HOT SPRINGS -- Horsemen around the nation will watch.
The $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for three-year-olds, scheduled for a 4:38 p.m. start at Oaklawn Park today, is among this holiday weekend's most significant early season preparatory races for the May 2 Kentucky Derby, horse racing's pinnacle.
Smarty Jones gained prominence at Oaklawn in 2004 and won the Kentucky Derby that May at Churchill Downs, a feat significant enough to warrant a race named in his honor.
Nine horses are entered in the Smarty Jones, and all of them, for the time being, carry the Derby dreams of their owners, trainers and jockeys.
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas reiterated last week that the Kentucky Derby is why he and everyone with whom he deals is in this game. He said that anyone who says anything else is "lying through their teeth."
Lukas has trained four Kentucky Derby winners, and the winners of 14 Triple Crown races, which include the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
Lukas-trained Mr. Z is the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the Smarty Jones, one of Derby trail's early yet significant starting points.
Mr. Z, a well-traveled son of Malibu Moon, has not won since his June 6-furlong debut at Churchill Downs, but he has never finished worse than fifth in seven subsequent graded stakes races, and has been in the top three in six of his eight career starts.
A third-place finish in the Grade I Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 14 might have been his most impressive effort. Mr. Z lost by a head in a three-way photo finish with Dortmund and Firing Line. Dortmund won the 1 1/16th-mile race in a track record 1:40.80 seconds.
No other horse in the field has raced more than six times, but Lukas, 79, said his colt needs the work. Earlier he thought he would hold Mr. Z out for Oaklawn's $300,000 Grade III Southwest Stakes, scheduled for Feb. 16, but changed his mind after Mr. Z's 5-furlong breeze on Jan. 12, the fastest workout of 30 horses who trained at the distance that morning.
"I was going to wait, but he's so tough, I think he will benefit from racing," Lukas said. "The secret of training race horses, in my opinion, or training any kind of athlete, is to read the athlete. Eight races for him is OK. Eight races for another one might be devastating. You got to play with what you have in front of you. He seems to thrive on it. In fact, he's still running a little bit green. He's still learning."
Jon Court, who has ridden Oaklawn-prepped horses in the past three Kentucky Derbys, is scheduled to ride Mr. Z. He, like Lukas, knows the importance of the Smarty Jones and the role it plays in their pursuit of the Derby.
"I don't have to win the Kentucky Derby to be able to say I've had a successful career when I retire, but it is the dream of everyone in this business," Court said. "Just the fact that you've ridden in it is a testimony to your career. Any time you go anywhere in the public, they say, 'Oh, you're a jockey,' and the first question they ask is, 'Have you ever ridden in the Kentucky Derby?' And depending on how you answer that question, you can imagine what the next question is. 'Well, have you ever won the Kentucky Derby?' "
Several other colts will likely receive strong backing from bettors, including Hebbronville, trained by Lynn Whiting, with Shaun Bridgmohan the scheduled rider, and Bayered, trained by Steve Asmussen. Both are listed on the morning line at 9-2. Ramon Vazquez has been named to ride Bayered.
"I am very confident aboard this horse," Vazquez said through his agent Ruben Munoz, his spanish translator. "And I know I am in very good hands with the caretaker, with [Asmussen.]"
Asmussen has trained two Arkansas Derby winners, the final prep race at Oaklawn for the Kentucky Derby, and two winners of the Preakness Stakes.
Bayered, a son of Speightstown, has won 3 of 5 career starts, including the $255,000 Springboard Mile at Oklahoma City's Remington Park on Dec. 14, when Vazquez rode Bayered for the first time, scoring a narrow victory over Shotgun Kowboy.
Hebbronville, trained by Whiting, finished second to Blofeld in the Grade II, 6-furlong Belmont Futurity Stakes on Oct. 5. Hebbronville's only previous attempt at a race around two turns, the Grade II Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack, was compromised from the start and jockey Jose Lezcano eased the Kentucky bred son of Majesticperfection in the stretch.
"He felt uncomfortable to the rider, and the rider was just taking care of the horse," said Whiting, who trained Lil E. Tee, the 1992 Kentucky Derby winner. "Afterward he never showed us an infirmity. He's had regular training patterns since and done everything we've asked him to do. I saw no compromise in him from a standpoint of soundness.
"In that instance, you're gratified the rider was intent on taking care of him and not just gone hell-bent down the racetrack."
Shaun Bridgmohan is scheduled to ride Hebbronville today.
Far Right, 6-1 on the morning line, is coming off a troubled third-place finish behind winner Ocho Ocho Ocho and Mr. Z in the Grade III $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot in Vinton, La., on Nov. 14.
Far Right encountered trouble in that race. Today, trainers, jockeys and owners are looking for any excuse to continue their pursuit for an entry at Churchill Downs on May 2.
"Every rider dreams of riding in the Derby, and that would be the biggest accomplishment I could have," said Vazquez, who has not had a Derby mount. "Bayered gives me this opportunity. He's still learning, but he's a good horse."
Sports on 01/19/2015