Basin, 12 Others Seek Opportunity in Oaklawn Stakes
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Photo: Coglianese Photos
Basin wins the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
While the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) is postponed until Sept. 5 this year due to COVID-19, the struggle to secure a starting position for a prestigious stakes race on the first Saturday in May still remains.
This year the May 2 Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park is that coveted opportunity. As one of the few remaining major graded races left on the spring calendar amid a series of COVID-19 cancellations, the race could attract an overflow field, leaving some runners excluded.
This makes the April 11 Oaklawn Stakes all the more important. Beyond its $200,000 purse, the race offers automatic berths into the Arkansas Derby to its top-three finishers, which has partially resulted in an abundance of 3-year-olds converging for Saturday's race. A field of 13 has been entered for the 1 1/8-mile contest, including Thousand Words from California and Farmington Road from his South Florida training base, plus an assortment of Arkansas-based runners, including Runhappy Hopeful (G1) winner Basin.
Oaklawn Park is one of a handful of Thoroughbred tracks still in operation this weekend during the ongoing pandemic, racing before spectatorless crowds.
Basin, one of three entrants from the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, seems safe in the Arkansas Derby, having already made $361,000 and with the Arkansas Derby utilizing another preference system based on earnings. That makes Saturday's race more necessary as a building block, having started just once since last summer.
That one start came in the March 14 Rebel Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn, his first race since winning the Sept. 2 Hopeful for owner Terry Green of Jackpot Farm. Racing two turns for the first time, he turned in an even performance to be third in a show photo, beaten 7 3/4 lengths by victorious Nadal.
Video: Rebel S. (G2)
"We were wondering how he would come back. We were all real happy with him," said Green. "All those other horses had been running pretty steady so to come back and run third to them, we felt was pretty darn good."
Green said Basin missed action in the fall and winter months due to a right rear ankle injury. Asmussen has relayed to the owner that the colt is doing well.
Though Green likes the tradition of the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May, he thinks the postponement of the race could prove to Basin's benefit.
"He's a May foal," he said. "He's grown quite a bit compared to where he was and he's still growing."
Florent Geroux has landed the ride on the 3-year-old son of Liam's Map , replacing Javier Castellano, who is not currently riding after testing positive last month for COVID-19, though the rider never exhibited any symptoms. Geroux teamed with Asmussen as the regular jockey of 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner .
Asmussen, the second-winningest trainer of all time behind Dale Baird, is in the midst of a spring slump in Arkansas, entering the racing week at Oaklawn on a 43-race losing streak there since winning the sixth race March 26.
His other Oaklawn Stakes starters are Shoplifted, the Remington Springboard Mile winner, and Gold Street, winner of the Sugar Bowl Stakes and Smarty Jones Stakes.
Basin is not the only entrant receiving a rider change. Thousand Words will be handled by Joe Talamo after the son of Pioneerof the Nile was ridden by Flavien Prat in all four of his starts on the West Coast.
After a debut maiden victory, he won the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) and the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G2) for owners Albaugh Family Stables and Spendthrift Farm, and then was a lackluster fourth in the March 7 San Felipe Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park. Spotted in a tracking position in third along in the inside in the San Felipe, he began to lose ground on the second turn and weakened to finish 11 1/4 lengths behind stablemate Authentic.
Bob Baffert, his Hall of Fame trainer, felt he may have been too close to the pace, though Prat said after the race he thought the colt was well-positioned.
"I was in a good spot. He just didn't fire," Prat said.
Video
The Oaklawn Stakes, run as an invitational last year during its inaugural running, was won by the Asmussen-trained Laughing Fox in 2019 when it was contested on Kentucky Derby Day as a prep for the Preakness Stakes, where Laughing Fox later ran fifth. This year the Oaklawn Stakes and Arkansas Derby swapped positions on the track's racing calendar.
Other contenders in the Oaklawn Stakes include Sir Rick, who captured the Mine That Bird Derby at Sunland Park; Taishan, a fast allowance winner in the slop at Oaklawn March 14; and Farmington Road and Digital, fourth and fifth, respectively, in the faster of two editions of the Feb. 15 Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. Farmington Road races with blinkers for the first time.
Post time is 5:48 CT on a card that also includes a stellar renewal of the Oaklawn Mile Stakes, a 14-horse race led by grade 1 winners Tom's d'Etat and Improbable.
Oaklawn Park, Saturday, April 11, 2020, Race 11Entries: Oaklawn S.
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Basin (KY)
Florent Geroux
124
Steven M. Asmussen
7/2
2
2Coach Bahe (KY)
Santo Sanjur
118
Philip A. Bauer
20/1
3
3Mr. Big News (KY)
Gabriel Saez
118
W. Bret Calhoun
30/1
4
4Thousand Words (FL)
Joseph Talamo
124
Bob Baffert
5/2
5
5Sir Rick (KY)
David Cohen
124
Robertino Diodoro
15/1
6
6Shoplifted (KY)
Ricardo Santana, Jr.
124
Steven M. Asmussen
10/1
7
7Flap Jack (KY)
Adam Beschizza
124
Jack Sisterson
20/1
8
8Taishan (KY)
Joel Rosario
121
Richard Baltas
8/1
9
9Digital (KY)
Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.
118
W. Bret Calhoun
8/1
10
10Something Natural (KY)
Fernando De La Cruz
121
Brad H. Cox
20/1
11
11Background (FL)
Joseph Rocco, Jr.
118
Michael Puhich
12/1
12
12Farmington Road (KY)
Martin Garcia
118
Todd A. Pletcher
6/1
13
13Gold Street (KY)
Tyler Baze
124
Steven M. Asmussen
20/1
