HOT SPRINGS -- For the second consecutive year, Oaklawn begins its season with implications on the road to the Kentucky Derby.
Oaklawn opens its 116-year old racetrack today with a nine-race card featuring the $150,000 1-mile Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-old horses, the first of four races at the track this season to offer qualifying points for the Grade I Kentucky Derby.
"We're fortunate to be able to offer Derby points," Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort President Louis Cella said. "That's meaningful this early in the season. Like everyone else, you want to be able to see if you have the real thing, and you're not going to know unless you race. It's a great kickoff to the season, but it's also a great kickoff to the 3-year-old season at Oaklawn."
The Smarty Jones, named for the winner of Oaklawn's 2004 Southwest and Rebel Stakes, the Arkansas Derby, the Kentucky Derby, and the Preakness Stakes, is set with a field of nine and a post time scheduled for 3:52 p.m.
The nine horses entered include four trained by Steve Asmussen, a member of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Oaklawn's training champion the last three seasons and nine of the last 13. He trains Silver Prospector, the 5-2 morning line favorite ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr. and owned by Ed and Susie Orr.
Among the deep list of contenders is Bill Parcell's Three Technique, trained by Jeremiah Englehart, in his 18th season as a trainer but his first at Oaklawn. Irad Ortiz, Jr. will ride Three Technique.
Parcells is the retired NFL coach who led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories and was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
"This is a nice group of horses," Englehart said. "You know, Steve's got four in there, so you're never excited to see that when you see the overnight, but the nice thing is, you know you're going to have to run. They're not going to hand you anything. We have to prove that we're good enough to compete with those horses and that field."
Silver Prospector joins Shoplifted as horses trained by Asmussen in the Smarty Jones field who enter with Derby qualifying points in hand. Silver Prospector, by Declaration of War and a maternal grandson of Tapit, won the Grade II $300,000 1-mile-and-1/16th Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs on Nov. 1. His stablemate, Cheyenne Stables' and Grandview Equine and LNJ Foxwoods' Shoplifted won the $400,000 1-mile Springboard Mile Stakes at Remington Park in Oklahoma City on Dec. 15. Each earned 10 points with their wins.
The Smarty Jones winner also earns 10 qualifying points. The race distributes 4 points to the second-place horse, 2 for third, and 1 for the fourth-place finisher.
Three Technique, by Mr. Speaker, at 9-2 the Smarty Jones' morning line third choice, has yet to race against stakes company or beyond 7 furlongs but went through three-quarters of a mile in 1:10.40 in his 7-furlong maiden victory at Saratoga Racetrack in Saratoga, N.Y., on Aug. 31, to demonstrate talent adequate for a spot on the early road to the Kentucky Derby.
"From early on, he was a horse that did everything right," Englehart said. "He was very professional in the morning. In his races, he kind of developed the right way. He's at a point now that he needs to prove that he's a next-level horse."
Asmussen also trains Smarty Jones entrant Gold Street, a son of Street Boss and maternal grandson of Fusaichi Pegasus, who won the $75,000 6-furlong Sugar Bowl Stakes at Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Dec. 21 in his last start.
Jockey Martin Garcia, in his first full season at Oaklawn, will ride Gold Street for the first time in the Smarty Jones. He said he didn't know Dwight Pruett's Gray Attempt followed up his victory in the 2018 Sugar Bowl to win by a neck over Long Range Toddy, then trained by Asmussen, in the Smarty Jones last season.
"That means [Gold Attempt] must be a good horse," said Garcia, who rode Lookin At Lucky to victory in the 2010 Grade I Preakness Stakes. "Plus, I'm riding for a really good trainer who is always successful. It will be a tough race, but I'm pretty lucky to be in a race like that. My possibilities to win are big."
Garcia said he looked forward to his seat in the Smarty Jones, but he said the community around him seemed thrilled first by the thought of opening day at its racetrack.
"With all these good horses and all these good things, everyone is excited," he said. "It's a small town. Everyone here knows about the horse racing. Wherever you go to buy stuff, it could be food or clothes or anything, everyone's talking about the races. I think that's good for us."
"We're very, very excited," Cella said. "We're so honored that our horsemen are ready to go, to jump in the game."
