DAY 11
ESTIMATED ATTENDANCE 4,000
ON-TRACK WAGERING $408,559
OFF-TRACK WAGERING $2,186,515
TOTAL WAGERING $2,595,074
CLASSIX CARRYOVER $11,326.05
FIRST POST 1:05 p.m.
TELEVISION TVG (full card)
TODAY’S WAGERING MENU Win-placeshow, exacta, trifecta and superfecta wagering offered on all races. Daily double (races 1-2, 8-9). CLASSIX (races 3-8). Pick-3 (rolling begins with race 2). Pick-4 (races 2-5 races 6-9).
TODAY’S SIMULCASTING SCHEDULE 11:25 a.m. Tampa Bay, 11:30 a.m. Laurel Park, 11:40 a.m. Gulfstream Park, 11:45 Aqueduct, 1:25 p.m. Fair Grounds, 2:30 p.m. Santa Anita, 2:45 p.m. Golden Gate, 5 p.m. Penn National, 5:15 p.m. Turfway Park, 5:30 p.m. Delta Downs, 5:45 p.m. Wheeling (greyhounds), 6 p.m. Charles Town, 6:10 p.m. Sam Houston, 7:30 p.m. Southland (greyhounds), 8 p.m. Los Alamitos
HUMAN STARS
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas saddled his first two winners of the meet after a 0-for-22 start with two wire-towire winners, Shere Khan ($33.60) in the sixth and 3-5 favorite Super Saks ($3.20) in the ninth. Lukas will saddle 2-year-old champion Take Charge Brandi in today’s $100,000 Martha Washington Stakes. … Two-time defending champion jockey champion Ricardo Santana Jr. rode two winners to give him 11 for the season, four behind current leader Ramon Vasquez (15). Santana won on Maybelle Slew ($5.40) in the first and Nearshore ($9.20) in the third.
EQUINE STARS
Take your pick between Street Strategy, a 4-year-old Street Sense colt who displayed a sudden burst of speed on the final turn to win the $60,500 featured eighth at 1 mile by 4 1/4 lengths under Calvin Borel, and Super Saks, a 3-yearold filly who turned the ninth race into such a runaway that Equibase chart caller Jeff Taylor said she arrived at the finish of her 11-length victory “without being asked for her best.” … Street Strategy had not raced since suffering an injury in the Rebel Stakes last March but came back to win for trainer Randy Morse and owner Dave Clark of Little Rock as the second betting choice in the field of eight. … Super Saks showed her thirdplace finish in the opening day Dixie Belle Stakes was no fluke. The daughter of Sky Mesa led until deep stretch before tiring Jan. 15, but there was no backing up Friday. She posted the fastest fractions of the day at each call: 21.87, 45.17, 57.52 and 1:10.31 for 6 furlongs. It will be interesting to see what kind of Beyer Speed Figure she will be credited with, but it was an impressive performance with jockey Terry Thompson along for the ride.
FINAL FURLONG
Trainer Kenny McPeek, who was born in Fort Chaffee, an Army National Guard installation in western Arkansas, said he has purchased a home in the Trivista neighborhood just north of Oaklawn’s property. “I’ve put my Florida home on the market and anticipate spending the next so many years racing and training at Oaklawn,” McPeek told Oaklawn’s media relations department. McPeek, a player on the national stage, has shifted his base from Florida to Oaklawn for the 2015 meeting. He has approximately 25 horses this year at Oaklawn, with a smaller string at Sam Houston Race Park in Texas. McPeek’s return to Oaklawn was based, in part, because the trainer has horses for Arkansas lumberman John Ed Anthony. McPeek has 1,422 victories since 1985, according to Equibase, with purse earnings of more than $64 million. He spoiled War Emblem’s Triple Crown bid with Sarava in the 2002 Belmont and saddled the Anthony-owned Atigun to a third-place finish in the 2012 Belmont.