanfare after two wins at Minnesota's Canterbury Park, where she was named "Horse of the Meet." Prancing home by 16 1/2 lengths in her career debut Aug. 6, the Kentucky-bred filly captured the $75,000 Shakopee Juvenile Stakes Sept. 16 by three-quarters of a length.
Amy's Challenge earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 91 in her debut and 92 for the Shakopee Juvenile, among the highest in the country for 2-year-olds in 2017. Jareth Loveberry keeps the mount on Amy's Challenge from post six carrying 119 pounds.
Minit to Stardom ventures outside her native Louisiana after two early-season wins at Faiir Grounds, taking the Champions Day Lassie by 7 1/4 lengths Dec. 9 at six furlongs. Al Stall Jr. trains the Brittlyn Stable homebred, whose sire, Louisiana-bred Star Guitar, won 24 of 30 starts and earned more than $1.7 million. Hall of Famer Gary Stevens rides Minit to Stardom from outside post seven.
Another stakes winner entered is Secret Passion, a Kentucky-bred daughter of 2011 Arkansas Derby winner Archarcharch trained by Scott Gelner. The dark bay or brown filly won Iowa's Prairie Gold Lassie by a nose July 27 and later an allowance race at Oklahoma's Remington Park. Oaklawn newcomer Edwin Maldonado gets the mount from post two.
Five-time defending Oaklawn champion Ricardo Santana Jr. rides the promising Mia Mischief for Hall of Famer and eight-time Oaklawn leading trainer Steve Asmussen. Into Mischief's daughter won her second out at Keeneland by 16 1/2 lengths at six furlongs in the slop and placed second in a $200,000 stakes race at Churchill Downs, later winning an allowance/optional claimer at the Louisville track.
Completing the field, from the rail out, are Getupbabygetup (Channing Hill) and Vision of Justice (Mike Luzzi) and Thoughtless Doll (C.J. McMahon).
Post time for the Dixie Belle, Oaklawn's only stakes race of the week, is 4:38 p.m. Cheryl's Legacy, trained by Lynn Chleborad, won both the Dixie Belle and Martha Washington last year.
Baffert file
Mourinho's victory Monday in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds gave Bob Baffert his 13th in a Kentucky Derby prep at Oaklawn since 2010 and a career grand slam in the track's four major races for 3-year-olds.
Baffert has won the Southwest four times, the Rebel six times and the Arkansas Derby twice, American Pharoah taking the Rebel and Arkansas Derby in 2015 en route to the Triple Crown. His only other Smarty Jones starter, Toews On Ice, named for National Hockey League player Jonathan Toews, placed sixth as the favorite in 2016.
Mourinho, returning to the trainer's Southern California base on Tuesday, may make an Oaklawn curtain call in the Grade 3 $500,000 Southwest at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 19, Baffert said. The Super Saver colt went the fast-rated Smarty Jones mile in 1:37 2-5, giving 2012 Lake Hamilton High School graduate Drayden Van Dyke his first Oaklawn riding victory.
The Southwest is expected to mark the 3-year-old debut for High North, a Keeneland maiden winner who placed fourth in Churchill Downs' Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Nov. 25, and possibly for Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes winner Sporting Chance. Brad Cox trains High North for John Ed Anthony, of Hot Springs, while Hall of Famer Wayne Lukas conditions Sporting Chance.
Mourinho, incidentally, is named for Jose Mourinho, manager of Premier League soccer club Manchester United. Phoenix Thoroughbreds III owns the Smarty Jones winner. Baffert formerly trained two other horses named for European soccer clubs, 2014 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Bayern and Dortmund, for another client.
Sports on 01/18/2018