HOT SPRINGS -- Changes remain at Oaklawn Park, and track officials promise that trend will continue for the foreseeable future.
For now, the most significant differences come today when the track opens two weeks later than in seasons past and features an opening-day race designated as a Kentucky Derby prep for the first time since Oaklawn opened in 1904.
The $150,000, 1-mile Smarty Jones Stakes is listed as the eighth race on the day's nine-race card and will distribute 17 Road to the Kentucky Derby points toward qualification for Run for the Roses, with 10 to first, followed by 4, 2, and 1.
Estimated purse distribution for Oaklawn is up $2 million this season and includes a boost from $900,000 to $1 million for the Rebel Stakes on March 16, Oaklawn's third of four Road to the Derby prep races.
Also for the first time, Oaklawn's schedule will extend three weeks beyond the Arkansas Derby, with its final day scheduled for May 4, the date of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
"We're excited about what we're seeing, what we're hearing," Oaklawn General Manager Wayne Smith said. "Everybody is excited, ready to go. The excitement in the community is starting to build, as well. I think this season is going to be second to none."
Oaklawn is one of five American tracks with a total of four Kentucky Derby preps on their schedules and thus plays a significant role in the development of the Derby's 20-horse field. There are nine starters on Oaklawn's grounds listed for the Smarty Jones Stakes, with post time scheduled for 3:52 p.m., led by 5-2 favorite Gray Attempt, a son of Graydar.
Trainer Jinks Fires picked out Gray Attempt at a yearling sale in Kentucky in July 2017, for owner Dwight Pruett of Texarkana. Through the summer, Pruett followed Fires' advice to purchase four other yearlings, but Gray Attempt is the only of the five for whom Derby hope endures.
Jockey Shaun Bridgmohan has ridden each of Gray Attempt's three-career races. The last, a win in the $75,000 Sugar Bowl Stakes at Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Dec. 22, earned the colt's top speed figure.
Bridgmohan will travel from his Fair Grounds base for the Smarty Jones.
"I think he's a very talented horse on the upswing," Bridgmohan said before he rode in Thursday's card at Fair Grounds. "Every time I've ridden him, he's been improving. He just keeps getting better and better."
Pruett said his confidence in the colt has not wavered, even after Gray Attempt's first race when he finished fourth, 3 lengths back in a 6-furlong race with nine others at Churchill on Nov. 2.
"We were just trying to get a race under the horse," Pruett said. "For the first time out, we were not concerned. As a matter of fact, we were pretty well pleased with it. He came out of the race well with no injuries and didn't get in trouble during the race. He kind of performed like a professional [the] first time out."
Gray Attempt's first win came in his next start at Churchill in a 6-furlong maiden special-weight start with a $76,000 purse on Nov. 25.
Gray Attempt's last work came Jan. 18 when he breezed 4 furlongs at Oaklawn in 48.8 seconds. Fires said Gray Attempt seems ready.
"We hope he continues to improve," Fires said. "We're looking for an even better race. There are some nice horses in the Smarty Jones, no doubt about that. Every horse in there looks like they just about have a chance."
Gray Attempt will start from the eighth gate. The rest of the field from the first gate out is Long Range Toddy, with jockey Richard Eramia, trained by Steve Asmussen; Sleepy Eyes Todd, with David Cabrera, Miguel Silva; Super Steed, with Terry Thompson, Larry Jones; Six Shooter, with Stewart Elliott, Paul Holthus; Bolder, with Steve Asmussen, Ramon Vazquez; Forloveofcountry, with Joe Bravo, James DeVito; Bankit, with Ricardo Santana, Jr., Steve Asmussen; and Jack Van Berg, with Jon Court, Tom Van Berg.
"He's drawn a really good outside post position that should give me plenty of options," Bridgmohan said.
Winner of the 1998 Eclipse Award for outstanding apprentice jockey, Bridgmohan said he considers Gray Attempt a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender.
"He just keeps stepping up," he said. "Obviously, with the kind of talent he has, I have a lot of confidence in him, and this will definitely be the toughest field he's faced, but I'm not worried. Like you can see in his past performances, every time they've asked him to do something, he's always stepped up to the plate, so I expect him to give it everything he's got."
Sports on 01/25/2019