HOT SPRINGS, Ark.—Full Authority will be pointed to the $150,000 Maryland Sprint Stakes (G3) May 21 at Pimlico following two consecutive allowance victories this year at Oaklawn, co-owner/trainer Greg Compton said.
Full Authority was a 2 ½-length winner March 12, then edged 2021 Maryland Sprint Stakes entrant Seven Nation Army by a neck April 16. Both races were 6 furlongs. The Maryland Sprint Stakes also is 6 furlongs.
“After winning those two races, he deserves a chance at that,” Compton said. “He’ll be solid in those hundred grand races back east all summer, but we’ll give him a shot on Preakness Day in that Maryland Sprint.”
Compton claimed Full Authority, a 5-year-old son of Summer Front, for $40,000 last November at Churchill Downs. The horse had spent the 2021 Oaklawn meeting with trainer Jinks Fires of Hot Springs and finished sixth behind future Grade 1 winner Silver State in the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes for older horses at 1 mile.
“The whole reason I dropped on him was because he ran really good numbers here last year and he never did win,” Compton said. “He was running like second, third and fourth in the allowance races last year here.”
Full Authority has a 5-2-3 record from 26 lifetime starts and earnings of $282,367. He’s earned $155,854 in five starts this year at Oaklawn. Jon Court was aboard for both victories.
Finish Lines
Emmanuel Esquivel, who rode six winners at the 2015 Oaklawn meeting, will ride the final six days of the 2021-2022 Oaklawn meeting that ends May 8, his agent, Joe Santos, said in a text message Thursday morning. Esquivel’s six victories in 2015 at Oaklawn included the $100,000 Pippin Stakes and $100,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3). Both victories were aboard Mufajaah for trainer Dan Peitz. Esquivel was based this winter at Turfway Park. … Jockey Alex Canchari entered Thursday with 990 career victories, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization. Canchari has 207 career victories at Oaklawn, including nine at the 2021-2022 meeting. … The $200,000 Arkansas Breeders’ Championship Stakes for state-breds at 1 1/16 miles closed April 22 with 20 nominations. The May 7 Arkansas Breeders’ Championship is the final stakes race of the 2021-2022 Oaklawn meeting. … Tiago Pereira recorded his first career Oaklawn riding triple Sunday, winning the second race aboard favored Undecoded ($4.60) for trainer Jimmy DiVito, fifth race aboard favored Press Snooze ($6.80) for trainer Lynn Chleborad and the ninth race aboard Choctaw Charlie ($17.40) for Chleborad. Pereira, riding regularly for the first time this season at Oaklawn, is represented by agent Gary Stevens, the retired Hall of Fame jockey. … Oaklawn has raised the purse for the Trail’s End, a 1 ¾-mile starter-allowance event May 8, from $75,000 to a record $125,000. The Trail’s End is traditionally the final race of the Oaklawn meeting. … Through Sunday, Day 60 of the scheduled 66-day meeting, 636 claims had totaled $12,922,500. … Millionaire Tenfold is entered in Keeneland’s April Horses of Racing Age Sale. The one-day sale is Friday. Tenfold, a 7-year-old son of Curlin, is based at Oaklawn and will be offered remotely. Tenfold finished third in the $150,000 Temperence Hill Stakes for older horses at 1 ½ miles April 3.
Oaklawn Barn Notes by Robert Yates
Photo: Full Authority (Coady Photography)
