They don't receive a bouquet of roses or have their names etched on a julep glass, but Kentucky Derby runners-up, like losing would-be U.S. vice presidents, are remembered.
Last May at Churchill Downs, Lookin At Lee joined a list including Alydar, Native Dancer and Sham when second to Always Dreaming in the 143rd Kentucky Derby. Neither the winner nor runner-up has visited the winner's circle since, but Lookin At Lee still works for a living, though eligible for a "non-winners of three lifetime" or "non-winners of two other than" allowance.
An Oaklawn Park crowd estimated at 3,500 helped make Lookin At Lee the post-time favorite in an $80,000 optional claimer Thursday over the track that he finished third in last year's Grade 1 Arkansas Derby. Sent off at 8-5, the bay colt was no real threat in a race won by Malibu Max, placing fourth, beaten four lengths, after closing some ground in the stretch.
Ricardo Santana Jr., the meet's leading jockey, went from riding Decorated Soldier, who likes to be on or near the lead, for Steve Asmussen to piloting an Asmussen trainee, Lookin At Lee, with no early speed and no choice but to pass them all. Decorated Soldier, winning by three quarters of a length for a $40,000 tag, snapped an 0-for-8 streak since Oaklawn's 2016 Northern Spur while Lookin At Lee suffered his 14th consecutive defeat since the 2016 Ellis Park Juvenile.
Lookin At Lee thus met the same fate, although farther back, than Alydar in the 1979 Oaklawn Handicap. A year after running second to Affirmed in all three legs of the Triple Crown, their Belmont Stakes a racing epic, a 4-year-old Alydar finished a nose behind San Juan Hill in one of Oaklawn's greatest upsets.
A word should be said for Malibu Max, whose breeding (Malibu Moon by a Pleasantly Perfect mare) screams distance. Bred and owned by Joe Novogratz, 5-year-old Malibu Max visited a winner's circle for the third consecutive year, scoring at Minnesota's Canterbury Park last year after winning his second out at Oaklawn in 2016 and subsequently running seventh in Decorated Soldier's Northern Spur. Now 3 for 12, Malibu Max was placed third through disqualification in a Feb. 11 Oaklawn allowance/optional claimer that Got Even and United Stand dead-heated for first. Got Even, the early leader, placed fifth in Thursday's race, from which United Stand scratched.
Malibu Max picked up Jareth Loveberry while last-out rider Santana stayed with Lookin At Lee, whom he rode twice at Oaklawn last year and again in the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga. Malibu Max paid $14.60 to win, his fast-rated mile and sixteenth in 1:44.03. Secret House, a last-out Oaklawn winner for Brad Cox, finished second by 2 1/2 lengths over Rocky Tough, a New Orleans invader trained by Tom Amoss.
Robertson completed a training double after Alex Canchari booted home 3-year-old filly Tahoe Dream ($14.60) in the sixth race. A bay filly by 2005 Arkansas Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Afleet Alex, Tahoe Dream came off the pace in a $78,000 maiden race that champion Songbird's half-sister, Song of Mine, placed fourth, beaten five lengths. A Ghostzapper filly who sold for $800,000 as a yearling, Song of Mine dueled for the lead to the quarter pole, donning blinkers after a sluggish sixth-place finish going a mile Feb. 1.
Hugh Robertson, the trainer's father, is a co-owner of Tahoe Dream, who in making her fourth start went a mile and sixteenth in 1:45.58. Mac Robertson sends out the undefeated, multiple stakes-winning Amy's Challenge for Novogratz in Saturday's Grade 3 $200,000 Honeybee at a mile and sixteenth. The field of seven 3-year-old fillies includes winners of Oaklawn's Dixie Belle (Amy's Challenge, 2-1 second choice) and Martha Washington (Red Ruby, 9-5 program favorite, trained by Kellyn Gorder) along with two-time meet winner Bo Peep.
Earlier on Saturday's card, Whitmore defends his title in the $125,000 Hot Springs at six furlongs while making his 5-year-old debut for trainer and co-owner Ron Moquett. A Grade 2 winner at Keeneland last fall, Whitmore has not started since eighth in November's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. Third in the 2016 Arkansas Derby, Whitmore dominated the sprint ranks at Oaklawn last year with three wins including the Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap.
With Santana riding, Whitmore is the 8-5 program choice against last-out King Cotton winner Wilbo (5-2) and two-time King Cotton winner Ivan Fallunovalot (3-1). The Robertson-trained Wynn Time, Operation Stevie and Warrior's Club complete the field. The Hot Springs, race 6, is set for 3:39 p.m. and the Honeybee, race 8, at 4:38 p.m. The nine-race card starts at 1:05 p.m.
Sports on 03/09/2018