Tom's d'Etat Rallies Past Improbable in Oaklawn Mile

Tom's d'Etat began his 2020 season how he ended 2019: with a stylish stakes victory.

The 7-year-old Smart Strike horse, who wrapped up 2019 with a win in the Clark Stakes Presented by Norton Healthcare (G1), returned with aplomb April 11 by capturing the $150,000 Oaklawn Mile Stakes by three-quarters of a length over fellow grade 1 winner Improbable.

Although the margin of victory was small, G M B Racing's Tom's d'Etat loomed large on the second turn and down the stretch, swallowing up the competition as jockey Joel Rosario gave a confident ride. He hardly moved aboard the horse, allowing Tom's d'Etat to finish under his own power and giving him a relatively easy outing in his first start of the year.

“Now that we're talking post-race, I couldn’t be any more happy with exactly how it turned out,” Tom's d'Etat's trainer, Al Stall Jr., said via phone. “The type of race he had, and the way Joel rode him to save a little bit to keep us on the upward part of the curve. That’s the hottest word in America right now. We don’t want to flatten the curve with this horse.”

Although Tom's d'Etat was superior, the Oaklawn Mile represented perhaps the best performance from Improbable since his 2-year-old year, when he was perfect in three starts and handily won the Los Alamitos Futurity (G1). Last year at 3, he sometimes disappointed, losing as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), when fourth, and also as the public choice in the Preakness Stakes (G1), when sixth.

As he did at times last year, Improbable acted up in the starting gate, forcing jockey Drayden Van Dyke to drop his crop and have to remount. The colt then raced four wide on the first turn and a little less so on the second.

Tom's d'Etat, meanwhile, saved ground early in eighth as Pioneer Spirit set a pressured opening half-mile in :46.09 on a wet-fast (sealed) track following afternoon rain. On the second turn, he swung into action from sixth, following a bid from 3-1 second favorite Improbable, who had taken command from Pioneer Spirit shortly after the latter covered six furlongs in 1:10.34.

The stretch run was all about Tom's d'Etat, who pulled within two lengths of Improbable after seven furlongs in 1:23.31, and he inched clear late without Rosario using his whip. He finished a mile in 1:35.83, paying $3.60 as the prohibitive favorite.

Bankit rallied for third while never a threat to the top two, two lengths behind runner-up Improbable. Bankit finished 4 1/2 lengths in front of a tiring Pioneer Spirit in fourth.

Flat in his season debut was Mr. Money, a multiple graded stakes winner and grade-1 placed colt who ran sixth, beaten 10 3/4 lengths in the field of 11, which was reduced by three after the scratches of M G Warrior, Kershaw, and Home Run Trick.

"I really don’t know what happened but he seemed to come back fine," said Mr. Money's trainer, Bret Calhoun. "I think the surface may hurt him. The jockey said the kickback was extremely heavy and hard at that point. He just didn’t look like the same horse today."

Tom's d'Etat was purchased by G M B Racing for $330,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from the Hunter Valley Farm consignment. Bred in Kentucky by SF Bloodstock, he is out of the stakes-winning Giant's Causeway mare Julia Tuttle, whose dam, Candy Cane, is a full sister to group/grade 1 winner and sire Candy Ride . All three winners out of Julia Tuttle have earned more than $120,000.

The Oaklawn Mile improved his record to 10-2-1 from 17 starts with earnings of more than $1.3 million. He is 5-for-5 under Rosario, who piloted him to victory in last year's Clark, Alydar Stakes, and Hagyard Fayette Stakes (G2), plus an allowance race at Saratoga Race Course in 2017.

Video: Oaklawn Mile S. (BT)