HOT SPRINGS -- Just about everything Uncontested has done on the racetrack has served to confirm an early impression from last fall.
So, it should be no surprise that Uncontested, a winner in 2 of 3 career starts, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite for today's Grade III $500,000 Southwest Stakes for 3-year-olds at Oaklawn Park. Post time is set for 5:04 p.m.
The Southwest is one of two Grade III events scheduled for the track's 10-race holiday card, the co-feature being the $500,000 Razorback Handicap for older horses.
But four months ago, Uncontested was an unraced 2-year-old when he caught the eye of trainer Wayne Catalano on the morning of Oct. 9 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky.
Uncontested's 6-furlong breeze in 1:12.80 startled Catalano, who said it was one of the two most impressive works he had seen since he began training in 1983.
Catalano said he reached for his telephone to call co-owner Rosenblum moments after the work was over.
"I told Harry that the work was unbelievable," Catalano said.
At first, Rosenblum said, he didn't know which horse Catalano was talking about. But Rosenblum said he perked up once Catalano made it clear.
"I said, 'Well, how did he work?' '' Rosenblum said. "And he said, 'Unbelievable. He said it was perfect, that he went out [through 5 furlongs] in 58 and change, very fast."
Ten days later, Uncontested won his first start, at 6½ furlongs, by 6 lengths at odds of nearly 11-1 at Keeneland, despite what was described by an Equibase chart-caller as an awkward start and being geared down in the finish.
Rosenblum said when he bought Uncontested, a son of Tiz Wonderful and a maternal grandson of 1992 Kentucky Derby winner Lil E. Tee, he knew composition and breeding alone indicated the potential for talent. The Oct. 9 workout and subsequent maiden victory on Oct. 19 convinced both men that the potential for talent was indeed there.
Uncontested faded to fourth in his second start, the Nov. 26 Grade II Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs after breaking from the extreme outside post, but the colt more than made amends when winning the 10th running of the Smarty Jones.
Uncontested's winning time in the 1-mile race was 1:36.32, or 1.68 seconds faster than any previous winner.
Jockey Channing Hill, who has ridden Uncontested in the colt's three previous races, has the mount and the No. 3 post position today.
Impressive as Uncontested has been, 12 other Kentucky Derby hopefuls are scheduled to oppose him -- the 2-3-4-5 finishers in the Smarty Jones and eight new shooters -- in the second of Oaklawn's four Road to the Derby prep races.
There are entrees from the stables of Racing Hall of Fame trainers Steve Asmussen, Todd Fletcher, and D. Wayne Lukas, whose trainee Warrior's Club finished fourth in the Smarty Jones. Lukas also trains Dilettante, who will join the competition for the Road to the Kentucky Derby points awarded to Southwest's first four finishers.
Petrov, Rowdy the Warrior, Warrior's Club, and Cu Rahy finished second through fifth in the Smarty Jones. Pletcher, always armed with a barn of well-bred 3-year-olds, shipped One Liner from south Florida. One Liner, who is 2 for 2, arrived in Hot Springs Thursday.
Next up is the Grade II $900,000 Rebel Stakes on March 18 and the Grade I $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 15, the final day of the Oaklawn meet.
There are 37 Road to the Derby Races, including two in Japan and one in the United Arab Emirates.
The Top 20 points earners qualify for a spot in the Kentucky Derby starting gate. Since the current points system replaced graded-stakes earnings for Kentucky Derby qualification in 2013, the most points needed for a spot in the gate came last season with 32. Through the first four seasons, 20 points were the most required.
Uncontested ranks seventh on the Road list with 11 points, including one from his loss at Churchill Downs. Asmussen's trainee Lookin at Lee, by Lookin at Lucky, is eighth with 10 points, earned with second-place finishes in the Iroquois Stakes at Churchill on Sept. 17, the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity Stakes at Keeneland Racecourse in Louisville on Oct. 8, and a fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Park on Nov. 5.
Lookin at Lee, housed at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans for much of the fall and winter, has not raced since the Juvenile. Asmussen said the time off was warranted.
"I thought he did plenty of running last year and wanted to give him a good break," Asmussen said. "He's got plenty of experience, and I thought this was the perfect time to get him up."
Trainer Ron Moquett's has expressed confidence in Petrov, who finished 5¼ lengths behind Uncontested in the Smarty Jones, and Moquett has not wavered.
"We feel really good about our chance," he said.
Moquett said he thought the Southwest field was the most competitive of any of the recent 17-point Road to the Derby races, and that nearly every entrant had a shot at victory.
"Uncontested is the deserving favorite, but no one's going to go off at 1-2 or 4-5," Moquett said.
Track conditions for the Southwest could end up being similar to what horses contended with in the Smarty Jones, which was raced on a sloppy track.
The National Weather Service is calling for a 60-percent chance of rain today in Hot Springs, but wet or dry, Uncontested's connections are eager to go.
"I don't think it matters what surface Uncontested runs on," Rosenblum said. "He's just a fast horse."
Sports on 02/20/2017