Last Samurai scoring in the Razorback Handicap for D. Wayne Lukas. (Coady Photography)
Oaklawn Handicap Post Draw Monday
Oaklawn Barn Notes by Robert Yates
HOT SPRINGS, Ark.—Post positions for the Oaklawn Handicap and two other stakes races April 22 – $200,000 Bath House Row for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles and the inaugural $150,000 Valley of the Vapors for 3-year-old fillies at 1 mile – will be drawn Monday.
Expected to enter the Oaklawn Handicap are Charge It for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, Classic Causeway (Kenny McPeek), Last Samurai (D. Wayne Lukas) and Proxy (Michael Stidham).
Last Samurai, then trained by Dallas Stewart, won the 2022 Oaklawn Handicap. Under the care of Lukas, Last Samurai won the final two local preps for the Oaklawn Handicap – $600,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 18 and the $500,000 Essex Handicap (G3) at 1 1/16 miles March 18. Grade 1 winner Classic Causeway finished second, beaten a length, in the Essex.
Scheduled starters in the Bath House Row include Victory Formation for trainer Brad Cox and Red Route One for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.
Victory Formation won the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at 1 mile Jan. 1. The Smarty Jones was Oaklawn’s first Kentucky Derby points race. Red Route One ran in the final three legs of Oaklawn’s four-race Kentucky Derby points series, finishing second in the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 28, second in the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 25 and sixth in the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby (G1) at 1 1/8 miles April 1.
The Bath House Row winner, providing it’s Triple Crown nominated, will receive automatic entry into the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown, May 20 at Pimlico.
FINISH LINES
Benton, Ark., owners Heath and Sheena Campbell recorded a career-high three victories Saturday at Oaklawn. The Campbells won the first race with favored R Doc ($4), eighth race with Legendary Gift ($18) and the 10th race with Joe Frazier ($10.40). The triple vaulted the Campbells into a second-place tie in the 2022-2023 Oaklawn owner’s standings with 13 victories through Saturday, Day 58 of the scheduled 68-day meeting. …
Jerry Caroom of Hot Springs topped the standings through Saturday with 14 victories, one more than the Campbells and Ten Strike Racing (founding partners Marshall Gramm and Arkansas native Clay Sanders). Trainer Robertino Diodoro won with R Doc. Trainer Tim Martin saddled Legendary Gift and Joe Frazier. Martin recorded his 150th career Oaklawn victory Friday with Cost Basis ($9). …
Newcomer Ramsey Zimmerman recorded his first career riding double Saturday, winning the third race aboard Promising Shoes ($70.20) for trainer Karl Broberg and the eighth race on Legendary Gift. …
Airtime will “more than likely” make his next start in the $300,000 Texas Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles May 29 at Lone Star Park, Diodoro said Sunday morning. Airtime, in his last start, finished fifth in the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby (G1) at 1 1/8 miles April 1 at Oaklawn. …
Millionaire multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Lone Rock worked 5 furlongs in 1:03.40 over a fast track Sunday morning at Oaklawn for Diodoro in advance of the $175,000 Isaac Murphy Overnight Stakes May 3 at Churchill Downs. Lone Rock has won the Isaac Murphy, a 1 ½-mile race for older horses, the last two years. …
Key of Life, winner of the $150,000 Purple Martin Stakes for 3-year-old filly sprinters March 25 at Oaklawn, was entered in the $400,000 Beaumont Stakes (G2) Sunday at Keeneland for co-owner Staton Flurry of Hot Springs. The Beaumont was for 3-year-old fillies at about 7 furlongs.
