Arkansas Derby winner makes Oaklawn return
HOT SPRINGS — Last season’s Arkansas Derby winner leads a short field deep in contenders in today’s feature at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort.
The first running of the $150,000 1-mile-and-1/16th Poinsettia Stakes for threeyear-old horses will highlight Oaklawn’s 10-race card. The seven horses entered include Erv Woolsey’s and Keith Asmussen’s Super Stock (14 4-23) whose career earnings of $1,151,677 include $600,000 for his 21/2 length win in Oaklawn’s Grade I $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 10.
Super Stock, a son of Dialed In whose last race was a win in the Zia Park Derby for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen in Hobbs, N.M., on Nov. 23, is the 9-5 morning-line favorite in the Poinsettia, the ninth of the 10 races with a post scheduled for 4:13 p.m.
Luis Contreras is Super Stock’s listed rider.
Jerry Namy’s Flash of Mischief, the 5-2 second-choice trained by Karl Broberg, has twice faced Super Stock and outrun him each time. In their last meeting, Super Stock overcame a troubled start to finish third, one-half length behind second-place Flash of Mischief (14 6-4-1).
“That’s the troubling part for me, because Super Stock had a horrible break that day, and we still only finished a half-length better than him,” Broberg said.
Flash of Mischief won the $250,000 1-mile-and-1/16th St. Louis Derby at FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing on Aug. 28. FanDuel, formerly known as Fairmount Park, is in the St. Louis suburb of Collinsville, Ill.
Ramon Vazquez is set to ride Flash of Mischief, a son of Into Mischief.
Defeater, owned in part by Nice Guy Stables, enters as the 3-1 morning-line second choice off a one-mile win in an allowance start at Churchill Downs on Nov. 10. Trained by Tom Amoss, Defeater (5 2-2-0) has eight-time Oaklawn riding champion Ricardo Santana Jr., as his listed jockey.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas, also a member of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, said races early in an Oaklawn season are difficult to assess. He has entered Christina Baker’s and William Mack’s Ram, (17 4-2-3) a son of American Pharoah, 12-1 on the morning line.
“The thing that happens at Oaklawn is that these horses drop in from all different areas,” Lukas said. “It’s really hard to get a read on them until they run a couple of times. You don’t know what kind of surface they were running over or what kind of competition they had running with them.”
Lukas said he expects Super Stock and Flash of Mischief, among others, to set the pace early. He hopes Ram, a confirmed closer, can make a late run, though he knows Oaklawn has not recently favored late runners.
“The secret of training horses is to find out what they do best, and then flaunt it,” Lukas said. “That’s pretty much what’s happened [with Ram]. He’d get way out of it, and we’d worry, and the next thing you know he’s picking up horses left and right. He did that a couple of times, and we let him develop that style.
“Really, if I could change things and get a good Christmas present, I’d like to see him lay a little bit closer, because I think with the short stretch and the fact that speed holds pretty good here at Oaklawn, it might be a little harder to make up that ground. We’ll see.”
Jockey David Cohen is set to ride long-shot Myopic, a gelded son of Candy Ride from the barn of trainer Robertino Diodoro owned by Arnold Bennewith and others. Myopic (6 1-2-0) finished fourth, 10 lengths behind the winner Defeater in their last start. In that race, Myopic stalked the pace but faded down the stretch.
“He showed some good speed, but he just came up a bit short,” Cohen said. “But he’s been training well over the Oaklawn surface. I was aboard him in his last workout, and I was very pleased with the way he got over the track, and the way he’s going into the race.”
Broberg, the leading U.S. trainer from 2014-2019, said he is impressed with the Poinsettia field.
“I spent some time looking at it [Tuesday] night,” Broberg said. “Obviously, Super Stock is going to garner the majority of the support, as well he should. Plus, he should be a fan favorite since he won the Arkansas Derby. Flash of Mischief has been competitive with him. The Amoss horse, Defeater, that horse is coming off a rousing win. It looks like it’s going to be a really good race, and I don’t see anybody just running away with it and dominating.”