DAY 40 of 57
TODAY'S SIMULCAST SCHEDULE Gulfstream Park, 12:15 p.m.; Keeneland, 2 p.m.; Golden Gate, 2:45 p.m.; Santa Anita, 3 p.m.; Penn National, 5:05 p.m.; Evangeline, 5:50 p.m.; Charles Town, 6 p.m.; Daytona Beach (greyhounds), 6:25 p.m.
APPLE BLOSSOM CONFIRMATION
Multiple stakes winner Escape Clause will run in the Grade I $750,000 Apple Blossom Handicap on April 14, owner/trainer Don Schnell announced earlier this week.
Escape Clause has won 20 of 30 career starts, including the $100,000 Harry Henson Handicap at Sunland Park on March 24, in which she set a track record by running 1 mile in 1:34. Escape Clause is an 18-time stakes winner, owns track records for 6 1/2 and 7 furlongs at Century Downs in Canada and finshed second against males in the 2017 Manitoba Derby at Assiniboia Downs.
"She's been quite a story," Schnell said. "She knows how to win, but we're taking on some monsters in the Apple Blossom. But she deserves one try there."
Schnell said Escape Clause will van to Oaklawn "probably Sunday or Monday" and Tyler Baze will ride the 5-year-old Canadian-bred daughter of Going Commando in the Apple Blossom. Baze had ridden Escape Clause in her past three starts, including a 5 1/2-length victory in the Grade III $100,000 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 12. Escape Clause won the Harry Henson by 7 1/4 lengths.
The Apple Blossom, among the country's most prestigious events for older fillies and mares, closed last week with 18 nominations.
QUIP RETURNS
Grade II winner Quip will return to Oaklawn for the Grade II $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap on April 13, trainer Rodolphe Brisset said Monday.
Quip finished second in last year's $1 million Arkansas Derby. He raced just once more last year, finishing eighth in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. Quip ran third in his comeback race, the $100,000 Grade III Hal's Hope Stakes on Feb. 23 at Gulfstream Park, where he was beaten by 7 1/4 lengths after dueling through a 45-second half-mile.
"We got a pretty good race off the layoff," Brisset said. "We felt that he needed it. I think he kind of answered my question about going back to two turns or staying at one turn. It looks like the two turns is going to be more the thing to do. Just the way the race set up in Gulfstream, the 45 seconds may have been too much for him."
Brisset said Quip has trained very well since the Hal's Hope, logging four published workouts in March at Payson Park Training Center in south Florida.
"I'm hoping that race is really going to fit him perfect," Brisset said of the Oaklawn Handicap.
Brisset said Quip will be flown to Arkansas on April 10 and Jose Ortiz will be aboard for the Oaklawn Handicap, which closed last week with 21 nominations. Post positions will be drawn April 10.
WELDER WINS
Welder, the third-place finisher in the $150,000 Hot Springs Stakes on March 9, was a 2-length winner of the $50,000 Highland Ice Stakes on Tuesday at Will Rogers Downs under David Cabrera, the jockey's first mount since March 14. Cabrera was Oaklawn's second-leading jockey last year and had 12 winners this year before returning to his native Mexico because of a "family issue," according to his agent Joe Santos. Cabrera has ridden Welder in his last six starts, with the Hot Springs Stakes being the gelding's only loss during that span. Overall, Welder has won 15 of 26 starts and has earned $683,151.
Information for this report was provided by the Oaklawn media department
Sports on 04/04/2019