Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Older sprinter to test worth
HOT SPRINGS — After an opportunity to place no more than a toe in the water, trainer Norman McKnight and his 7-year-old sprinter Smart Spree will jump in deep today.
Smart Spree is the 3-1 second choice on the morning line for the Grade III $400,000 6-furlong Count Fleet Handicap for horses 3 years old and up, one of three graded stakes on the program for the final day of Oaklawn Park’s season and the Racing Festival of the South. Post time is scheduled for 5:09 p.m.
The expected field of six from the rail out is 4-1 Ivan Fallunovalot, with Luis Contreras the rider and trained by Kathy Howard; 15-1 Wings Locked Up, with Alex Canchari the rider and trained by Clinton Stuart; 9-2 Wynn Time, with Marcelino Pedroza the rider and trained by Mac Robertson; 7-5 Whitmore with Ricardo Santana Jr. the rider and trained by Ron Moquett; 6-1 Wilbo, with David Cabrera the rider and trained by Chris Hartman; and Smart Spree, with Ramon Vazquez the rider and trained by McKnight.
This is McKnight’s first season at Oaklawn in a career that began in 1999 in his native Canada. McKnight began the season unclear how Smart Spree would respond to races on dirt. The gelded son of Smart Strike primarily had raced on synthetic surfaces, a hallmark of racing in Canada.
“He’s just run on the wrong surface all his life,” McKnight said. “He definitely has an affinity for the dirt, and it looks like that’s definitely what the horse prefers. Unfortunately for him, he’s always been on synthetic or turf.”
Smart Spree’s response to the surface change shines on past-performance lists. Of his nine career victories, four have come in his past four starts, all at Oaklawn. The streak began with a starter-allowance win Jan. 25 and closed with an optional-claiming race March 29. He has won each of those on the lead from the start.
“I was really impressed by his first start here,” McKnight said. “He went 21 and 44, and I was expecting him to cave in, but he just kicked on and kept going. Right then, I thought, ‘Well, this is what he’s preferred all along.’ ’’
Smart Spree went through the opening quarter-mile and half-mile of his first Oaklawn start in 21.60 and 44.40, respectively.
The Count Fleet is Smart Spree’s third stakes attempt in 34 career starts and his first since 2014. McKnight knows the Count Fleet is a huge step up in class.
“We just felt that, with what the horse has done here so far, we just felt he deserved the opportunity to run for that kind of money,” McKnight said. “We had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be a big field. However, it’s not an easy field. There’s a lot of quality in the race. It will be by far his toughest task to date.”
Mac Robertson, whose trainee Wynn Time will start as the likely third choice, is aware of the class jump.
“He’ll have some company when he turns for home,” Robertson said. “I doubt he’ll have things his way. From a starter-allowance to the Count Fleet is like going from high school to the pros.”
Whitmore, in his third season as an Oaklawn star, likely will emerge from the gate as the favorite. Whitmore, the 2017 Count Fleet winner by Pleasantly Perfect, first achieved celebrity at Oaklawn as a 3-year-old route specialist in 2016, when he finished second in Oaklawn’s Southwest and Rebel Stakes and third in the Arkansas Derby.
“Whitmore will be the favorite,” Robertson said. “He’s the horse to beat, but I think I can beat him.”
Wynn Time finished second by a neck to Whitmore in Oaklawn’s Hot Springs Stakes on March 10. A 4-yearold son of Three Hour Nap, Wynn Time has won five of seven career starts.
“He’s run seven times, and he’s run great all seven,” Robertson said. “He worked great the other day, so he’s ready. I wouldn’t have entered him if I didn’t like him.”