Ex-claimer wins 2YO stake
Claimed less than two weeks ago at Churchill Downs, Kavod paid an immediate return on the investment in an Oaklawn stake Friday.
Winning a stake on his sixth try, the son of Grade 1 winner Lea came from off the pace in the $150,000 Advent, Oaklawn’s first stake for 2-year-olds since 1973.
Past Oaklawn training champion Chris Hartman claimed Kavod for $50,000 off James Chapman from a threelength victory Nov. 20 in Louisville, Ky. That was the first start outside New York since his April debut for Kavod, a second-out winner at Belmont Park who ran in five consecutive stakes, finishing second in the Tremont on Belmont Stakes weekend and entering the Grade 1 Champagne.
“We’re taking a little bit of a stab here, but we’re hoping for the best,” Hartman said before the race. “There was no demand for the horse. I just caught the horse on a flyer. I looked down there and saw he was a 2-year-old and knew he had opportunities to run. They thought enough of him to run in some money races, but I didn’t have visions of grandeur.”
Those plans might be upgraded after Kavod went six furlongs Friday in a fast-rated 1:09.97. Ridden by Francisco Arrieta, Kavod settled just off the early pace with Oro Azteca taking the field though early splits of 21.61 and 44.96 seconds. Down the lane, Kavod held off railcharging Higher Mischief by one length.
Paying $8.40, $3.40 and $2.60, Kavod went off second choice to 4-5 Higher Standard, an into Mischief colt coming off a Nov. 14 debut win at Churchill Downs for Tom Amoss. Third was Cairama, a debut winner at Belmont for Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. Ruggs, a Remington Park debut winner for Ron Moquett, ran fourth.
A $3,500 sales yearling at Keeneland, Kavod earned $90,000 for new owners Michael Robinson and James Rogers. Whereas dam Weekend Connection won only one of 10 starts, Lea earned more than $2.6 million for breeders Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, the Bill Mott trainee taking the 2014 Grade 1 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park and finishing second in the 2015 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland.
For horses just turned 3, Oaklawn’s first of four Kentucky Derby preps, the $150,000 Smarty Jones, comes Jan. 1. That one-mile race, the Grade 3 Southwest and the Grade 2 Rebel lead up to the $1.25 million Grade 1 Arkansas Derby April 2. Kentucky Derby 148 is May 7 at Churchill Downs.
Riding honors on Friday’s card went to Arrieta, who counted Kavod among a sweep of the last four races. He finished third in races won (50) and money at the 2021 spring-winter Oaklawn seasons. His Friday victories came for four different trainers, including Botswana ($5.40) for Oaklawn newcomer Bentley Combs in the sixth, Hypersport ($4.40) for Ingrid Mason in the seventh and Jets a Ginnin ($12) for Scott Becker in the ninth.
Asmussen, Oaklawn’s 11time training champion, had two winners early on the card: Requisition ($9) in the second and self-owned Chicken Hawk ($5.40) in the fourth. With one riding win each for Asmussen were eight-time local champion Ricardo Santana Jr. and Florent Geroux.
Notes: Santana is listed on five mounts today and six Sunday at Camarero in Puerto Rico. … Star jockey Joel Rosario, the national earnings leader with $32.9 million, suffered a rib fracture in a spill Thursday at Aqueduct in New York and is expected to miss at least three weeks, Daily Racing Form reported. He recently announced plans to winter at Oaklawn while riding at other tracks. Rosario won Oaklawn’s Rebel in March on Concert Tour.