AT THE POST

Jockey Alex Birzer is shown in this file photo.
Jockey Alex Birzer is shown in this file photo.

DAY 17 of 56

FIVE-DAY WEEK Today will be the third of five consecutive scheduled days of racing, concluding with Monday’s holiday card and the Grade III $500,000 Southwest Stakes the main attraction.

FRIDAY’S ATTENDANCE 7,000

FRIDAY’S ON-TRACK WAGERING $489,064

FRIDAY’S TOTAL HANDLE $2,656,105 CLASSIX CARRYOVER $5,904.14

TODAY’S FIRST POST 1:05 p.m.

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 ninth and 10th races. $1 CLASSIX (races three through eight). $0.50 Pick-3 (rolling begins with race 2), $0.50 Pick 4 (races 2-5, 7-10).

TODAY’S SIMULCAST MENU 11:25 a.m. Laurel Park, 11:35 a.m. Gulfstream Park, 11:25 a.m. Tampa Bay, 11:50 a.m. 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, 5:40 p.m. Delta Downs, 6:00 p.m. Charles Town, 6 p.m. Palm Beach (greyhounds), 6:15 p.m. Sam Houston, 6:25 p.m. Daytona Beach (greyhounds), 6:30 p.m. Southland (greyhounds), 7:30 p.m. Los Alamitos

FRIDAY’S STARS

Jockey Alex Birzer won three races to move into fourth place in the standings and leading rider Ricardo Santana Jr., won two races to increase his lead to six over Jon Court and Corey Nakatani. Birzer, 11 victories from 69 starts, won with Arctic Vortex ($14.20) in the second; Chilean Queen ($8.40) in the third and Old Mountain Lane ($16) in the seventh. Santana won the first aboard Reincarnation ($13.40) and with Tapitsphere ($7.40) in the eighth.

ESSEX HANDICAP

Cougar Ridge will try to make it five victories in a row when he faces five other older horses in today’s $100,000 Essex Handicap 1 1/16 miles. Seven horses are entered in the race, but the projected field was reduced to six when 9-5 program favorite Midnight Hawk didn’t board a flight originating in Southern California for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. Oaklawn officials said Midnight Hawk, runner-up in last year’s Grade III $250,000 Razorback Handicap at Oaklawn, apparently stayed home to run in an allowance race at Santa Anita.

The defection of Midnight Hawk leaves Cougar Ridge, trained by Randy Morse, as the probable favorite. Cougar Ridge, a 6-year-old Johannesburg gelding, has won three stakes races during his winning streak, including the $250,000 Delta Mile Nov. 21 in Vinton, La.

Carve, winner of last year’s $100,000 Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn, will be making his first start since being reunited with trainer Steve Asmussen last fall.

A victory today would push Carve, a multiple stakes winner of $959,240, over $1 million in career earnings for owner Mike Langford.

Asmussen claimed Carve for Langford out of his 2013 career debut victory at Oaklawn for $30,000. Carve was transferred to trainer Brad Cox before the 2014 Oaklawn meeting. Carve returned to Asmussen after the 6-year-old gelding finished sixth in the $200,000 West Virginia Governor’s Stakes on Aug. 1 at Mountaineer.

SOUTHWEST WINDS

Fourteen 3-year-olds are entered for Monday’s Grade III $500,000 Southwest Stakes at 1 1/16 miles, with Smarty Jones Stakes winner Discreetness drawing the extreme outside post for trainer Jinx Fires and jockey Jon Court. The morning-line odds have not been established, but two horses trained by Donnie K. Von Hemel — Synchrony and Suddenbreakingnews — will be coupled in the wagering, as will American Dubai and Torrontes. Bird of Trey, trained by John Servis of Smarty Jones fame, is also entered and will be ridden by Joshua Navarro. Smarty Jones won the $2004 Southwest. Hall of Fame jockeys Mike Smith (Whitmore) and Gary Stephens (Z Royal) will fly in from Southern California for the day, as will Martin Garcia, who is scheduled to ride Bob Baffert-trained Collected. Baffert is going for his fifth Southwest victory since 2010.

SUNDAY’S BAYAKOA

Multiple graded-stakes winner Sarah Sis is among nine older fillies and mares entered in Sunday’s Grade III $100,000 Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn. Probable post time for the Bayakoa, the eighth of nine races, is 4:42 p.m. Sarah Sis, trained by Ingrid Mason, stretches out from 6 furlongs to 1 1/16 miles after finishing second in her 4-year-old debut, the $100,000 American Beauty Stakes on Jan. 23. Sarah Sis, who won the Grade III $150,000 Honeybee Stakes last year, is scheduled to break from post 4 under Julio Felix and carry 119 pounds.

WOO PIG!

Hunter Henry, a 4-year-old Arkansas-bred gelding named after the former Arkansas Razorbacks All-American tight end, won his first career race in Thursday’s opener, a $12,500 state-bred maiden-claimer, for owner/trainer Ron Moquett of Hot Springs. Hunter Henry — the horse — was turned out after failing to break his maiden in four starts at the 2015 Oaklawn meeting, specifically to try and win a race this year in Hot Springs. “The only time people are going to see Hunter Henry run in Arkansas is if they come to the track,” Moquett said. Hunter Henry — the tight end — decided last month to enter the NFL Draft rather than return to Arkansas for his senior season. Moquett’s son, Chance, attended Arkansas with Henry.

FINAL FURLONG

There are 10 lives races scheduled today and Monday. … Jockey Walter De La Cruz escaped injury after his mount in the second race, Greeleys Exchange, fell after the start of the 6-furlong race for $10,000 maiden claimers. Thirdplace finisher Kinetic, ridden by Chris Emigh, was disqualified and placed last after stewards ruled Kinetic broke in and caused a chain reaction of interference that led to Greeleys Exchange falling. … Attention Seinfeld fans: Hello Newman, a first-time starter, faded to 11th in the second race at odds of 65 to 1. … Attention, long-shot fans: Highly regarded Wrath of Ruthie, sent off at 1-5 odds, finished third in the ninth race for trainer Steve Asmussen, and it created some lucrative payoffs. Dancing Diva ($91, $31.40, $8.20) won by 5 lengths at nearly 45-1. Northern Connect ($38.20, $11) went off at 42-1 and finished second. The $1 exacta with 4-2 paid $656.20. The $.10 superfecta paid $2,243.24, and it wasn’t even the highest superfecta payoff of the day. The sixth race, won by 16-1 Aunt Ruby’s Kitten, paid $9,247.44 for a $.10 ticket with 8-1 Magic Command running second, 44-1 Da Winner Is running third and 21-1 Jinx the Cat fourth. … The late $.50 Pick 4 paid $47,083.60, combining Aunt Ruby’s Kitten, 7-1 Ole Mountain in the seventh, favored Tapitsphere ($7.40) in the eighth and and Dancing Diva in the ninth.

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