2020 Oaklawn stakes schedule
JANUARY
DATE RACE CONDITIONS DISTANCE
24 $150,000 Smarty Jones 3-year-olds 1 mile
25 $100,000 Fifth Season 4-year-olds and up 1 mile
25 $100,000 Pippin 3-up fillies and mares 1 mile
FEBRUARY
DATE RACE CONDITIONS DISTANCE
1 $150,000 Martha Washington 3-year-old fillies 1 mile
1 $125,000 American Beauty 4-up fillies and mares 6 furlongs
8 $125,000 King Cotton 4-up 6 furlongs
15 $100,000 Dixie Belle 3-year-old fillies 6 furlongs
17 $200,000 Bayakoa+ 4-up, filles & mares 1 1/16 miles
17 $500,000 Razorback Hcp.+ 4-up 1 1/16 miles
17 $750,000 Southwest+ 3-year-olds 1 1/16 miles
22 $125,000 Downthedustyroad 3-up, fillies & mares (AR) 6 furlongs
29 $125,000 Spring Fever 4-up fillies & mares 51/2 furlongs
MARCH
DATE RACE CONDITIONS DISTANCE
7 $300,000 Honeybee+ 3-year-old fillies 1 1/16 miles
7 $150,000 Hot Springs 4-up 6 furlongs
13 $125,000 Temperence Hill — 11/2 miles
14 $350,000 Essex Handicap 4-up 1 1/16 miles
14 $350,000 Azeri# 4-up, filles & mares 1 1/16 miles
14 $1 million Rebel# 3-year-olds 1 1/16 miles
21 $125,000 Gazebo 3-year-olds 6 furlongs
28 $125,000 Nodouble Breeders’ 3-up (AR) 6 furlongs
APRIL
DATE RACE CONDITIONS DISTANCE
4 $150,000 Purple Martin 3-year-old fillies 6 furlongs
10 $600,000 Fantasy+ 3-year-old fillies 1 1/16 miles
11 $200,000 Carousel 4-up, fillies & mares 6 furlongs
11 $250,000 Oaklawn Mile 4-up 1 mile
11 $500,000 Ct. Fleet Sprint Hcp.+ 4-up 6 furlongs
11 $1 million Arkansas Derby* 3-year-olds 11/8 miles
17 $125,000 Rainbow Miss 3-year-old filles (AR) 6 furlongs
17 $125,000 Rainbow 3-year-olds (AR) 6 furlongs
18 $1 million Apple Blossom Hcp.* 4-up, filles & mares 1 1/16 miles
18 $1 million Oaklawn Handicap# 4-up 11/8 miles
25 $150,000 Bachelor 3-year-olds 6 furlongs
MAY
DATE RACE CONDITIONS DISTANCE
1 $200,000 Ark. Breeders’ Champ. 3-up (AR) 1 1/16 miles
2 $300,000 Oaklawn Invitational 3-year-olds 11/8 miles
*Grade 1 race #Grade 2 race +Grade 3 race (AR) denotes Arkansas-bred race
2020 Road to the Kentucky Derby
The 146th running of the Kentucky Derby (Grade I) will be held May 2 and for
the eighth consecutive year, a tiered points system in select races will determine
who qualifies.
RACE TRACK WINNER POINTS
Iroquois Churchill Downs Cairo Cat 10-4-2-1
American Pharoah Santa Anita Park Eight Rings 10-4-2-1
Juddmonte Royal Lodge* Newmarket Royal Dornoch 10-4-2-1
Beresford* Naas Innisfree 10-4-2-1
Champagne Belmont Park Tiz The Law 10-4-2-1
Breeders’ Futurity Keeneland Maxfield 10-4-2-1
Prix du Jean-Luc Lagardere* Longchamp Victor Ludorum 10-4-2-1
Verterm Futurity Trophy* Doncaster Kameko 10-4-2-1
Breeders’ Cup Juveline Churchill Downs Storm the Court 20-8-4-2
Cattelya Sho^ Tokyo Racecourse Dieu du Vin 10-4-2-1
Kentucky Jockey Club Churchill Downs Silver Prospector 10-4-2-1
Remsen Aqueduct Shotski 10-4-2-1
Los Alamitos Futurity Los Alamitos Thousand Words 10-4-2-1
Springboard Mile Remington Park Shoplifted 10-4-2-1
Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun^ Kawasaki Vacation 10-4-2-1
Jerome Aqueduct Independence Hall 10-4-2-1
Sham Santa Anita Authentic 10-4-2-1
Lecomte Fair Grounds Enforceable 10-4-2-1
UPCOMING RACES
RACE SITE POINTS DATE
Smarty Jones Oaklawn 10-4-2-1 Today
Withers Aqueduct 10-4-2-1 Feb. 1
Robert B. Lewis Santa Anita 10-4-2-1 Feb. 1
Holy Bull Gulfstream Park 10-4-2-1 Feb. 1
Sam F. Davis Tampa Bay Downs 10-4-2-1 Feb. 8
El Camino Real Derby Golden Gate Fields 10-4-2-1 Feb. 15
Risen Star Fair Grounds 50-20-10-5 Feb. 15
Southwest Oaklawn Park 10-4-2-1 Feb. 17
Hyacinth^ Tokyo Racecourse 30-12-6-3 Feb. 23
Patton* Dundalk 20-8-4-2 Feb. 28
Fountain of Youth Gulfstream Park 50-20-10-5 Feb. 29
Condition Stakes* Kempton Park 20-8-4-2 March 4
Gotham Aqueduct 50-20-10-5 March 7
San Felipe Santa Anita Park 50-20-10-5 March 7
Tampa Bay Derby Tampa Bay Downs 50-20-10-5 March 7
Jeff Ruby Steaks Turfway Park 20-8-4-2 March 14
Rebel Stakes Oaklawn Park 50-20-10-5 March 14
Louisiana Derby Fair Grounds 100-40-20-10 March 21
Sunland Derby Sunland Park 50-20-10-5 March 22
UAE Derby Meydan Racecourse 100-40-20-10 March 28
Florida Derby Gulfstream Park 100-40-20-10 March 28
Fukuryu^ Nakayma 40-16-8-4 March 28
Cardinal Condition Stakes* Chelmsford City 30-12-6-3 April 2
Wood Memorial Aqueduct 100-40-20-10 April 4
Blue Grass Keeneland 100-40-20-10 April 4
Santa Anita Derby Santa Anita Park 100-40-20-10 April 4
Arkansas Derby Omaha Beach 100-40-20-10 April 11
Lexington Owendale 20-8-4-2 April 11
*Race held in Europe ^ Race held in Japan
Sports on 01/24/2020