Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Sporting Chance back to work
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has an opportunity to make a significant impact during the 3-year-old series at the Oaklawn Park meet, which opens Friday. The 82-year-old’s barn houses the most accomplished young runner on the grounds in Sporting Chance, winner of the Grade 1 Hopeful in September at Saratoga.
Lukas said that Sporting Chance, whom he trains for Robert Baker and William Mack, could launch his season in either the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes on Feb. 19 at Oaklawn or the track’s Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel on March 17. Both offer points for the Kentucky Derby.
“We want to stay here,” Lukas said Wednesday. “Shipping is a possibility, but it wouldn’t be our first choice. We’d like to prep him right here out of his own stall on a track he’s training on every day.”
Sporting Chance had his first work since the Hopeful on Tuesday at Oaklawn, breezing threeeighths in 37 seconds. Gary Stevens, the Hall of Fame rider now based in Arkansas, was aboard for the move. The horse has been back galloping 60 days since having a small bone chip, or flake, removed from a knee, Lukas said.
“I’ve been giving him long gallops and building a great foundation on him, but you always wonder as a trainer on the first work back how much foundation you’ve got,” Lukas said. “Gary got off of him and said, ‘Man, he had three, four gears. He’s a lot fitter than you think.’ That really brightened our day.”
Lukas said the manner in which Sporting Chance continues to progress will determine whether he comes out in the Southwest or Rebel.
“We’re going to just play the work tab out and let him tell us,” he said. “Gary was so positive, and if that is true the next work or two, it could move us up a week or two. If not, we’ll drop back. The thing about it is really simply this: We don’t have to go out there and find out if he can run. That’s where you’re [usually] at with a 3-year-old. I know he can run.”
Stevens was impressed with Sporting Chance, who aside from the Hopeful won a maiden special weight at Saratoga in his second start July 22.
“He’s smooth as silk and has a great mind,” Stevens said. “The reason Wayne wanted me to get on him – he didn’t want any track records or anything – it was just breaking the ice [Tuesday]. He really enjoyed himself and he’s actually got an extremely high fitness level right now for a horse that’s just been galloping. He was wanting to do a lot more than what I let him do. You can just tell that he’s ultra-classy.”
Sporting Chance has yet to race around two turns, but Lukas is looking forward to that opportunity with the son of Tiznow.
“I don’t think that’s a problem,” he said. “He’s a Tiznow out of a Candy Ride mare. But more than pedigree, it’s efficiency of motion.”
Sporting Chance was a $575,000 yearling purchase at Keeneland September in 2016.
Stevens considers circuit switch
Stevens is riding the Oaklawn meet on a daily basis for the first time after long being based in Southern California, and the move could lead to a change in circuits for the Hall of Famer. He said Tuesday he will make decisions on his future plans based on how things go in Arkansas.
“The potential is there,” Stevens said of changing circuits. “If I had a decent meet here, then that would probably lead me to Keeneland and then to Churchill Downs. But I’m not going to know until we see how things go. It’s important to get off to a good start here, to have a good meet. I would say that if I do have a decent meet that the likelihood of me staying out here on that type of circuit would be highly likely.”
Stevens said he also could ride at Saratoga.
For now, though, he said his focus is Oaklawn. Stevens has been working horses for an array of trainers, including Lukas, Wayne Catalano, Steve Hobby, Ron Moquett, and Tom Van Berg.
“I’ve been on some really nice horses in the morning and am named on some nice ones Friday, so it’s up to me now,” he said.
“I’ve been on more horses the last four days than I have in a month at times at Santa Anita. I feel very rejuvenated right now – even with the long drive out here. I’ve got a little spring in my step right now.”
Stevens has shipped in to Oaklawn for stakes engagements for many years and said his first $500,000 win came in the Arkansas Derby in 1985 with Tank’s Prospect, whom he rode for Lukas.
Stevens is scheduled to travel to Gulfstream Park later this month to ride Giant Expectations in the $16 million Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 27.
Mourinho ships in for stakes
Mourinho was among a planeload of 17 horses that arrived Wednesday in Arkansas from California, according to Oaklawn spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyt. He is expected for the $150,000 Smarty Jones for 3-year-olds on Monday.
Hoyt said the flight also included Sonneteer, entered in the Fifth Season on Friday, as well as eight horses for trainer Peter Miller, five for trainer Tom Van Berg, and two for trainer Doug O’Neill.
Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope said the Smarty Jones also could draw Arched Feather, Bode’s Maker, Cat Daddy, and Combatant.
◗ Patrons returning to Oaklawn will be greeted by a new display, general manager Wayne Smith said. “We have created an American Pharoah Park at the south entrance of our property,” he said. “Basically, it’s going to change the entrance to Oaklawn. It’s a statue Charles Cella commissioned, and that statue is what we’re going to feature as you walk up in our main entrance. It’s going to be something.”