Track undercard brims with quality

Caddo River wins The Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 22, 2021, at Oaklawn. - Photo courtesy of Coady Photography
Caddo River wins The Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 22, 2021, at Oaklawn. - Photo courtesy of Coady Photography

Race 3 today at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort risks getting overlooked on the Rebel Stakes undercard.

An upper-level allowance at a mile and one-sixteenth for older horses valued at $106,000, the eight entered include Oaklawn stakes winner Caddo River and Thomas Shelby, twice stakes placed at the 2021-22 meeting.

The 2021 Smarty Jones winner at 3 for trainer Brad Cox, Caddo River, a 5-year-old Shortleaf Stable homebred, here makes his first start for Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Lukas. Thomas Shelby, at 7, moves to the barn of past New York leading trainer David Jacobson, who recently scored his first local victory.

At the risk of burying the lead, the horse to watch is Max Player in his local debut for Steve Asmussen after campaigning for Linda Rice. Honor Code's son, now 6, won the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga and the Grade 2 Suburban at Belmont Park in 2021 under Ricardo Santana Jr., his pilot today. Max Player, the Grade 3 Withers winner in 2020, has not raced since he was fourth defending the Suburban title in July but shows steady local works for the last month.

Caddo River, the 2021 Arkansas Derby runner-up, strung together three straight wins last year, including two at Oaklawn, and lost by a neck to Spa City in a Jan. 21 allowance. He was scratched from last week's Grade 3 Razorback Handicap, won by Willis Horton's Last Samurai, also in Lukas' barn.

Thomas Shelby, a Curlin gelding who can stretch his speed, is 4-for-9 at a mile and one-sixteenth, placing in the Fifth Season and Grade 3 Razorback last year. Several in the race, including four-time Oaklawn winner Background, exit a Feb. 11 allowance in the mud that Asmussen trainees and past Hot Springs stakes winner Silver Prospector and Super Stock ran one-two.

Others entered include meet winners Frosted Grace, with services of track leaders Robertino Diodoro training and Cristian Torres riding, and Ron Moquett-trained Trident Hit.

Note the 1:03 p.m. post time for a race of stakes quality but here slotted behind three stakes events.

Carousel: Those with long memories might recall a day when the Carousel Stakes, then a target for older male sprinters, carried different conditions than today's 44th running. Nobody then thought to see the previous year's Fantasy-winning filly or another distaffer with back-to-back stakes wins over the track.

Fantasy winner Yuugiri and Pretty Birdie, both 4, stand out in the 11-horse field with two-time meet winner Hazy Command screaming for attention. Yuugiri, who beat next-out stakes winner Hot and Sultry with authority in a Dec. 30 sprint prep, stays short for the first time in eight career races. Rodolphe Brisset keeps Santana in the saddle on the Shackleford filly, winning the Fantasy with Florent Geroux riding.

Pretty Birdie represents the late Marylou Whitney, whose gifts to the sport exceeded that of being the socialite wife of the late Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney. A Whitney product all the way (Bird Song out of Bird Sense), this filly won the Purple Martin last March and the Poinsettia in December. David Cabrera, last year's Oaklawn champion despite a meet-ending injury late, keeps the mount for trainer Norm Casse, 10-for-19 at the meet starting Friday.

Take Charge Lorin, fourth in the 2021 Fantasy and third in a Jan. 7 allowance, shortens back under the banner of late owner-breeder Horton with Lukas naming Gabriel Saez to ride. Novel Squall, with Isaac Castillo up, has two local wins for trainer John Ortiz as does former claimer I'm the Boss of Me (Francisco Arrieta) for Greg Compton.

The Carousel, as race 7, goes at 3:06 p.m.

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