HOT SPRINGS -- Plans can change at the lift of a hoof in horse racing, and today's Grade III Honeybee Stakes for 3-year-old fillies is a good example.
A matchup between undefeated Promise Me Silver and Juvenile filly champion Take Charge Brandi will not take place in the 1 mile and 1/16th race, a $150,000 event seen as a steppingstone for Oaklawn's Fantasy Stakes and the Kentucky Oaks down the road.
More ambitious plans took Take Charge Brandi out of the running today, and winter weather changed the direction of Promise Me Silver.
A field of eight is still expected to go to the post at 4:38 p.m., led by Sarah Sis, the runner-up in the Dixie Belle and Martha Washington Stakes who is less than a length away from being two-time stakes winner.
Sarah Sis' chance for victory might be better without Promise Me Silver and Take Charge Brandi, but trainer Ingrid Mason said a serious challenge remains.
"Anytime you're in a stakes race, you're running with tough horses," she said. "We probably have a better chance now, but these horses will be tough."
Mason was speaking of the other top contenders: Pangburn, Oceanwave, and Super Saks.
Also on today's card, seven older colts and geldings are entered in the $100,000 Hot Springs Stakes, including budding star Ivan Fallunovalot, winner of the King Cotton Stake on Feb. 7 at Oaklawn.
Ivan Fallunovalot, a 5-year-old gelding by Valid Expectations, has won 9 of 15 lifetime starts, including his first two this year at Oaklawn. Trained by Tom Howard, Ivan Fallunovalot won a Jan. 22 $50,000 optional claiming race over 6 furlongs in 1:09.74, good for a Beyer Speed Figure of 108. Sixteen days later, Feb. 7, he won the King Cotton in 1:08.94 and was credited with a 105 Beyer figure.
"The last performance was great," Howard said. "But I felt confident that he'd run a real good race right back, as I do about tomorrow. I feel good about a big race tomorrow. I like our spot right now. We all like our spot. We're all happy about it but, still, these things, they come and they go. We enjoy it while it lasts."
"The way Ivan Fallunovalot is running right now, he looks like he'd be competitive against any sprinter in the country," Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope said.
The Hot Springs Stakes has a post time of 3:39 p.m.
The entrants of both races have had to deal with the winter weather that has altered training on a daily basis.
"Training a horse is like training any athlete," Mason said. "You try to strategize the way you do it to have the horse at its athletic best on race day, but it's difficult to do with the situation at hand. You just have to make the best of it."
Oaklawn officials allowed Sarah Sis and several other stakes entrants to gallop between the second and third races of Friday's card.
Sarah Sis will make her third start of the meet.
She was beaten a neck by undefeated Promise Me Silver in the Dixie Bell Stakes on Jan. 15, and was beaten a head by juvenile fillies champion Take Charge Brandi in the Martha Washington Stakes on Jan. 31.
Weather is not expected to be a factor in either race today with sunny skies and temperatures in the 50s in the forecast, much different than earlier this week.
Ice and snow fell across most of Arkansas on Wednesday night and Thursday morning to eliminate Thursday's card. It was the seventh day this season Oaklawn has had to cancel or postpone races, one short of the all-time record set in 2011. Interruptions in racing and training has burdened trainers and many Oaklawn employees from the first weekend forward.
"This weather plays havoc with all of us involved in racing," Pope said. "I'm trying to card races, but it's hard on the trainers, too. Can they keep their training up? Do they feel like their horses are doing well enough to perform when they're not used to their routine? Mother nature affects everyone involved."
That's why Promise Me Silver is going to scratch from the field.
Trainer Bret Calhoun said his filly, undefeated after her first six starts, would remain stabled at Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La.
"With the track conditions at this time, I'm just going to wait and run her in a different spot," Calhoun said.
Connections for Eclipse Award winner Take Charge Brandi decided earlier this week to race her in next Saturday's Rebel Stakes, a Grade II Kentucky Derby prep race.
So it goes.
Sports on 03/07/2015