HOT SPRINGS -- Like the U.S. Open in golf for Phil Mickelson, the Fantasy Stakes is one jewel at Oaklawn Racing Casino Recort that's eluded D. Wayne Lukas.
A Hall of Fame trainer as synonymous with 3-year-old fillies as Stephen Curry with the three-point shot in basketball, Lukas has drawn a blank in Oaklawn's premier race for fillies since 1973. Among HOF members, Charlie Whittingham won the Fantasy three times and Bob Baffert, Laz Barrera, Jerry Hollendorfer, Jack Van Berg and John Veitch twice each.
Among trainers represented in today's 52nd running of the Fantasy, Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen has four victories and Brad Cox two -- including with Wet Paint last year. The 1 1/16 race has been elevated to Grade II and bumped to $750,000. It last produced a Kentucky Oaks winner in 2020 (Shedaresthedevil, though losing the Fantasy in owner Staton Flurry's hometown) and twice, in 2020 (Swiss Skydiver) and 2009 (Rachel Alexandra), yielded the Preakness winner against males.
In 1984, arguably its most famous running, the Fantasy witnessed Althea run a troubled second to Barrera-trained My Darling One and a week later become the only Arkansas Derby-winning filly, equaling the then track record for nine furlongs. Not by surprise, Lukas trained Althea and in 2022 won the Kentucky Oaks and finished third in the Arkansas Derby with filly Secret Oath, who skipped the Fantasy.
At 88, Lukas sends out last-race maiden-breaker Lemon Muffin in today's Fantasy. That victory, it should be noted, came in the $400,000 Grade III Honeybee, which Lukas captured for the record seventh time Feb. 24. Lemon Muffin, 9-2 in the program after winning the Honeybee at 28-1, can get him back to the Kentucky Oaks on May 3, trying for a record sixth victory beside his four Kentucky Derby scores (the filly Winning Colors his first in 1988).
"I think we have a legitimate chance to get two Derby horses [Just Steel and meet winner Seize the Grey] and an Oaks filly, which is what I'm getting paid to do," Lukas said. "The age thing should be an asset, really, because of having the experience of being in that many derbies and that many Oaks. Well, I'll take a guy that's won five Oaks over one that's never been in one -- on the experience factor. Again, the horse is the most important ingredient.
"The thing that's more significant, I think, than the age is the fact that clientele are still backing [me]. Actually, they really stepped up last year. Wait 'til you see the 2-year-old lineup. We have really got a strong 2-year-old lineup. So if we don't get there this year, I think we've got a hell of a shot next year."
Keith Asmussn stays aboard Lemon Muffin (a grandson of the late City Zip) after notching his first graded riding victory in the Honeybee, surviving a foul claim involving runner-up and Fantasy returnee Tapit Jenallie.
"I think you're going to see an improved filly, with that one ]Honeybee] under her belt," Lukas said.. "She's done everything right."
West Omaha ran a troubled third in the Honeybee for Cox after breaking poorly. Owners Gary and Mary West bred the West Coast-sired filly and named it after their Midwestern hometown. Tyler Gaffalione lands the mount.
Eddie Milligan Jr. trains and Manny Esquivel rides Honeybee runner-up Tapit Jenallie, a homebred filly from Arkansas-based Willis Horton Racing LLC.
My Mane Squeeze looms highly if she can emulate back-to-back stakes victories in New York. Flavien Prat, in town for the Arkansas Derby, breaks from the rail post for trainer Mike Maker. Completing the field are two-time meet winner Midshipman's Dance, the six-furlong Mockingbird winner Jan. 13 for Robertino Diodoro; California shipper and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies veteran Where's My Ring; meet winner Ba Dee Yah; undefeated Sunland Park stake winner Recharge (for Asmussen) and neck runner-up Candy Aisle (Todd Fincher); and Ken McPeek-trained winner Thorpedo Anna.