Two local stakes winners are among the 10 horses entered in the Grade I, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort.
Grade II Rebel hero Timberlake and Grade III star Mystik Dan seek their second graded wins of 2024. The Arkansas Derby offers 100 points to a Triple Crown-eligible performer, while Timberlake collected 20 and Mystik Dan 10 with their February victories.
Although on a Grade II level out of state, Oaklawn stakes winner Catching Freedom struck a mighty blow for racing in Arkansas with his last-to-first charge in the $1 million Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds. Albaugh Family Stables, winner of the 2023 Arkansas Derby with Brad Cox-trained Angel of Empire, has watched the Constitution colt develop into a contender for Kentucky Derby 150 on May 4 at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Catching Freedom thrived on the long New Orleans homestretch, bettering his last-out Grade III show finish over the track after grinding out a Jan. 1 victory in Oaklawn's shorter Smarty Jones.
Meanwhile Saturday, trainer Cox swept both Oaklawn stakes -- the Grade III Essex Handicap with 4-year-old First Mission and the Hot Springs with 3-year-old Nash, both Godolphin homebreds and ridden by Florent Geroux. Cox won four of the 10 Oaklawn races with purses from the two stakes totaling $447,000.
The Louisville native and two-time Eclipse Award winner as the nation's champion trainer is poised to make history with a record third consecutive Arkansas Derby win. Timberlake, a Grade I winner at 2 in New York, breaks from post two under Flavien Prat in the Oaklawn showcase, which has had six first- or second-place finishers capture the Kentucky Derby.
Mystik Dan, working out Saturday at Fair Grounds, won the Southwest by eight lengths over a muddy track under Brian Hernandez Jr., who keeps the mount for trainer Ken McPeek. Just Steel finished second in the Smarty Jones and Southwest for Hall of Famer Wayne Lukas and gets Keith Asmussen aboard from post eight.
Steve Asmussen, a Hall of Fame trainer with more than 10,000 victories, is matched against his son, sending out three Derby starters. Informed Patriot, third in the Smarty Jones and last out in the Grade III Sunland Park Derby in New Mexico, returns with Ricardo Santana Jr., reuniting the jockey with the trainer for whom he won the 2016 Arkansas Derby aboard Creator. Dimatic, an Oaklawn maiden winner Feb. 3, goes from post two with meet leader Cristian Torres, and Dec. 31 winner Imperial Gun, also eligible for a non-winners of two condition race, breaks from outside with Manny Esquivel.
Liberal Arts, a stakes winner at 2, has been carefully brought along by Robbie Medina after running third in the Southwest. Tyler Gaffalione, no stranger to big Arkansas races, rides from post six.
Muth represents Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, whose horses are prohibited from the Kentucky Derby for a third-straight year by host track Churchill Downs. Juan "JJ" Hernandez rides Muth (post seven), who is not eligible for Derby qualifying points because Baffert did not transfer him to another barn before a January deadline.
Ron Moquett, stakes-placed in the race with Far North in 2015, Whitmore in 2016 and King Russell last year, sends out meet winner Time for Truth, co-owned by longtime Little Rock client Harry Rosenblum. Rafael Bejarano rides for Greenwood native Moquett, who lives in a home adjacent to the Oaklawn backstretch.
Completing the field is rail-sitter and maiden Will Take It (Francisco Arrieta), who has an Arkansas owner.