Last Samurai

Veteran jockey Jon Court rode the final race of his career Sunday afternoon at Oaklawn Park. Court, 63, entered Sunday with 4,263 victories and $114,023,582 in purse earnings in his career, totals that rank 67th and 59th, respectively, in North American history, according to Equibase. "It's time," Court said moments after his final career stakes mount, Navy Seal, finished fifth in the Arkansas Breeders' Saturday at Oaklawn. "It's something I've been thinking about for a while. People have been asking me a lot. I've had a great 43 years. I'm...

The names of some of this country's most accomplished Thoroughbred owners grace the honor roll as winners of the GII Oaklawn H., including Loblolly Stable, Greentree Stable, Allen Paulson, Golden Eagle, John Franks, Ogden Phipps, Jerry Moss, Pin Oak Stable and the late Oaklawn president Charles Cella. Following the conclusion of nine sometimes rough-and-tumble furlongs Saturday in Hot Springs, you can now add the name of Godolphin to the list, as the operation's immaculately bred 5-year-old Proxy (Tapit) stormed down the center of the track and managed to outfinish defending...

He is the most talented horse--pound for pound--in a field of seven that was drawn earlier this week, but Whisper Hill Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Charge It (Tapit) nevertheless has a fair bit to prove as the 8-5 morning-line favorite in Saturday's $1-million GII Oaklawn H. in Hot Springs. The 23-length winner of last year's GIII Dwyer S., the homebred returned with a stylish Gulfstream allowance victory first off a seven-month absence Feb. 5, but exits a disappointing runner-up effort in the GII Gulfstream Park Mile Mar. 4. The blinkers...

When it comes to ageing, as the wiseguys remind us, it's when you're over the hill that you begin to pick up speed. And it's true: the magnolia trees where I live are coming into blossom, and I swear that each passing year compresses both the duration of those brief candles and, above all, the intervals in between. The inference is a dismal one: time flies when you've had your fun. So on a weekend when we temporarily suspend our search for the adolescent Thoroughbred maturing sufficiently to beat his...

Arkansas' own Willis Horton celebrated yet another big-race success right in his backyard, as Last Samurai (Malibu Moon) re-rallied at the fence beneath veteran reinsman Jon Court and ran away late to cause a 12-1 upset in Saturday's $1-million GII Oaklawn H. Drawn two in a field reduced to seven by the early scratching of Thomas Shelby (Curlin), Last Samurai had good speed from the inside and shared the lead with second choice Plainsman (Flatter) under the wire for the first time, as favored Fearless (Ghostzapper)--runner-up to the Horton part-owned...