Apple Blossom draws nine

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Grade 1-winning millionaires Adare Manor and Wet Paint lead a field of nine fillies and mares for the Grade 1, $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap on Saturday at Oaklawn Park.

Entries for the 1 1/16-mile race were taken Sunday.

The Apple Blossom will share a card with the Grade 3, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap, led by 125-pound highweight Skelly. First post for the 12-race card will be noon Central.

Adare Manor is the 123-pound highweight in the Apple Blossom off a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile at Santa Anita in her first start since November. Wet Paint, who last year swept the 3-yearold filly series at Oaklawn, is weighted next at 122.

The Apple Blossom will go as the 11th race. Adare Manor will start from post 4. Trainer Bob Baffert has given the mount to Juan Hernandez. Wet Paint drew post 3 with Flavien Prat riding for trainer Brad Cox.

The complete field from the rail with riders and weights is: Free Like a Girl, 117, Freddy Manrrique; Taxed, 118, Cristian Torres; Wet Paint; Adare Manor; Flying Connection, 118, Ricardo Santana Jr.; Misty Veil, 118, Ramon Vazquez; Honor D Lady, 120, Javier Castellano; Bellamore, 120, Keith Asmussen; and Shotgun Hottie, 117, Paco Lopez.

Skelly drew post 4 in a field of eight for the Count Fleet, which he won in 2023. It’s slotted as the eighth race Saturday. The field from the rail with riders and weights is: Code Five, 113, Luis Quinonez; Jaxon Traveler, 122, Flavien Prat; I’m Wide Awake, 114, Walter De La Cruz; Skelly, 125, Ricardo Santana Jr.; Perfect Dude, 123, Luis Fuentes; Tejano Twist, 123, Cristian Torres; Ryvit, 121, Keith Asmussen; and Happy Is a Choice, 117, Ramon Vazquez.

I’m Wide Awake and Perfect Dude were supplemented to the Count Fleet.

The long-range forecast for Saturday calls for mostly sunny skies and a high of 81 degrees with an 18 percent chance of rain, according to AccuWeather. The infield is scheduled to be open, weather permitting.

The Apple Blossom and Count Fleet are part of the annual Racing Festival of the South, which features a number of major stakes over the final weeks of the meet. The series started with the running of the Arkansas Derby on March 30.