Calibrate upset winner in Temperence Hill
HOT SPRINGS — Will Rogers Downs in Tulsa doesn’t produce many stakes winners at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort. There was one Sunday.
So full of energy that he dropped his jockey while cooling out, Calibrate pulled a four-star upset in the $150,000 Temperence Hill Stakes. A grateful Francisco Arrieta was aboard, fortunately, when the Distorted Humor gelding crossed the finish line a length in front of defending champion Lone Rock.
The winner tossed Arrieta, who quickly recovered, after going a mile and a half around three turns, enough to exhaust most horses. Owner Josh Engel’s Kentucky-bred bay gelding left behind 3-2 co-favorites Lone Rock, the public choice, and Indiana-bred Strong Tide, who have a combined 77 starts and 25 wins in their careers. Third was Warrant, the 2021 Oklahoma Derby winner at Remington Park for trainer Brad Cox.
“When I was behind the gate, I thanked God because I was riding in this kind of race, a mile and a half,” Arrieta said. “It’s just pretty fun.
“My horse took a good jump and relaxed. At the three-eighths pole, I saw they were trying to draw away. I had a lot of horse and when I moved, he responded to me.”
That Calibrate would do it after nabbing a $24,000 overnight handicap on a Monday did not compute with many bettors. An even-money choice last time in Tulsa, the 5-year-old rocked the toteboard at 30-1 after the sixth and easily biggest win in 24 lifetime starts.
Lone Rock held on for second after dealing with Warrant for a mile and a quarter. No speed record was expected and none was set: After the first mile in 1:40.73, Calibrate stopped the clock in 2:31.79.
Rosin scored an Oaklawn victory last May 6, day before the season finale, with Calibrate in an non-winners of three allowance optional claimer worth $108,000. He won again in July at Canterbury Downs in Minnesota going 6 1/2 furlongs and again in November at a mile and 70 yards at Hawthorne Race Course in Chicago.
The Temperence Hill triumph came in Calibrate’s third start of the Oaklawn meeting after dull efforts in January. With three local works showing since his last start, Calibrate won by three quarters of a length going a mile at Will Rogers Downs.
Magnifying the effort, Calibrate did it without Lasix, as did two other starters, while Lone Rock and Strong Tide went off anti-bleeder medication a few races back.
Lone Rock campagins for meet-leading trainer Robertino Diodoro while Cox on Saturday won the Arkansas Derby with Angel of Empire, the Fantasy with Wet Paint and the Hot Springs Stakes with Eyeing Clover.
Arrieta, giving leader Cristian Torres a good late run for the riding title, replaced Floyd Wethey Jr. in the saddle. Despite his hijinks before entering the winner’s circle, Calibrate paid $62.60, $10.60 and $4.60.