Parcells' Three Technique On Target For Smarty Jones

Trainer Jeremiah Englehart said Jan. 9 that Bill Parcells' Three Technique is scheduled to tackle stakes company for the first time in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes, a Jan. 24 mile race that is Oaklawn Park's first of four points races leading to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) at Churchill Downs.

Named for a football defensive alignment, Three Technique is owned by the two-time Super Bowl-winning coach and NFL Hall of Famer's August Dawn Farm. Three Technique has never raced outside New York or around two turns, but he has been the favorite in all four starts. 

The son of millionaire Mr Speaker  closed his 2-year-old campaign with consecutive victories, breaking his maiden by 5 1/2 lengths Aug. 31 at Saratoga Race Course and scoring by 4 1/2 lengths in a first-level allowance Nov. 20 at Aqueduct Racetrack. Both races were seven furlongs. 

"He was always one of the 2-year-olds early on that we just thought really highly of at Saratoga," Englehart said. "It was really disappointing after his first race. I thought he would be one of those horses that would win first time out, but it was just a little too short for him. He seems like a horse, with maybe some added distance, it will move him up a little bit."

Three Technique ran second in his first two starts. He debuted at five furlongs June 14 at Belmont Park and was beaten 1 1/4 lengths by Basin in a six-furlong maiden race July 21 at Saratoga.

Basin returned to win the Runhappy Hopeful Stakes (G1) Sept. 2 at Saratoga and is scheduled to make his 3-year-old debut in the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) Mar. 14 at Oaklawn, according to a text message from Jackpot Farm, which owns the Liam's Map  colt. The Rebel is Oaklawn's final major prep for the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) April 11.

Following Three Technique's allowance victory, Englehart said the colt received a brief freshening at Blackwood Stables in Kentucky before arriving at Oaklawn and resuming training.

The New York-based Englehart is in Hot Springs, Ark., this month to oversee his Oaklawn division. The trainer is wintering in Hot Springs for the first time. 

The Smarty Jones will offer 17 points (10-4-2-1) to the top four finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby. 

Jake Romans to Represent Joe Talamo and Channing Hill at Oaklawn 

There's a Romans roaming the backside at Oaklawn, but it's not nationally prominent trainer Dale Romans. It's his son, Jake, the agent for jockeys Joe Talamo and Channing Hill.

Jake Romans, 24, has been booking mounts for almost two years after working at a restaurant in his hometown of Louisville.

"I always knew I wanted to be in the game at some point in some facet, but I really didn't know what," Romans said during training hours Tuesday morning. "And my dad always tried to push me away. He didn't want me to get involved. I actually went to culinary school, so I have a background in that. I started working in the restaurant business, and I realized I did not like that at all."

Romans then reversed his career course and said he began helping around his father's barn when he was 20 before he had a chance to take Hill's book at the 2018 Keeneland spring meet. 

"It's worked out pretty well," Romans said. "We've had some fairly good success over the last couple of years."

Romans is based at Oaklawn for the first time after representing Robby Albarado last winter in Florida.

After riding Jan.5 at Santa Anita Park, Talamo arrived in Hot Springs Jan. 6, Romans said, and was making the rounds on the backside Jan. 7. He has been based in Southern California for most of his career.

Fifth Season Could Lure a Top Field

One of the more promising early stakes of the meet is shaping up to be the $100,000 Fifth Season Stakes for older horses at a mile Jan. 25, a race expected to draw stakes winners Snapper Sinclair, Bravazo, Pioneer Spirit, and others. The race drew 51 stakes nominations.

On behalf of Arkansas-based Lucky Dog Stables, Heads Up Racing, and a new client, Lawrence Roman, trainer Robertino Diodoro claimed Pioneer Spirit out of a Nov. 2 victory for $150,000. Pioneer Spirit's first start for his new connections resulted in a head victory under David Cohen in the Tenacious Stakes Dec. 21 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. Diodoro was using the one-mile, 70-yard race—contested on a sloppy surface—as a prep for the Fifth Season.

"I don't know if he really loved the track," said Diodoro, Oaklawn's second-leading trainer the past three years. "Obviously, he didn't hate it, but I really don't think it helped him a whole bunch. He's trained back really well."

The Tenacious—Pioneer Spirit's 11th victory in 28 starts—pushed his earnings to $696,578. A 7-year-old son of Malibu Moon, Pioneer Spirit finished third in last year's Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for trainer Brad Cox. He also won an allowance race and finished third in the inaugural Oaklawn Mile Stakes in Hot Springs and captured the Michael G. Schaefer Memorial Stakes July 13 at Indiana Grand.

Cohen, Oaklawn's leading jockey in 2019, will ride Pioneer Spirit in the Fifth Season, agent Bill Castle said.