Anthony homebreds set Rainbow Miss exacta
Oaklawn Park fans have been rooting since the 1970s for Arkansas-owned horses with jockeys bedecked in yellow brown diagonal quarters with a brown band on yellow sleeves.
Put Will VanMeter on a list with Joe Cantey, Shug McGaughey, Phil Hauswald, Tom Bohannon and Don Von Hemel — just to name a few — of stakes-winning trainers for John Ed Anthony. VanMeter scored his first Oaklawn stakes victory Friday with Anthony homebreds Sekani and The Mary Rose one-two in the 42nd running of the Rainbow Miss.
A south Arkansas lumberman (formerly of Bearden) who for years has lived in Hot Springs, Anthony often names his horses after instate landmarks. Cox’s Ridge,
Vanlandingham and Prairie Bayou qualify along with Temperence Hill, the first of three champions and classic winners for the original Loblolly Stable. Sekani’s Rainbow Miss coincides with the March running of the inaugural Temperence Hill Stakes, honoring the 1980 Arkansas Derby winner (Anthony’s first of three triumphs in Oaklawn’s oldest race).
Still looking for a Kentucky Derby winner — having won the Preakness twice and the Belmont Stakes once — Anthony is sticking a toe into Arkansas-bred racing with his stable’s customary flair. At the least, meet winners Sekani and The Mary Rose represent powerful broodmare prospects for the owner.
With a strong move off the turn, Sekani won by 1 1/2 lengths over her stablemate after a fast-rated six furlongs in 1:10.92. Both ran without medication as they did in maiden victories 10 days apart in February, earning bonuses that boosted the purse to $106,000.
Declan Cannon stayed aboard the winner, making her third start of the meet and fourth overall, and Martin Garcia once again rode The Mary Rose, who was 2 1/4 lengths clear of unlikely maiden favorite Choctaw Charlie. Sekani, 2-1 second choice in the field of eight, paid $6.60,
$3 and $2.60. A $1 exacta ticket with the Shortleaf runners paid $18.80.
“I thought both jockeys rode a great race, not getting too aggressive early, and stalking and pouncing at the right time,” VanMeter said. “One of those rare occasions when the trip worked out.
“The Mary Rose ran a very credible race,” he said. “I think she was hindered a little by her post-position draw (No.
2) where Sekani had the better draw (post 8) and was able to sit a good trip.”
Both impressed immediately at Oaklawn, Sekani with a
10-length, second-out maiden victory at six furlongs on Presidents Day. Ten days earlier, on Feb. 7, The Mary Rose won by a neck when favored in a third-out, state-bred maiden race.
Though not expecting to sweep the exacta — The Mary Rose went off at 5-1 Friday — VanMeter said “there might have been a little more pressure on (Sekani) because of what she did early in the meet.”
A granddaughter of supersire Tapit by unraced Double Irish, Sekani was delivered by Merry Mittens, a Harperstown filly and 2013 Oaklawn maiden winner (for Ken McPeek) whose seven starts bankrolled
$95,610 for Shortleaf Stable. Pairing Double Irish with Final Bel produced Dutch Treat, a Shortleaf-raced winner of
$203,737. VanMeter, from a prominent Kentucky racing family, thought of the thrills that finishing one-two in a stakes race at his home track must give Anthony.
“These small moments, they go back four years when John Ed bred these horses, and there’s been so many hands that have touched them,” VanMeter said. “We’re just kind of at the culmination of four years of hard work by a lot of great people, and it’s great to see them run one-two.”