AT THE POST

DAY 54 OF 55

FRIDAY’S ESTIMATED ATTENDANCE 18,500

FRIDAY’S TOTAL HANDLE $5,222,751 FRIDAY’S ON-TRACK HANDLE $1,171,022 FRIDAY’S OFF-TRACK HANDLE $4,051,729

TODAY’S SIMULCAST SCHEDULE Aqueduct, 11:20 a.m.; Tampa Bay, 11:35 a.m.; Gulfstream Park, 11:40 a.m.; Keeneland, 12:05 p.m.; Laurel Park, 12:10 p.m.; Santa Anita, 2 p.m.; Golden Gate, 2:15 p.m.; Hawthorne, 3:10 p.m.

FRIDAY’S STARS

Three jockeys won two races each. Ramon Vazquez won the fourth race with J.E.’s Handmedown ($4.80) and the fifth race with Whole Lotta Luck ($46.80). On the season, Vazquez has won 33 races in 242 starts for $1,307,089. Shane Laviolette won the third race with First Alternate ($5.80) and the sixth race with Bubbas Dixie ($11). On the season, Laviolette has won five races in 48 starts for $258,934. Gary Stevens won the Fantasy Stakes with Sassy Sienna ($25) and the eighth race with Curly’s Rocket ($6.20). On the season, Stevens has won 26 races in 150 starts for $1,725,526.

Don Von Hemel was the only trainer to win two races. He won the third race with First Alternate and the sixth race with Bubbas Dixie. On the season, Von Hemel has won six races in 26 starts for $280,763.

‘BITTERSWEET START’

Kathy Howard’s first stakes starter as a trainer also will be her last.

Kathy Howard will send out Ivan Fallunovalot in the $400,000 Count Fleet Handicap for older horses today at Oaklawn in what she calls a “bittersweet moment.”

The 8-year-old gelding, owned by Lewis Mathews of Bismarck, will become a millionaire by starting in the 6-furlong race. Ivan Fallunovalot has $998,903 in career earnings and can still reach seven figures by running last of six (worth $2,000).

On behalf of Mathews, Howard’s late husband, trainer Tom Howard, claimed Ivan Fallunovalot for $25,000 at the 2014 Oaklawn meeting.

Under Tom Howard’s care, Ivan Fallunovalot developed into a multiple stakes winner, winning Oaklawn’s King Cotton in 2015 and 2016. He finished second in the 2015 Count Fleet.

Howard died of cancer hours after Ivan Fallunovalot finished third in the $125,000 Hot Springs Stakes on March 10, the final major local prep for the Count Fleet. Kathy Howard had assisted her husband and became the trainer of record after his death. Ivan Fallunovalot, she said, is like a member of her family.

“I don’t know how I’m going to feel,” Howard said. “This has been a hell of a couple of months. I don’t even know, I really don’t. I’ve seen him every day of his life, unless I was out of town or he was turned out, for four years.”

Howard said last month that she had no desire to continue training, and her eight horses will be sent to other trainers or turned out after the Oaklawn meeting.

Howard said she will continue as racing manager for prominent Arkansas owner

Frank Fletcher.

LOOKING AHEAD

Southern California-based City of Light is scheduled to make his two-turn debut in today’s $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap for older horses at 11/8 miles.

But if all goes well, trainer Mike McCarthy said City of Light would cut back to one turn for his subsequent start, the $1.2 million Met Mile on June 9 at Belmont Park.

City of Light is already a two-time Grade I winner at 7 furlongs, claiming the $400,000 Triple Bend Stakes on March 10 at Santa Anita in his last start.

“Calendar-wise, I didn’t see anything that really motivated me,” said McCarthy, a former Todd Pletcher assistant. “The Met Mile’s always been in the back of our mind. Thought maybe this, spacing-wise, was the best way for us to get there.”

City of Light also won the $300,000 Grade I Malibu Stakes at 7 furlongs Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.

McCarthy had planned for City of Light to make his two-turn debut in the $500,000 Razorback Handicap on Feb. 19 at Oaklawn before changing his mind because of weather concerns.

“It was always in the back of my mind to go ahead and try to stretch him out,” McCarthy said. “I wanted to do it after the Malibu. I wanted to bring him here for the Razorback. I thought if he would handle the experience of the Razorback well, we could come back here for this race. Obviously, weather was a little bit inclement and I just didn’t think it would set up right for him.”

Information for this report was contributed by Oaklawn media department