At the post

At the Post

FIRST POST Today's races are canceled

TODAY'S SIMULCAST SCHEDULE 11:20 a.m. Aqueduct; 11:35 a.m. Gulfstream Park; 1 p.m. Fair Grounds; 5 p.m. Penn National; 5:15 p.m. Turfway Park; 5:40 p.m. Delta Downs; 6 p.m. Charles Town

RACING CANCELED

Oaklawn management Wednesday morning canceled Thursday's nine-race card because of frigid temperatures. Central Arkansas has been experiencing near record lows since Monday night, and the decision to cancel racing was made for the safety of the horses and horsemen. Oaklawn will remain open for gaming and simulcast racing. Live racing is scheduled to resume Friday with a 1:30 p.m. first post.

LUKAS GIVES BAFFERT A HAND

Bob Baffert called Mourinho a fast horse leading up to his two-turn debut in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds Monday at Oaklawn. The Hall of Fame trainer was right. Mourinho was sent straight to the lead by regular rider Drayden Van Dyke and cruised to a 3¼-length victory in the 1-mile race, the colt's first outside Southern California. Mourinho's victory allowed Baffert to join fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas as the only trainers to post victories in all four races of Oaklawn's Kentucky Derby prep series. In Baffert's absence, Lukas saddled Mourinho for the Smarty Jones, which was first run in 2008. "It was neat because Wayne's a good friend of mine," Baffert said moments after the race. "To see Wayne down there saddling him and everything, it brought back old memories of the Quarter-Horse times. That was pretty cool." A son of 2010 Kentucky Derby winner and Arkansas Derby runner-up Super Saver, Mourinho was purchased for $625,000 by Phoenix Thoroughbreds III (Kerri Radcliffe). "He's a very fast horse," Baffert said. "He's very quick. Speed is his weapon. On paper, he looked like the fastest horse. He has that early, that natural speed, so we don't want to try to take it away from him or anything like that." Mourinho raced in blinkers Monday after not wearing the equipment in the Bob Hope Grade III Stakes on Nov. 11 at Del Mar. "We took the blinkers off to get him to relax a little bit, but it was too much," Baffert said. "He was too relaxed. Going seven-eighths, the horse sort of got away from going there, and he was sort of like lost."

MILESTONE WATCH

Trainer Paul Holthus of Hot Springs recorded his 499th career victory, and first of the meeting, when Indian Gem ($15.20) won Monday's third race under newcomer C.J. McMahon. Holthus -- the son of the late Bob Holthus, Oaklawn's all-time leading trainer -- would have reached the 500 milestone long ago, but he quit training during the 1995 Oaklawn meeting to become the agent for jockey Garrett Gomez. "I would hope I get two wins here," Holthus said on the eve of opening day. "If I don't, it's going to be a long dang meet." After taking Gomez's book, Holthus, 56, later became an executive for H.E. "Tex" Sutton Forwarding Company, the famed equine air transporter headquartered in Lexington, Ky. He began planning a training comeback in the fall of 2013. Holthus saddled Signature Event to win the ninth race Jan. 12, 2014, at Oaklawn -- his first victory in almost 20 years -- for wife Nancy, a member of Oaklawn's media relations department. "Five hundred, to me, is not that big of a milestone," Paul Holthus said. "But I would love to win a race." Holthus saddled his first career winner in 1980, according to Equibase, rand has 84 overall at Oaklawn, where he had 15 horses to begin the 2018 meeting. Trainer Ron Moquett of Hot Springs has 199 career Oaklawn victories after Georgia's Reward ($4) won Monday's second race.

Information for this report was contributed by the Oaklawn media department.

Sports on 01/18/2018

Upcoming Events