Undefeated Ring Leader to Stretch Out in Honeybee
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Photo: Coady Photography
Ring Leader takes the Dixie Belle Stakes at Oaklawn Park
After showing an ability to rate in her previous start, undefeated Ring Leader will stretch out to two turns for the first time in the $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park.
The March 7 Honeybee will mark the graded stakes debut for Ring Leader. The race for 3-year-old fillies has attracted nine entries and offers qualifying points for the top four finishers (50-20-10-5) on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks.
After leading at every call in her maiden debut June 22 at Canterbury Park, Novogratz Racing Stables' Ring Leader delivered another front-end score in her second start, drawing off late to win by 5 1/4 lengths in an allowance-level race in the mud Jan. 24 at Oaklawn. In her third start and stakes debut, the daughter of Paynter tracked from third early in the six-furlong Dixie Belle Stakes before taking command in the stretch and holding on by a half-length.
Trainer McLean Robertson was pleased with that effort and expects further progress from Ring Leader.
"She's improving," Robertson said after the Dixie Belle. "Obviously, she went from winning by a head at Canterbury to winning by five at Oaklawn. That's a big move. Usually when they make that big of a move, they make another one. I don't think it's foolish to be high on a horse like that. They always come again. When they come that much from 2 to 3, they always come again. It might not be next time. It might be in the fall or next year, but they come again. They get better."
Awaiting Oaklawn-based Ring Leader are three promising fillies shipping in from Florida and Louisiana. The Honeybee features the second- and third-place runners from the Feb. 8 Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in runner-up Turtle Trax, campaigned by owner/breeder Brereton Jones, and Motu, who races for Susan Moulton, David Bernsen, and Magdalena Racing.
Ed and Susie Orr's Alta's Award enters the 1 1/16-mile test off a Feb. 14 allowance-level victory going the Honeybee's distance at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
One race before the Honeybee, top older sprinters will contest the $150,000 Hot Springs Stakes at six furlongs where grade 1 winner Whitmore will again face Share the Upside. In the Feb. 8 King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn, Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings and Windsor Boys Racing's Share the Upside scored a front-end victory to upset even-money Whitmore, who rallied from fourth to finish second in his 7-year-old season debut.
Campaigned by Southern Springs Stables, Robert LaPenta, and Head of Plains Partners, Whitmore scored a clear victory in last year's Hot Springs—defeating Share the Upside by 1 1/2 lengths. That marked Whitmore's third consecutive win in the Hot Springs. Share the Upside's runner-up finish is the only time he's failed to win in five starts at Oaklawn.
Oaklawn Park, Saturday, March 07, 2020, Race 8 Oaklawn Park, Saturday, March 07, 2020, Race 9Entries: Hot Springs S.
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Firecrow (KY)
Richard E. Eramia
122
Ron Moquett
15/1
2
2Mr. Jagermeister (MN)
Leandro D. Goncalves
119
Valorie Lund
7/2
3
3Whitmore (KY)
Joseph Talamo
115
Ron Moquett
9/5
4
4Share the Upside (ON)
Ricardo Santana, Jr.
122
Steven M. Asmussen
2/1
5
5Boldor (VA)
Tyler Baze
122
Steven M. Asmussen
10/1
6
6Wendell Fong (KY)
David Cohen
115
Jeremiah C. Englehart
4/1
Entries: Honeybee S. (G3)
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Motu (KY)
Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
117
Kenneth G. McPeek
3/1
2
2Shedaresthedevil (KY)
Joseph Talamo
117
Brad H. Cox
6/1
3
3Turtle Trax (KY)
Joseph Rocco, Jr.
117
Ian R. Wilkes
4/1
4
4Ring Leader (KY)
David Cohen
117
McLean Robertson
7/2
5
5Alta's Award (KY)
Ricardo Santana, Jr.
117
Steven M. Asmussen
9/2
6
6Back in Charge (KY)
Ramon A. Vazquez
117
Kenneth G. McPeek
12/1
7
7Fiftyshays Ofgreen (KY)
Martin Garcia
117
John C. Servis
8/1
8
8Raggedy Annie (KY)
Orlando Mojica
117
D. Wayne Lukas
10/1
9
9Queen Bridget (KY)
Channing Hill
117
John Alexander Ortiz
30/1
