BY MY STANDARDS wins Oaklawn Handicap.
HOT SPRINGS — By My Standards expanded his horizons of success Saturday afternoon at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, and he did it quickly.
Trained by Bret Calhoun and ridden by Gabriel Saez, By My Standards won for the first time outside of the city of New Orleans, coming from just off the pace to win the Grade II, $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap by 13/4 lengths over Warrior’s Charge.
The victory for By My Standards, a 4-year-old Goldencents colt, was his third in a Grade II race in three tries.
It was not a surprise to Calhoun.
“He kinda confirmed what we’ve been thinking of him,” he said. “It’s nice to prove it on the racetrack. The 12-hole might not have been ideal, but he overcame it.”
By My Standards followed the blueprint he has used so successfully at Fair Grounds — the site of his four previous victories — sitting off the leader, taking the lead at the head of the stretch and drawing away in a 13-horse field.
Improbable, a three-time runner-up in Oaklawn stakes, was scratched because he drew post 14, trainer Bob Baffert said.
Warrior’s Charge, the Razorback Handicap winner trained by Brad Cox, set reasonable early fractions of 23.02 for the first quarter, 46.91 for a half-mile, then speeding up to 1:10.67 for 6 furlongs.
“It wasn’t like we were the only speed,” said Florent Geroux, rider of Warrior’s Charge. “They were fair fractions. Not suicidal by any means.”
The field reached the mile mark in 1:35.36, and it was By My Standards’ race at that point.
Calhoun said he thought the race was won going into the first turn.
“Basically, that’s the only thing I discussed with Gabe this morning, the break,” Calhoun said. “I didn’t expect him to be that close honestly. Thought there were a couple of faster horses in there.
“You don’t want to be too confident going into the first turn, but I felt myself feeling comfortable once he got that position away from the gate.”
Mr. Freeze, recent winner of the Gulfstream Park Mile for trainer Dale Romans, finished third, a half-length behind Warrior’s Charge.
Tacitus, fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby one year ago, was another 13/4 lengths back in fourth.
By My Standards, the third betting choice at 9-2 odds, paid $11 to win.
Tacitus, the 4-1 second choice in the wagering, encountered trouble when he was carried out and bumped while going 5 wide going into the clubhouse turn, and he was never a factor for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
The winning time — 1:47.80 — was faster than the winning clocking in either division of the Arkansas Derby.
By My Standards was a Derby horse last year, winning the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds at odds of 23-1 and then running 12th in the Kentucky Derby after getting squeezed at the start on a sloppy track.
“The Kentucky Derby was kinda of a throw-out race,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun gave By My Standards eight months off after the Kentucky Derby so he could fully heal from a quarter crack injury in his foot.
He returned to the races Feb. 9, scoring a 6-length victory in an allowance race at Fair Grounds.
He came back five weeks later to win the Grade II New Orleans Classic, but was allowed to go off at 9-2 Saturday, partly because of questions about whether he was just a Louisiana horse.
He was racing at a track other than Fair Grounds for the third time, his other two races coming in Kentucky, where he ran second in his career debut in November 2018 and again last year in the Derby.
“I didn’t really think it would be a problem,” Calhoun said. “But until you do it, you don’t know. He had never run over that track. He had never shipped and run.
“I understand what the public might have been thinking, but they don’t have the opportunity to know exactly what we know. That he shipped in great. Ate everything last night. Was very sharp this morning. It made us feel like he had made the trip very, very well. I just felt at that point it was a matter of handling the surface.”