Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Caddo River rolls into Rebel for the Arkansas lumberman
The Caddo River splits off from the bigger Ouachita in south central Arkansas south of Hot Springs, about 30 miles or so. Leaving Oaklawn Racing and Casino, head south on Central Avenue, past nearby Lake Hamilton, and continue down Route 7.
On the way there, if you make a little detour, you can visit Prairie Bayou. Farther south on 7, which parallels the course of the Ouachita, you’ll wind up in Camden, not far from Cox’s Ridge, so small it’s not even marked on a map, and where the most famous resident – heck, the only resident – was Charlie Vanlandingham.
You could head east from Hot Springs on 270, about 71 miles or so, and stop in Pine Bluff. Or you could head north about 120 miles and see Pangburn, population 601 in the 2010 U.S. Census.
These are some of the places and people that have been essential to John Ed Anthony, the Arkansas forest-products businessman who once was a regular competitor in racing’s most prestigious races, and now, after a time out of the sport, is back racing again at the highest level. Anthony, now 82, first raced as Loblolly Stable, now as Shortleaf Stable, both named for pine trees in his native state.
“I was born in Arkansas, lived here practically my whole life,” Anthony said in a telephone interview. “Deal with a lot of rural areas, in all the creeks and valleys, all the crossroads, the small villages and communities. I get a kick out of naming horses for these locations, or people that live in these regions.
“The Thoroughbred is a beautiful animal, and I think it’s a source of pride for the communities to have a good horse named after them.”
Typical of his embrace of the roads and people in Arkansas, Anthony on Tuesday was returning from a rural part of the state after attending the funeral of a longtime employee, and at one point warned in advance that the connection might be lost, so familiar is he with his way around the state.
He knows his way around a horse, too. His colt Caddo River – who runs Saturday in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn after romping in the Smarty Jones – is a homebred, by Hard Spun out of his mare Pangburn. If he runs well Saturday, and then in the Arkansas Derby next month, he would be bound for the Kentucky Derby on May 1.
“It’s always exciting to be in this position. It’s been a while since we’ve had a classic prospect,” Anthony said.
He’s won three classics, the first in 1980 when Temperence Hill scored a 53-1 upset in the Belmont Stakes. Later that year Temperence Hill won the Travers, the Jockey Club Gold Cup, and the Super Derby, and was named the Eclipse Awardwinning 3-year-old male.
Anthony looked to have an excellent chance in 1987, when Demons Begone came into the Kentucky Derby riding a three-race win streak in the Southwest, Rebel, and Arkansas Derby. He was sent off the 2-1 favorite. But he was pulled up midway through the Derby, having suffered severe respiratory bleeding.
In 1992, Pine Bluff – Demons Begone’s half-brother – won the Rebel, then the Arkansas Derby, was fifth in the Derby, then gave Anthony his second classic when he won the Preakness.
Anthony’s first big horse was Cox’s Ridge, who blossomed as an older horse. He won the Met Mile as a 5-year-old, and went on to be a successful stallion, his offspring including Vanlandingham – the Loblolly homebred who was the 1985 champion older male – as well as 1993 sprint champ Cardmania, and two-time champ Life’s Magic.
“Cox’s Ridge is very near to where I was born,” said Anthony, a native of Camden. “When the river floods, there’s a ridge where all the animals shelter. The only inhabitant was Charlie Vanlandingham. I told him I was going to name a horse after him, and he said, ‘It won’t be no account if you do.’ ”
Cox’s Ridge also sired Little Missouri, who won the 1986 Brooklyn and in turn sired Prairie Bayou, who gave Anthony one of his greatest thrills, and his most crushing moment, in the sport.
Prairie Bayou in the spring of 1993 won the Blue Grass and went off the 4-1 favorite in the Derby, but finished second to Sea Hero. Two weeks later, favored again, he won the Preakness under Mike Smith, giving Anthony his third classic.
But three weeks after that, favored again in the Belmont, Prairie Bayou badly fractured his left front cannon bone and had to be euthanized, casting a pall over the race’s other significant news, Julie Krone becoming the first female jockey to win a classic, aboard Colonial Affair. At year’s end, Prairie Bayou was voted champion 3-year-old male.
That, and the dissolution of his first marriage, caused Anthony not long after to step away from the game. He returned about a decade ago, with his son Ed, who worked for noted pedigree expert Bill Oppenheim, as well as at Three Chimneys Farm, “my strong right arm,” Anthony said.
“His passion is pedigrees,” Anthony said. “He kept drilling it into me – homebreds, homebreds, homebreds.”
Caddo River seems a perfect Anthony production, a homebred named for a local river. Just as Anthony knows the twists and turns of Arkansas’s roads to the point where he anticipates his cell coverage might go out, so too does he know the twists and turns toward racing’s classics. It’s been a while. But he’s on the road again.