Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Smarty Jones draws seven for opening day at Oaklawn
The Oaklawn Park meet will open Friday with a field of seven horses chasing after Kentucky Derby points in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes.
The field for the Smarty Jones from the rail, with riders, is Martini Blu, Francisco Arrieta; Lawlessness, David Cohen; Cowan, Ricardo Santana Jr.; Big Thorn, David Cabrera; Hardly Swayed, Martin Garcia; Moonlite Strike, Joe Talamo; and Caddo River, Florent Geroux.
The Smarty Jones is the first of four Kentucky Derby points races this meet at Oaklawn. All will be run Lasix-free for the first time. The Smarty Jones, at a mile, will reward its first four finishers with points on a scale of 10-4-2-1.
Entries for the card were taken Friday. Oaklawn drew 100 horses, including six alsoeligibles, for the nine-race opener.
The card includes entries from a large cross-section of trainers, including Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox, Phil D’Amato, Jerry Hollendorfer, Saffie Joseph Jr., Mike Maker, and Peter Miller.
“The handicapping angle is going to be great because you’re getting horses from all over,” said Pat Pope, Oaklawn’s racing secretary. “It makes it quite exciting with the entries.
“It’s a strong opening.”
Pope said there is a threeother-than allowance sprint that came up strong, while there also are two maiden special weight races for 3-yearolds on the program.
Pope said Oaklawn is featuring two pick-five wagers per day this meet. The first one starts with the first race, and the second one will always be on the last five races on the card. In the past, there has been just one pick five at Oaklawn.
Oaklawn has made some changes to entry procedures in light of the ongoing pandemic. Pope said all entries will be by phone only and that the post-position draws would be conducted via Zoom. The reason behind the changes is to reduce traffic in the racing office, which for the second meet in a row is being conducted in an alternate, compact area due to construction projects.
“Day 1 went well,” Pope said of entries. “Fifty-six more to go.”
Oaklawn’s 57-date meet runs through May 1.
Oaklawn is drawing entries seven days in advance for most cards, except for a Wednesday draw for Sundays.
Roberts enjoying new breed
Trainer Kenneth Roberts Sr. has gone Thoroughbred.
Well, not exactly.
The champion Quarter Horse trainer has a division of 13 Thoroughbreds stabled at Delta Downs in Vinton, La., but he’s still fully active with Quarter Horses.
“I’m running a few Thoroughbreds at Delta,” Roberts said. “I kind of enjoy it. To me, they’re just a challenge to do it, and I’m kind of really getting involved. But I love my Quarter Horses, and I’m not going to stop with my Quarter Horses.”
Roberts said his brother inspired him to run some Thoroughbreds.
“He kind of went Thoroughbreds all the way, and I bought a few and I like it,” Roberts said. “I really like it.”
Roberts was the American Quarter Horse Association’s champion trainer in 2017. He has won multiple training titles in Louisiana, and has one of the sport’s top fillies right now in Lifeinthefastlanes,
a multiple stakes winner who won all six of her starts in 2020.
The Thoroughbred side of Roberts’s operation has gone 3 for 15 with its starters this meet at Delta. His first winner of the season was K R Lucky Day, a daughter of Itsmyluckyday who paid $72 taking a maiden claimer Dec. 1.
Other runners in the barn include Top Draw, an Into Mischief colt who ran third in a recent allowance at Delta. He was a stakes winner last year at Albuquerque, taking the Charles Taylor Derby. Roberts trains the horse for Brian Gunder.
“We just got him,” Roberts said. “We’re kind of figuring him out, just trying to feel him out and see what we could do.”
Roberts will soon see action at Louisiana Downs, which opens its Quarter Horse meet Jan. 23. The 46-date season runs through April 7. The most significant stakes during the meet include the Mardi Gras Futurity on March 27 and the Harrah’s Futurity on April 3.
“I’ve been in this over 50 years, and I’ve been real blessed in this business,” Roberts said of racing Quarter Horses. “And that’s probably the reason I’m trying to mess with the Thoroughbreds a little bit. They always told me if you train Quarter Horses, you’ll make a good Thoroughbred trainer.”
That’s a point that’s been famously driven home by Hall of Fame trainers Bob Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas – and more and more by Roberts.