While Oaklawn Stakes winner Mr. Big News is passing the Arkansas Derby, Farmington Road and Taishan, second and third, respectively, are pointing for the 1 1/8-mile race. Post positions for the Arkansas Derby will be drawn Sunday, with Baffert expected to have two unbeaten entrants in Nadal (3 for 3) and Charlatan (2 for 2). Nadal won the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) March 14, traditionally the final major local Arkansas Derby prep.
Multiple stakes winner Hot Shot Kid, Canterbury Park’s 2019 Horse of the Year, is scheduled to make his 2020 debut in Friday’s ninth race, an allowance sprint. Also entered is lightly raced Volatile (2 for 3), an $850,000 son of Violence for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.
Multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Gray Attempt is scheduled to make his comeback in Saturday’s sixth race, an allowance sprint for older horses, for trainer Jinks Fires of Hot Springs and owner Dwight Pruett of Texarkana, Ark. Gray Attempt hasn’t run since opening day, Jan. 24, because of stomach ulcers, Fires said. Also entered in the 6-furlong race are Wilbo, winner of the $125,000 King Cotton Stakes for older sprinters in 2018 for trainer Chris Hartman, and 5-2 program favorite St. Joe Bay, a multiple graded stakes winner and recent arrival from Southern California for trainer John Sadler.
Carlos Sixes (1:57 2/5) equaled the 1 3/16-mile track record when timed in fifths of a second, in the seventh race April 16. Carlos Sixes ($12.40) represented the fourth victory at the meet for apprentice jockey Charles Roberts.
Oaklawn Park Press Release
Photo: Mr. Big News and Gabriel Saez win the Oaklawn Stakes over Farmington Road. Credit: Coady Photography
