Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Mitole dazzles with 102 Beyer
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Topclass sprinters took center stage all weekend at Oaklawn Park.
Mitole put up the meet’s highest Beyer Speed Figure to date – a 102 – for an allowance win Saturday.
Amy’s Challenge recorded her second blowout stakes win of the meet one race later, in the $100,000 Spring Fever.
And on Sunday, Grade 2 winner Mia Mischief won an allowance in her first start since the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
The weekend also included Oaklawn workouts from champion Shamrock Rose, who won last year’s BC Filly and Mare Sprint, and Whitmore, who captured last year’s Grade 1 Forego.
Mitole covered six furlongs in 1:08.99 in his first start since May. He led throughout and was in hand late while winning by 4 1/2 lengths.
“It was perfect, what we were hoping for,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Mitole for Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt. “He’s extremely talented – a really fast horse.”
Mitole had prepped for the race at Fair Grounds.
“I sent him back to New Orleans,” Asmussen said Monday. “I was pleased with how he came out of the race.”
Asmussen said he will discuss next-race plans for Mitole with the Heiligbrodts.
“We’ll see how he’s training and try to make the most of his races,” he said.
Asmussen also trains Mia Mischief, who tracked the pace and went on to a three-length win on a good track.
“She’s had so many hard races it was nice to see one go so smoothly for her,” Asmussen said.
Mia Mischief’s defining win came last May in the Grade 2 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs.
“We want to target Churchill, get her back to Churchill at her best,” Asmussen said.
Mia Mischief races for the Heiligbrodts, Heider Family Stables, and Madaket Stables.
Mitole’s big Beyer was the third straight triple-digit number of his career. It also ranks two points higher than any other race at the meet. Share the Upside has the second-best Beyer, a 100, for a local allowance win. Asmussen said Share the Upside is scheduled to make his stakes debut Saturday in the $150,000 Hot Springs at six furlongs at Oaklawn.
Amy’s Challenge owns the meet’s top two Beyers for fillies and mares – a 98 for her 8 1/4-length score in the Spring Fever and a 96 for her 5 3/4-length win in the $100,000 American Beauty.
The starts are her first since running sixth in the Grade 2 Raven Run in October at Keeneland.
“After the Keeneland race, we gave her a little time off at the farm and it seems like it kind of reset her mind,” said Mac Robertson, who trains Amy’s Challenge for Novogratz Racing Stables.
Robertson said he sees a filly who is more relaxed in the paddock and post parade than she was last season at Oaklawn. It’s that kind of development that could earn her a shot at two turns, and one race that will be considered, said Robertson, is the Grade 1, $750,000 Apple Blossom Handicap on April 14 at Oaklawn.
“It looks like she’s improved this year,” he said. “She’s run faster. She’s really running under the wire – not a sprinter hanging on. We’d like to stretch her out. It’s hard because of the way she’s been sprinting. But we’ll probably try her [long] one more time.”
Robertson said sprint races also are under consideration, among them the $150,000 Carousel here April 6, or the Grade 1, $300,000 Madison the same day at Keeneland.
“We’ll just see how she does,” he said.
Super Steed sidelined
Super Steed, who upset the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest at 62-1 last month at Oaklawn, is getting a minimum of 60 days off, trainer Larry Jones said Monday.
Oaklawn announced Sunday that the horse is off the Triple Crown trail.
Jones told Daily Racing Form on Monday that Super Steed has bone bruising in one of his ankles. The horse had been pointed to the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel on March 16 at Oaklawn.
“Hopefully, he’ll be ready for a late summer, fall campaign,” said Jones, noting the second half of the year holds opportunities such as the Grade 3, $400,000 Oklahoma Derby.
Late mare represented
Now U Know, who died in a foaling incident last month along with her newborn, has been a powerful producer for trainer Don Von Hemel and partner Todd Dunn. She will be represented in Thursday’s fifth race, a maiden special weight, with Knowyouroptions.
Now U Know’s foals have earned more than $1.6 million, led by Now I Know, a Grade 3 winner who went 6 for 7 while earning $461,721, and Girls Know Best, a three-time stakes winner who is 11 for 21 for earnings of $466,944.
“She was a very special mare, always raised a nice foal,” Von Hemel said. “Every year we got a foal from her, you knew it was going to be a runner. We certainly hate to lose her.”
Girl Power, a five-time winner out of Now U Know, is scheduled to run Sunday, said Von Hemel, while another daughter, First Alternate, will soon see action at Oaklawn.
◗ Chauncey leads the fourth race on Thursday, a conditioned allowance for fillies and mares at six furlongs.
“We’re putting blinkers back on her,” Asmussen said. “We need a little more focus from her.”