South Florida-based trainer David Fawkes said this week he will have a string at Oaklawn Park for the first time this year.
Fawkes has started only five horses in Hot Springs, with the highlight being Duke of Mischief's victory in the Grade 2 $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap for older horses in 2010. Fawkes co-owned Duke of Mischief with longtime clients Alex and JoAnn Lieblong. of Conway, who were Oaklawn's fourth-leading owners in 2018.
"I've been wanting to do this for years and I could finally put a few horses together that aren't Florida-breds," Fawkes said. "The Florida-breds, they're better off here.
"Alex is going to give me a few and e-Five is going to send one and I'm going to bring one of my own. Hopefully, we can grow from there. With Churchill growing, I want to go to Churchill after this, so it's a good direction to go."
Fawkes said he plans to send six horses "to start," with an arrival date of "around" Feb. 1. Oaklawn's 57-day meeting begins Friday.
Fawkes said he will be "back and forth" between Florida and Arkansas, with Casey Patin overseeing his Oaklawn operation.
Among the horses ticketed for Oaklawn is Flawless Moon, an unstarted 3-year-old colt owned by the Lieblongs. They campaigned his half-brother, Grade 1 winner The Big Beast, who made his career debut in 2014 at Oaklawn and was an allowance winner the following year in Hot Springs.
Flawless Moon has had a string of published workouts at Gulfstream Park in Florida, including a 5-furlong move Jan. 13. The Lieblongs purchased the Malibu Moon colt for $300,000 at the 2016 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.
"He's a good-looking horse," Fawkes said. "Nice to train."
In addition to millionaire Duke of Mischief, Fawkes trained 2010 male sprint champion Big Drama and millionaire Sheer Drama. According to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization, Fawkes had 956 career victories through Thursday. He saddled his first winner in 1998.
Alex Lieblong is chairman of the Arkansas Racing Commission and already has horses at Oaklawn with Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, as well as Hot Springs trainers Steve Hobby and trainer Ron Moquett.
After a five-year absence, Grant Forster is also back as a regular at Oaklawn with 15 horses housed in the new Cigar barn. The Canadian-born trainer has 35 career victories in Hot Springs, including one during a stopover at last year's meet when his stable was relocating from Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans to Kentucky.
Forster said having several Arkansas clients involved in his ownership syndicates factored into the decision to return to Hot Springs.
"Basically, we have all dirt horses," Forster said. "We had some people wanting to come back. Drummed up some interest in some new guys and stuff. There's a lot happening here. Just seemed like the right time to do it."
Forster's stable includes Always Enuff, a lightly raced 5-year-old daughter of Tiz Wonderful who has won 2 of 3 career starts. Always Enuff has had two published workouts this year at Oaklawn and could be a stakes candidate, Forster said.
Sports on 01/20/2019