Arrogate’s son Apprehend (rail) breaking his maiden at Oaklawn Park in 2021 by a nose. (Coady Photography)
Robert Yates/Oaklawn Park
The first Oaklawn winner sired by the mighty Arrogate has quietly carved out a successful racing career.
Apprehend can boost that resume when he makes his 6-year-old debut in the $75,000 Century Mile Handicap Saturday at Century Mile in Canada. The race is for 3-year-olds and up at 1 mile and 70 yards.
Apprehend, who is based at Hastings Racecourse in Canada, is bidding for his fifth consecutive victory and eighth from 15 starts overall.
Apprehend’s first career victory came Dec. 31, 2021, at Oaklawn when he broke his maiden in a six-furlong event for 2-year-olds. It was one of three winners on the card for trainer Rene Amescua and the first Oaklawn winner for Arrogate, who was North America’s champion 3-year-old male of 2016 and a 2023 inductee into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
Apprehend returned to Southern California-based trainer Peter Miller following his Oaklawn victory (Miller was on a training sabbatical at the time) and, in his next start, captured an entry-level allowance sprint in June 2022 at Santa Anita. Apprehend concluded 2022 with a sixth-place finish in the $300,000 Malibu Stakes (G1) for 3-year-old sprinters in December at Santa Anita.
Unraced in 2023, Apprehend won 4 of 5 races last year (all in Canada), including the $100,000 BC Premier Handicap (G3) for 3-year-olds and up at 1 3/8 miles Oct. 5 at Hastings in his last start.
Apprehend is the 3-1 second choice in the program for the Century Mile Handicap, which drew a field of nine. Apprehend races for trainer Barbara Heads and prominent Canadian owner Peter Redekop, who also campaigned Arkansas-bred sprint star Comedero, a multiple Oaklawn stakes winner.
Apprehend is from the first crop of Arrogate, whose promising stud career was cut short after he was euthanized in June 2020 because of neurological illness. Mirroring his success nationally, 13 offspring of Arrogate have already produced 20 victories to date at Oaklawn. Led by Secret Oath, six victories have been stakes races.
A dazzling allowance winner in the race following Apprehend’s maiden score, Secret Oath returned to capture Oaklawn’s $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes and $300,000 G3-Honeybee Stakes in 2022 and its $350,000 G2-Azeri Stakes in 2023. Secret Oath also won the 2022 G1-Kentucky Oaks, the country’s biggest prize for 3-year-old fillies.
Seize the Grey, from Arrogate’s third and final crop, opened his 3-year-old campaign with a 2024 allowance victory at Oaklawn before capturing the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown, later in the year. Secret Oath and Seize the Grey were trained by the late Hall of Famer, D. Wayne Lukas.
Arrogate was represented by two stakes winners at the 2024-2025 Oaklawn meeting, including Lambeth in the $200,000 Temperence Hill March 28.
Finish Lines
Millionaire multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Red Route One was retired after selling for $550,000 at Tuesday’s Fasig-Tipton July Horses of Racing Age Sale. Stud plans are pending for Red Route One, a 5-year-old son of Gun Runner who raced for his breeder, Winchell Thoroughbreds, and Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Red Route One amassed $2,165,107 in career earnings after winning 6 of 28 starts, including Oaklawn’s $200,000 Bathhouse Row Stakes for 3-year-olds in 2023 and its $500,000 G3-Essex Handicap horses March 22. Both races were 1 1/8 miles. The Bathhouse Row made Asmussen (868 victories) the winningest trainer in Oaklawn history. Red Route One, in his final career start, finished sixth in the $300,000 G3-Cornhusker Handicap last Saturday at Prairie Meadows. Red Route One was purchased by Narvick International. … …
RED ROUTE ONE sells for $550,000 at the July Selected Horses of Racing Age sale! Red Route One (Gun Runner) is a G2W/MGSW whose four graded stakes victories include last year's New Orleans Classic S. (G2) and the Essex H. (G3) earlier this year. Congrats to the connections:
— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) July 8, 2025
B:… pic.twitter.com/Amm2QMas2WOaklawn-raced Calling Card is entered in the $150,000 New York Derby for 3-year-old New York-breds at 1 1/16 miles Monday at Finger Lakes. …
Sarah Shaffer, who spent the last three winters at Oaklawn as an exercise rider, made her training debut July 3 at Ellis Park. Shaffer, 41, worked for trainer Mike Maker in 2023-2024 at Oaklawn and for trainer Lindsay Schultz last season at Oaklawn. Shaffer has also worked as a traveling assistant for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.Shaffer has a home about 10 minutes from Oaklawn and plans to make Arkansas and Kentucky her year-round circuit. …
Trainer Norman McKnight enters Thursday with 996 career North American victories, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization. McKnight has 87 career Oaklawn victories, including nine at the 2024-2025 meeting. McKnight splits his time between Oaklawn and Woodbine in his native Canada.
