HOT SPRINGS -- Ivan Fallunovalot will defend his two consecutive King Cotton Stakes victories in the 6-furlong, $125,000 feature race at Oaklawn Park today.
Post time for the first of two sprint preliminaries to Oaklawn's Count Fleet Handicap is scheduled for 4:38 p.m.
The second preliminary is the Hot Springs Stakes, scheduled for March 11. The $400,000 Count Fleet is part of the Racing Festival of the South and is scheduled for April 15, the final day of the 2017 meet.
"I'm feeling real good," Ivan Fallunovalot trainer Tom Howard said. "I'm real confident in him."
The King Cotton looked like it would pit Ivan Fallunovalot, a son of Valid Expectations, against two other Oaklawn superstars, but their connections have decided to hold off. Despite optional-claiming success in their season debuts, Alsvid and Whitmore will forgo their first Oaklawn stakes opportunity while likely pointing toward the Hot Springs Stakes.
Alsvid has finished second in the past four King Cottons. Whitmore, whose victory Jan. 15 produced an Oaklawn 6-furlong record for January of 1 minute, 8.81 seconds, finished second last season in the Southwest and Rebel Stakes and third in the Arkansas Derby, the final three of Oaklawn's four-race Kentucky Derby prep series.
Regardless of Alsvid and Whitmore's absence, Howard said he knows his 7-year-old gelding Ivan Fallunovalot, a 6-5 morning-line favorite, will face a tough test in the King Cotton.
"There's some speed in there, and there's some closers, too," Howard said. "We'll have to be alert and stay on the job. It's not going to be easy."
Rockport Cat, a son of Rockport Harbor and trained by Robertino Diodoro, is the morning-line second choice at 5-2, followed by Recount, a son of Limehouse who is trained by James DiVito, at 6-1.
Howard shared a barn this winter at Oklahoma City's Remington Park with fellow trainer Gene Jacquot and said he could not have missed the performances of Jacquot-trained Apprehender, an 8-year-old son of Posse who finished a fast-closing 2¾-lengths behind Whitmore last month.
"I felt real good about that race," Jacquot said. "He ran like I hoped he would. I'm confident that he's going to run well Saturday."
Howard said he counts Jacquot among the nicest men he knows.
"We're good friends," Jacquot said. "We're friends until the gate opens, and then once they cross the line, we're friends again."
Apprehender won the King Cotton in 2013 and 2014.
"He's no pushover, and he knows how to do it," Howard said. "Obviously, he can do it. You don't take those guys too lightly. I know I don't. I take them very serious."
King Cotton Stakes
Purse $125,000, 4-year-olds and up, 6 furlongs, post time 4:38 p.m.
PP HORSE JOCKEY ODDS
1 Helookedthepart Rocco 20-1
2 Ivan Fallunovalot Borel 6-5
3 Mr. Z St. Julien 20-1
4 Apprehender Birzer 10-1
5 Storm Advisory Franco 10-1
6 Conquest Twister Santana 12-1
7 Recount Landeros 6-1
8 Rockport Kat Vazquez 5-2
9 Crewman Osorio 20-1
Sports on 02/04/2017