Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

winners meet for Razorback Handicap.

- PETE PERKINS

HOT SPRINGS — The Grade III 11/16-mile Razorback Handicap for horses 4 years old and up at Oaklawn today will feature a showdown of this season’s Fifth Season Stakes winners.

Management at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort divided the 1-mile Fifth Season into two races to make way for more entrants than the racetrack’s 14-stall starting gate would hold. As a consequenc­e, both Guest Suite and Pioneer Spirit are listed to start the $500,000 Razorback as winners of Oaklawn’s Fifth Season on Jan. 25.

Guest Suite and Pioneer Spirit are entered to start with nine others in the Razorback, one of three Grade III races scheduled on Oaklawn’s 10-race Presidents Day card. Post time for the Razorback, the eighth race of the day, is set for 4:09 p.m.

“Guest Suite ran a big race in the Fifth Season, bigger than I thought he would,” Guest Suite trainer Cipriano Contreras said. “He’s a nice old class horse every now and then.”

Guest Suite, a 6-year-old gelded son of Quality Road, has a career record of 24 6-2-8 with career earnings of $477,633.

“It will be a good race, but I think we’ll be ready,” Pioneer Spirit trainer Robertino Diodoro said. “In fact, [Pioneer Spirit] has us real excited.”

Top Razorback contenders include Grade I winner Math Wizard, a 4-year-old colt with career earnings of $1,040,623 trained by Joe Saffie, and

Warrior’s Charge, who finished fourth in the 2019 Grade I Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore and is trained by Oaklawn regular Brad Cox.

Bankit, a son of Central Banker trained by Steve Asmussen, finished second by a head to Pioneer Spirit in the Fifth Season. Asmussen also trains Snapper Sinclair, who was second to Guest Suite by a neck in the other division of the Fifth Season.

Exulting, a 7-year-old gelded son of Tapit trained by Michael Maker, won last season’s first running of the Oaklawn Mile in May. The Razorback will be Exulting’s first start on dirt after five consecutiv­e turf races.

“We wanted to get him back on dirt,” said Michael Hui of Little Rock, an owner of Exulting. “He’s been very steady, very consistent.”

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