AT THE POST
DAY 21 of 57
THURSDAY'S ATTENDANCE 3,000
THURSDAY'S ON-TRACK HANDLE $275,333
THURSDAY'S TOTAL HANDLE $1,923,605
THURSDAY'S PICK-5 PAYOUT $2,657.45
TODAY'S SIMULCAST SCHEDULE Laurel Park, 11:30 a.m.; Gulfstream Park, 11:35 a.m.; Tampa Bay, 11:35 a.m.; Aqueduct, 11:50 a.m.; Fair Grounds, 1:25 p.m.; Golden Gate, 2:45 p.m.; Santa Anita, 3 p.m.; Penn National, 5 p.m.; Turfway Park, 5:15 p.m.; Delta Downs, 5:40 p.m.; Charles Town, 6 p.m.; Palm Beach (greyhounds), 6 p.m.; Daytona Beach (greyhounds), 6:25 p.m.; Sam Houston, 7:10 p.m.; Southland (greyhounds), 8:30 p.m.; Los Alamitos, 9 p.m.
THURSDAY'S STARS
Jockey Eduardo Perez won the first and fifth races to improve his season total to seven victories in 60 starts. Perez rode Mr. Pippins to a 1/2-length victory over Brother Louis in the first race. Mr. Pippins' time in the 6-furlong race was 1:12.76 and paid $3.80, $2.40 and $2.20. Perez rode Chocolate Wildcat to a 4 ¼-length victory over Areed, paying $42.60, $16.60 and $8 with a winning time of 1:10.01 in the 6-furlong race.
LONG SHOT WINNER
Geris Hand, a 99-1 long shot in the ninth race won by 1 ¼ lengths over I Suspect Taylor. Geris Hand started in the sixth post position, was ninth by 9 1/4 lengths, moved to eighth by seventh lengths by the half-mile pole before moving into second place by two lengths at the stretch. Geris Hand, ridden by Eduardo Gallardo and trained by Donald Caudill, paid $228, $47.80 and $26 to show. The exacta with I Supsect Taylor returned $367.10, the trifecta adding Stellastellastella paid $1,192.95 and the superfecta with Lost Shakerofsalt paid $410.24. With Noble Feud and Snickerboxer, the Pick 3 paid $2,677.85. The Pick 4 with Rank paid $17,115.40 and the Pick 5 with Chocolate Wildcat paid $2,657.45. Geris Hand is a dark bay colt owned by Hugo E. Torres.
JOINING THE CLUB
Warrior's Club tuned up for Monday's $500,000 Southwest Stakes for 3-year-olds by working an easy 3 furlongs Thursday morning for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. He covered the distance over a fast track in :37 approximately five minutes after the track opened. Warrior's Club, who races for the non-profit Churchill Downs Racing Club, will be ridden in the 1 1/16-mile Southwest by Chris Landeros, Lukas said Thursday morning. He is coming off a fourth-place finish in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes on Jan. 16. The winner, Uncontested, splashed to a record-setting 5 ¼-length wire-to-wire victory over a sloppy track. Lukas also plans to start Jan. 29 maiden graduate Dilettante in the Southwest and said Florent Geroux would ride the Unbridled's Song colt Monday. "It will be a different race, and, hopefully, the track will be dry and that may change things, too," Lukas said. Other horses scheduled to run in the Southwest include Chief Know It All (Joe Rocco Jr. to ride), Cu Rahy (Glenn Corbett), Hence (Ramon Vazquez), Lookin At Lee (Ricardo Santana Jr.), Petrov (Jose Ortiz), P C Cowboy (Carlos Marquez Jr.), Rowdy the Warrior (Luis Quinonez), Silver Dust (Corey Lanerie) and Uncontested (Channing Hill). Post positions for the Southwest will be drawn today.
NO SALE
Harry Rosenblum, co-owner of Triple Crown nominee Uncontested, said a "real prominent owner" inquired about buying a piece of the colt following his record-setting 5 ¼-length victory in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes on Jan. 16. But Rosenblum said he and Robert LaPenta -- a 50/50 partner in Uncontested -- passed and have no desire to sell. "I have no interest in it, nor does Bob, at this point," Rosenblum said Wednesday morning. Rosenblum purchased Uncontested for $20,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Trained by Wayne Catalano, Uncontested has won 2 of 3 lifetime starts, his only loss a fourth behind unbeaten McCraken in the $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) Nov. 26 at Churchill Downs.
HESS RETURNS
Quiet Kim, the first horse trainer Bob Hess Jr. started at Oaklawn, was the favorite for the $250,000 Fantasy Stakes for 3-year-old fillies in 2006. The odds of the trainer's second scheduled Oaklawn starter will be a bit longer. Hess will travel from his Southern California base to saddle Blue Tone in the $500,000 Razorback Handicap for older horses Monday. The 8-year-old Birdstone gelding is a multiple stakes winner, but the 1 1/16-mile Razorback will have an overwhelming favorite in Gun Runner, a multiple-graded stakes winner of $2,037,800 for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. "I've been watching all the preps and all the horses," Hess said Wednesday afternoon. "Obviously, we were hoping Gun Runner would pass, but we're ready to go. We've been eyeballing races all over, New Orleans, Florida, New York and Oaklawn as well, for quite a while." Hess said he decided on the Razorback because there was nothing for Blue Tone in California and the race is worth a record $500,000 this year, a hefty $150,000 bump from 2016. The horse has won 7 of 25 career races -- including the $200,000 San Gabriel Stakes on Jan. 7 at Santa Anita in his last start -- and bankrolled $558,870. The gelding was a front-running winner of the 1 1/8-mile race, which was transferred from the grass to the main track because of rain. Blue Tone didn't make his career debut until he was 4 because he was a "big monster of a horse," Hess said. "Just lots of little things, but I think he's 8 going on 4, personally," Hess said. Hess said Jose Ortiz, a finalist for an Eclipse Award after leading the country in victories last year, will ride Blue Tone in the Razorback because the gelding's regular jockey, Hall Famer Kent Desormeaux, is "tied up" at Santa Anita. Post positions for the Razorback will be drawn today.
Information for this report was contributed by the Oaklawn media department.
Sports on 02/17/2017