Unlike the names of, say, Cox's Ridge and Temperence Hill, Caddo River requires less mind strain than most horses racing in the silks of John Ed Anthony.
The Hot Springs lumberman, with offices in Bearden, names many after south Arkansas landmarks. That doesn't always translate into success but it provided the back story for Arkansas Derby winners Temperence Hill (1980) and Pine Bluff (1992) and Eclipse Award winners Vanlandingham (1985) and Prairie Bayou (1993).
Off early returns, Caddo River may be of similar quality. Anthony and trainer Brad Cox should learn more when the homebred Hard Spun colt goes today in the $150,000 Smarty Jones. Highlighting Oaklawn Park's opening-day card, the one-mile race for 3-year-olds offers 17 qualifying points (10-4-2-1) for the May 1 Kentucky Derby, the only Triple Crown race that Anthony, 81, has not won.
Anthony named Caddo River for the stream that flows through Glenwood, frequented by canoers but sometimes topping its banks after spring storms.
"The Caddo River is a beautiful stream," Anthony said. "I keep a long list of potential names, and this was a promising horse. I thought the name fit very well. That was the reason I chose it. I can't tell you how many horses I've given good names that didn't work out. Of course, I've wasted some really good names on some horses that turned out not to be good racehorses. But you always hope that the good name will attach to a good horse."
Caddo River made three starts at 2, placing second in two seven-furlong races in New York before romping by 9 1/2 lengths in a one-turn mile at Churchill Downs. The odds-on favorite, he posted a career-high 83 Beyer Speed Figure, earning inclusion to the first Kentucky Derby Future Wager in late November. Caddo River also is included in KDFW pool 2, which coincides with the colt's 3-year-old debut in the Smarty Jones.
Caddo River's last of four published workouts at Oaklawn came Jan. 16 with five furlongs, in company, in 1:00.40. Caddo River gives Cox another Kentucky Derby prospect in a year that presumptive champion Essential Quality, the unbeaten Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner, heads the trainer's 3-year-old stable.
Like others, Anthony wants a first-hand look at Caddo River, whose Shortleaf Stable also raced the colt's dam, Pangburn, twice stakes placed in 3-year-old stakes at Oaklawn in 2015.
"This COVID has cramped our style across the board, and so I'm not as familiar with the horse as I normally would be," Anthony said. "I usually smoke them over in the spring in Ocala and then again in the summer, sometimes up at Saratoga. But last year, as you know, that wasn't, I guess, appropriate, certainly for a man of my age. I know him by what I'm being told and, of course, Brad thinks highly of him and feels like, as Brad says, 'This is a good horse.' So, we'll see how good."
With his first Smarty Jones starter, Anthony seeks a career sweep of Oaklawn's Kentucky Derby point races. He has three victories in the Southwest, five in the Rebel and three in the Arkansas Derby, though his last such Oaklawn victory came in 1993 with Dalhart in the Rebel.
Florent Geroux rides Caddo River for Cox with 115 pounds from post seven. Caddo River is 5-2 second choice in the program to 9-5 Cowan, the Springboard Mile runner-up at Remington Park for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. Ricardo Santana Jr. rides Cowan, also weighted at 115, from post three.
Alex and JoAnn Lieblong, of Conway, send out Big Thorn, who won the $60,000 off-the-turf Juvenile Turf Stakes Nov. 22 at Gulfstream Park West. Giving Asmussen a second Smarty Jones starter, Big Thorn is a homebred son of Grade 1 winner The Big Beast. David Cabrera rides from post four.
Also entered, from the rail out, are Martini Blu, 115, Francisco Arrieta; Lawlessness, 115, David Cohen; Hardly Swayed, 115, Martin Garcia; and Moonlite Strike, 115, Joe Talamo.
Oaklawn's 3-year-old Derby preps continue with the Grade 3 $750,000 Southwest Feb. 15, followed by the Grade 2 $1 million Rebel March 13 and the Grade 1 $1 $1 million Arkansas Derby April 10.