Station stop, Oaklawn Park
The Arkansas route to the Kentucky Derby has become increasingly popular in recent years, as more and more money is pumped into Oaklawn Park’s three graded Derby preps, the Southwest Stakes, Rebel and Arkansas Derby.
When Smarty Jones won the Southwest in 2004, the pot was only $100k. In this year’s edition, which will be run this afternoon, the seven expected starters will be competing for $750k, making the Southwest the second-richest G3 race in the country after Kentucky Downs’s Kentucky Turf Cup.
Until now, Smarty Jones’s victory was probably the Southwest’s biggest moment. This year’s field – which features the two most accomplished 2-yearolds from 2020, unbeaten juvenile champ Essential Quality and fellow dual-G1 winner Jackie’s Warrior – may be the best in the race’s history.
Essential Quality is unraced since his three-quarter-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The win clinched an Eclipse Award for the Godolphin
homebred, who had won his two previous starts by open lengths, including Keeneland’s Breeders’ Futurity on Oct. 3. Essential Quality won his first two starts while running close to the pace but demonstrated in the Breeders’ Cup that he could rate behind horses and finish strongly.
Jackie’s Warrior, the likely second choice in the wagering, is also making his 2021 debut. As a 2-year-old, he won his first four starts by a combined 13¼ lengths, finishing up with gate-towire scores in the Hopeful and Champagne. Jackie’s Warrior made the lead in mid-stretch of the Juvenile but tired late to finish fourth, 3½ lengths behind Essential Quality. The Southwest gives him another chance to show he can handle two turns.
Both 3-year-olds have been training well for today’s race, with Essential Quality breezing five furlongs in 1:00.60 (third of 41 workers) on Feb. 20, and Jackie’s Warrior going the same distance in 1:01.30 on Feb. 21, secondfastest of 21.
Bob Baffert must be considered a threat in any Oaklawn Park Derby prep. Since 2010, the Hall of Fame conditioner has won four Southwest Stakes, three Arkansas Derbies and, incredibly, seven Rebel Stakes. This year’s Baffert entry in the Southwest is Spielberg, a G2 winner at two who was also twice G1-placed. In his lone 2021 effort, the million-dollar yearling finished fourth in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes.
Saturday’s other graded Derby prep is the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2), the centerpiece of a nine-stakes card at Gulfstream Park. Greatest Honour, who routed several of the same horses he’ll face today in last month’s Holy Bull, is the 9-5 morning-line favorite. One Fountain of Youth entrant who did not run in the Holy Bull is Fire at Will (7-2), whose three stakes wins as a 2-yearold included the BC Juvenile Turf. Drain the Clock, recent winner of the Swale Stakes, is listed at 5-1.
Tapit in the Triple Crown
Close followers of racing are aware of Tapit’s success in the Belmont Stakes. Sons of the 20-year-old stallion won three of four editions of the Belmont between 2014 and 2017: Tonalist (2014), Creator (2016) and Tapwrit (2017).
Tapit’s influence on the Belmont did not end there. Four of his sons have also finished second or third in recent years: Frosted (second in 2015), Lani (third in 2016), Hofburg (third in 2018) and Tacitus (second in 2019). All told, sons of Tapit accounted for seven of 18 in-the-money Belmont finishes between 2014 and 2019, a remarkable record.
Not so remarkable is Tapit’s record in the Derby. Of 11 starters since 2011, only Tacitus (third in 2019) finished in the top three. This year, however, in Essential Quality and Greatest Honour – likely favorites in the Southwest and Fountain of Youth, respectively – Tapit appears to have a decent shot at ending his Derby drought.