HOT SPRINGS — Split race won’t cut into purse
If the Grade III Southwest Stakes for 3-year-olds is split into divisions Monday at Oaklawn Park is split, each half will carry the original $250,000 purse, Oaklawn General Manager Eric Jackson said.
“We would have to,” Jackson said.
The Southwest, a major two-turn test for the $1 million Grade I Arkansas Derby on April 14, appears it will be split because as many as 21 horses remain under consideration for the race.
Oaklawn’s starting gate can accommodate 14 horses.
If more than 14 are entered in the Southwest, starting preference is given to horses with the highest earnings in unrestricted races.
But earnings wouldn’t come into play if Oaklawn decides to split the mile race.
The Southwest closed Friday with 88 nominations.
The Southwest was last split in 2002, with each division worth $75,000.
The race, which was then ungraded, was originally worth $75,000 that year.
A Grade III race today requires a purse of at least $100,000 to be considered for grading by the American Graded Stakes Committee.
Graded stakes earnings are important for 3-year-olds since the Kentucky Derby is limited to 20 starters.
If more than 20 horses enter the Kentucky Derby, starting preference is given to horses with the highest earnings in graded stakes races.
Rulings
Stewards have suspended jockey Martin Escobar three racing days (Friday-Sunday) for a riding infraction last week.
Escobar was cited for allowing his mount, Texas Air, to drift down and cause Beauty’s Pioneer to steady in midstretch and lose an opportunity for a higher placing in Friday’s second race.
Texas Air, the original second-place finisher, was disqualified and placed fourth.
Beauty’s Pioneer was elevated from fourth to third.
Ron Moquett of Hot Springs became the eighth trainer at the meeting to be fined $100 by stewards for failing to notify the identifier that his horse was racing as a gelding for the first time.
Information such as the alteration of a horse’s sex is important to some handicappers since horses can show improvement when racing as geldings for the first time.
Mendenhall, trained by Moquett, won Saturday’s second race, the gelding’s first start since July 13 at Delaware Park.
Stewards have made a trainer’s failure to notify the alteration of a horse’s sex a point of emphasis at the meeting.
State steward Stan Bowker said his office received a call late last month from a contestant in the 13th annual Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas.
The contestant wanted to know if any horses running that day at Oaklawn would be announced as geldings, Bowker said.
“It’s a point that a lot of handicappers have made an emphasis of,” Bowker told the Arkansas State Racing on Saturday morning. “Some states are looking at very severe penalties. We’ve already told the trainers here that it better not happen again because it’s going to be a lot more than $100.” Dangerous victory
Tiz Dangerous, owned by Alex and JoAnn Lieblong of Conway and trained by Steve Hobby of Hot Springs, returned from a 22-month layoff to break his maiden sprinting in Sunday’s ninth race.
Tiz Dangerous, a 5-year old son of Tiznow, hadn’t started since April 10, 2010, at Oaklawn.
“Maybe now we can afford to feed him,” Alex Lieblong said.
Lieblong said Tiz Dangerous has only made four lifetime starts because he continued to grow at 2 and 3 and underwent a stem cell procedure on a tendon last year.
Tiz Dangerous was also gelded to keep him as calm as possible during his recovery from stem cell therapy, Lieblong said.
“He had a hell of a vet bill,” Lieblong said.
The Lieblongs purchased Tiz Dangerous for $350,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling sale.
Tiz Dangerous ran in three tough maiden allowance races during 2010 Oaklawn meeting, hooking, among others, Endorsement, who went on to win the $800,000 Grade III Sunland Park Derby.
Tiz Dangerous made his first three starts at 1 1-16 miles, but the gelding will continue to sprint in the immediate future, Alex Lieblong said.
“He was cut out to be a nice horse,” Lieblong said.
Final furlong
State steward Stan Bowker said stewards will meet with jockey Shane Laviolette on Thursday after he misjudged the finish line in Sunday’s second race. Laviolette briefly stopped riding C J Jones near the sixteenth pole with a lead of about three-quarters of a length over Gottahope.
Gottahope, on the outside, went on to a half-length victory over C J Jones in the 6-furlong race for older $7,500 filly and mare claimers. … Jockey Ken Shino escaped serious injury after being unseated in Sunday’s first race. Shino went to the ground after A Scars Value stumbled just after the start. The horse was caught by an outrider without incident after the race ended. … Jockey Calvin Borel (illness) took off all his mounts Sunday. … Saturday will be the first 10-race program of the meeting. There will also be 10 races next Monday. David Longinotti, Oaklawn’s assistant general manager/ racing, said Oaklawn will have 10 races the remainder of the meeting on Saturday, a holiday and once Daylight Saving Time beings March 11. … Training was delayed approximately 90 minutes Sunday morning after overnight temperatures dipped to 19 degrees, Longinotti said. Track superintendent Jamie Richardson was on the track “pretty much all night” to keep it from freezing, Longinotti said. Training was held Sunday from 8:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m. and without a break to renovate the racing surface, Longinotti said. The track was rated fast Sunday and produced fast times.
Day 20 glance
ATTENDANCE 4,696 ON-TRACK HANDLE $453,203.40 OFF-TRACK HANDLE $1,874,123.62 TOTAL HANDLE $2,327,327.02 SATURDAY’S INSTANT RACING HANDLE $605,248.65 CLASSIX CARRYOVER $9,940.28 SUNDAY’S STARS Trainers Allen Milligan and Scott Becker each won two races.
Both of Becker’s winners came for owner William Stiritz, an Arkansas native.
Chicago-based Midwest Thoroughbreds, Oaklawn’s runaway leading owner this year, won two races.
THURSDAY’S TIMES First post for the nine races is 1:30 p.m. Gates open at 11 a.m.
TELEVISION TVG (live full card) THURSDAY’S SIMULCASTING SCHEDULE Aqueduct (11:20 a.m.), Tampa Bay Downs (11:25 a.m.), Gulfstream Park (11:35 a.m.), Laurel (11:35 a.m.), Fair Grounds (12:40 p.m.), Golden Gate Fields (2:45 p.m.), Santa Anita (3 p.m.), Penn National (5 p.m.), Delta Downs (5:45 p.m.), Charles Town (6:15 p.m.)
Sports, Pages 16 on 02/13/2012