Oaklawn Park

Despite inclement weather in the Hot Springs area on Friday afternoon, Wicked Halo (Gun Runner) returned to action off the break and won the inaugural running of the Matron S. over a wet track with Tyler Gaffalione in-town to ride for the weekend. The 4-year-old filly was making her first start of the year for trainer Steve Asmussen after she ran third in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Keeneland Nov. 5. Prior to that, the classy sprinter strung together a number of stakes victories starting as...

We've taken the plunge into the deeper end of the prep pool for the GI Kentucky Derby. Five nine-furlong stakes each awarding 100 qualifying points are scheduled over the next two Saturdays, after which this list will expand to the Top 20. 1) FORTE (c, Violence--Queen Caroline, by Blame) 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable; B-South Gate Farm (KY); T-Todd Pletcher. Sales history: $80,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $110,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo Colt, MGISW, 6-5-0-0, $1,833,230. Last start: 1st GII Fountain of Youth S....

Veteran track announcer Vic Stauffer will take the microphone when Lone Star Park opens its Thoroughbred season Apr. 13 in Grand Prairie, Texas, the track's Brandon Leigh confirmed in a phone call Thursday. Stauffer was let go by Oaklawn Park earlier this month, a position he held since 2017. Lone Star's regular voice Jim Byers replaced him in the booth in Hot Springs, but is expected to return to Grand Prairie when Oaklawn's meet closes on Kentucky Derby Day. Stauffer will also join Rick Lee, morning-line oddsmaker and Rodney Nelson,...

On a weekend when we temporarily suspend our search for the adolescent Thoroughbred maturing sufficiently to beat his peers on the first Saturday in May, let's celebrate the fulfilments that remain available later in life--whether on two legs or four.

Iowa-bred sensation Tyler's Tribe (Sharp Azteca) worked five furlongs in 1:00 flat Saturday morning at Oaklawn Park, his third breeze since receiving a month off following a second bleeding incident when third in the Dec. 9 Advent S. in Hot Springs. He also bled and was vanned off after being eased home in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint in November. He previously went three furlongs in :36.40 (3/8) Feb. 18 and a half-mile in :48.60 (13/66) Mar. 4. "Doing good," said trainer and co-owner Tim Martin. "I'm just...

Trainer Todd Pletcher has unsaddled the winner of the GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby a record five times--no one else has more than two to their credit--and he stands a fair chance to make it a half-dozen Saturday afternoon when he sends out the two favorites on the morning line. Pegged at odds of 8-5 is Whisper Hill Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Tapit Trice (Tapit), who will attempt to provide his sire with a fourth winner of the race since in its last 10 runnings (Ring Weekend, 2014; the...

When Robert Garrett sold his power line company last year, he knew just how to fill up his free time. The Oklahoman headed to Ocala where, with the help of trainer Chris Hartman, he purchased a son of Cloud Computing for $220,000 at last year's OBS Spring Sale. Now named Two Eagles River, stakes-placed and fresh off a dominant allowance victory at Oaklawn Park, the 3-year-old has Garrett enjoying retirement. "I've owned horses out here in Oklahoma and I owned a stallion and some broodmares, but that's the first one...

Had he done this once, maybe twice, the easy conclusion would be that trainer Keith Desormeaux is just lucky. Anyone can stumble onto a good horse that slipped through the cracks at the sales and was bought for a song. But with Desormeaux there's obviously a lot more to it than that. He keeps finding these good horses that most everyone else overlooks, the latest example being Confidence Game (Candy Ride {Arg}), the $25,000 buy at Keeneland September who won Saturday's $1-million GII Rebel S. at Oaklawn, securing a spot...

Don't Tell My Wife Stables' Confidence Game (Candy Ride {Arg}) exited his upset win in Saturday's GII Rebel S. in fine shape, according to trainer Keith Desormeaux. "He's happy," Desormeaux said Sunday. "He looks a lot more calm and happy than he was in that damn [indoor] paddock." The Rebel victory propelled Confidence Game to the top of the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 57 points. Confidence Game shipped back to Desormeaux's Fair Grounds base Sunday afternoon, but could return to Oaklawn Park for the GI Arkansas Derby Apr. 1. "For...

Since breaking her maiden two starts back over a sloppy track at Horseshoe Indy last fall and parlaying that into a win last time out in the Martha Washington S. over a wet-fast track at Oaklawn, Wet Paint (Blame) proved that her fondness for the off going was no fluke Saturday with a rousing win in the GIII Honeybee S. The new leader on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks with the 50 points earned Saturday giving her a total of 70 points, the Godolphin homebred broke a beat slow...

6th-Oaklawn, $90,000, Msw, 2-25, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:11.43, sy, 2 1/2 lengths. GROVE (f, 3, Munnings--Wishful Winking, by Rip Van Winkle {Ire}), off at odds of 9-1, took pressure inside and out for the opening half-mile of her debut run, but went through her gears in the stretch nevertheless to report home a good-looking winner. A $100,000 Fasig-Tipton July yearling turned $175,000 OBS April breezer, Grove did her pre-race work down at the Fair Grounds and stepped away smartly while joined to her inside by the rail-skimming Mary's Boon (Central...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 3rd-OP, $106K, OC, 4yo/up, 1 1/16m, 2:03 p.m. Last seen checking in fourth in last July's GII Suburban S. at Belmont, MAX PLAYER (Honor Code) makes his 6-year-old debut Saturday in an optional claimer at Oaklawn. The picture of consistency throughout his career, the Steve Asmussen trainee was a Triple Crown contender in 2020, placing third behind Tiz the Law (Constitution) in both the rescheduled GI Belmont S. and the GI Runhappy Travers S. before finishing fifth behind future Horse of the Year Authentic (Into...