TODAY'S POST TIME 1 p.m.
TODAY'S SIMULCAST SCHEDULE Gulfstream Park, 12:10 p.m.; Aqueduct, 12:20 p.m.; Delta Downs, 12:55 p.m.; Fair Grounds, 1 p.m.; Golden Gate, 2:45 p.m.
BACK IN THE SADDLE
Today's nine-race card marks the first live racing at Oaklawn since Feb. 11.
Record cold and accumulations of snow and ice led to eight postponements. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Oaklawn did not miss a scheduled day of racing last season.
Five stakes races were postponed because of the weather and have been moved to this weekend. The Razorback Handicap, Spring Fever Stakes and Southwest Stakes will all take place on Saturday, with the Downthedustyroad Stakes, Dixie Belle Stakes and Bayakoa Stakes scheduled for Sunday. The six stakes will total $1,920,000.
To help make up for the lost days, Oaklawn also added racing cards on the Wednesdays of March 31 and April 28.
"After that, we're going to add a few races a week," Oaklawn President Louis Cella told the Democrat-Gazette on Feb. 17. "If we're able to do all that, we'll run pretty darn close to the same number of races we ran last year."
GREEN ENJOYS FIRST WIN
Aidan Green was holding her 4-month-old and pushing a stroller through the grandstand early Feb. 11 at Oaklawn. Less than an hour later, Green was strolling into the winner's circle after her first career training victory.
Green achieved the milestone with Kristo, who won the fifth race by 33/4 lengths under Elvin Gonzalez. Kristo marked the 21st recognized starter for Green, who saddled her first horse in 2020. Green's husband, Ike, is a former trainer who now assists his wife and Robertino Diodoro, Oaklawn's leading trainer in 2020.
Aidan Green said she has seven horses on the track in training.
"Like Ike and I, we've won a lot of races. It's just the first time it's been under my name, so it doesn't really feel like a first win," Green said. "But it's cool to have it under my name now. We've always been a team."
Green, 33, grew up in Canada around the quarterhorses and draft horses her family owned. A star volleyball player, Green signed with Texas Tech before transferring to Texas-El Paso, where she was a four-year letterman in 2006-2009.
Green said she met her husband in 2010 when he was training at Sunland Park in suburban El Paso. They married in 2013 and have three children -- 5, 4 and 4 months.
"Team deal, you know," Aidan Green said. "With three kids and all the horses, Ike and I kind of rotate around, wherever we're both needed. We do it as a team, everything we do."
Green owns Kristo, a 10-year-old Distorted Humor gelding, with sister-in-law Delinda Green. Ike Green's brother, trainer Greg Green, had claimed Kristo for $8,000 early last year at Sunland Park.
Kristo was exiting a third-place finish in a starter-allowance sprint Jan. 22 at Oaklawn.
"He ran really good his last start," Green said. "Elvin just gave him a good ride. he kind of picks his certain riders and likes them. He ran really good for Elvin, so we were excited to get in this spot."
FINISH LINES
Frenchie Frou Frou recorded the most lopsided victory of the meeting, winning by 13 lengths, for trainer Jason Barkley in the first race on Feb. 11. ... Newcomer Francisco Arrieta was aboard Frenchie Frou Frou and also won the ninth race on Twilight Blue for trainer Joe Sharp. Arrieta had nine victories through the first 11 days of the meet. ... Jockey David Cohen and trainer Robertino Diodoro teamed for two victories Feb. 11, winning the second race with favored Raintree Starlet and the seventh race with favored Could You. ... Newcomers Samuel Camacho Jr. and Cristian A. Torres recorded their first career Oaklawn riding victories Feb. 11. Camacho won the fourth race aboard Bode's Light for trainer Genaro Garcia. Torres won the sixth race aboard Starrgarita for trainer John Henry Prather Jr. of Hot Springs. ... Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen earned his meet-best 16th victory Feb. 11 with favored Pallo Flag in the eighth race, a 1-mile allowance for older fillies and mares. Asmussen is seeking his record-tying 11th Oaklawn training title. ... Joshua Morales, Oaklawn's leading apprentice jockey this year, is now riding with a 5-pound weight allowance.
Information for this report was provided by Oaklawn media department
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