DAY 16 of 56
FIVE-DAY WEEK Today will be the first of five consecutive scheduled days of racing, concluding with a holiday card Monday, with the Grade III $500,000 Southwest Stakes the main attraction. TODAY’S FIRST POST 1:30 p.m.
CLASSIX CARRYOVER $4,055
WAGERING MENU Win-place-show ($2 minimum), exacta ($1 minimum), trifecta ($0.50 minimum), and superfecta ($0.10 minimum) wagering on all races. $1 daily double on the first two races and the eighth and ninth races. $1 CLASSIX (races three through eight). $0.50 Pick-3 (rolling begins with race 2), $0.50 Pick 4 (races 2-5, 6-9).
TODAY’S SIMULCAST MENU 11:35 a.m. Gulfstream Park; 11:50 a.m. Aqueduct; 1:25 p.m. Fair Grounds; 2:45 p.m. Golden Gate; 3 p.m. Santa Anita; 5 p.m. Penn National; 5:15 p.m. Turfway Park; 5:40 p.m. Delta Downs; 6 p.m. Charles Town
SOUTHWEST WINDS
Smarty Jones Stakes winner Discreetness worked a half-mile in :50 Wednesday morning, his final major move for Monday’s Grade III $500,000 Southwest Stakes. Regular rider Jon Court, the sonin-law of the colt’s trainer, Jinks Fires, was aboard Discreetness for the work. Fires called the work “perfect” because “:50” was the time he was seeking from Discreetness.
The 1 1/16-mile Southwest is Oaklawn’s second major prep for the Grade I $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 16 and offers 17 qualifying points toward starting eligibility in the Kentucky Derby, including 10 to the winner. The post-position draw for the race will be held Friday.
A large field is anticipated, including Discreetness, Gordy Florida and Synchrony, the top three finishers in the Smarty Jones, and the Bob Baffert-trained Collected, who won the Grade III $100,000 Sham Stakes on Jan. 9 at Santa Anita. Baffert has won the Southwest four times since 2010. Projected Southwest starter Luna de Loco, who was fourth in the Smarty Jones, worked a half-mile in :50.2 Tuesday morning for six-time Oaklawn training champion Steve Asmussen.
War Stroll is another possible entrant after working 4 furlongs in :50.2 Tuesday for trainer Kenny McPeek. War Stroll broke his maiden at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 28 at Oaklawn in his last start.
FINAL FURLONG
New York-bred stakes winner Get Jets is scheduled to make his 3-year-old debut in a conditioned allowance race Saturday at Oaklawn, trainer Tony Dutrow said. Dutrow said he hopes the 1 1/16-mile race, which would be Get Jets’ first start around two turns, first outside New York and first against open company, is a steppingstone to the Grade II $900,000 Rebel Stakes March 19 at Oaklawn. … The weather forecast for this week looks better than last year, when the track had to cancel its Monday card and push the Southwest Stakes back a week. The Weather Channel is projecting temperatures in the 50s and 60s today and Friday, in the mid 40s over the weekend and in the mid 50s on Monday, with a slight chance of rain.
Information for this report contributed by the Oaklawn media department.