AT THE POST

DAY 9 of 57

ESTIMATED ATTENDANCE 10,000

ON-TRACK HANDLE $729,519

OFF-TRACK HANDLE $3,204,791

TOTAL HANDLE $3,934,310

TODAY’S SIMULCAST SCHEDULE Gulf-stream Park, 11 a.m.; Aqueduct, 11:20 a.m.; Laurel Park, 11:30 a.m.; Tampa Bay, 11:35 a.m.; Sam Houston, noon; Fair Grounds, 1 p.m; Santa Anita, 2:30 p.m.; Golden Gate, 2:45 p.m.

SATURDAY’S STARS

A pair of jockeys picked up two victories apiece Saturday, while trainer Ron Moquett also found the winner’s circle twice. Ricardo Santana Jr. rode his first winner in the 6-furlong third. He guided Kapellmeister ($9.60,$4.60, $3) to a 2¾ -length victory over Lunar Light and Fleet Gold Digger in the nine-horse field. He came back in the sixth, a 1 and 1/16th-mile race, on Rated R Superstar ($6.40, $3, $2.60) to win by ¾ lengths. David Cabrera saved his two victories for the day’s final races. Cabrera rode Moquett’s Swing and Sway to a 7¾ -length win in the 6-furlong American Beauty Stakes before capturing the ninth on Fort Fortitude ($7.20, $4.40, $3). Moquett’s other victory Saturday came in the first on Okbyecya ($18, $7.20, $4.60).

KELSEY DANNER HAS STARTER

Veteran trainer Mark Danner’s daughter, Kelsey, is scheduled to start a horse in today’s third race at Oaklawn. Kelsey Danner, 31, who went out on her own in June, recorded her first career victory Jan. 13 at Turfway Park. Her first scheduled Oaklawn starter, Nan’s Pierce Arrow, races for her breeder and namesake, Nancy Pierce of Hot Springs who turns 89 on March 4. “I’ve known her almost my entire life,” Danner said Saturday morning. “I think my Dad probably started training for her when I was probably around 7 or 8. She’s more family than a client.” Danner said she has 10 horses in training — 6 at Oaklawn and 4 at Keeneland. Before striking out on her own, Danner’s equine work resume included stints under her father and Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

CONTINUING THE STREAK

Trainer Don Von Hemel of Hot Springs needed only six starts at the meet to continue his sustained success at Oaklawn. Von Hemel, Oaklawn’s leading trainer in 1981, won Friday’s ninth race with Bango Box, a front-running neck winner of the 1 1/16-mile event for $20,000 maiden claimers under Richard Eramia. Von Hemel, 83, now has at least one victory at every Oaklawn meeting since 1975, which he said he believes was his first season in Hot Springs. The streak began when Bold Trap, as the 3-2 favorite, captured an entry-level allowance sprint by a nose Feb. 15, 1975, under Danny Whited, who is still active today as a trainer. According to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization, Von Hemel has 426 victories at Oaklawn since 1976, with purse earnings of $8,284,938. Bango Box, who was making his 4-year-old debut, broke his maiden in his ninth lifetime start. The Ice Box gelding was coming off a runner-up finish, beaten a head, against $20,000 maiden claimers Nov. 29 at Remington Park. “He’s doing good and he’s in the right spot,” Von Hemel said. “That gave him a chance to win. The boy rode a good race. Most of them do when they win.” Von Hemel has approximately 10 horses under his care at Oaklawn, including recent arrival Smack Smack for country music star Toby Keith’s Dream Walkin Farms Inc.

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

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