Mr. Big News Makes Headlines in Oaklawn Stakes
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Photo: Coady Photography
Mr. Big News wins the Oaklawn Stakes at Oaklawn Park
On a day at Oaklawn Park in which stakes races for 3-year-olds swapped spots, it seemed rather apropos that the script was also flipped.
When the stakes schedule at the Hot Springs, Ark., track was first announced, the Arkansas Derby (G1) was scheduled for April 11 and the second edition of the $200,000 Oaklawn Stakes was slotted for May 2, the same date as the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1).
The COVID-19 pandemic changed all of that.
After the Kentucky Derby was moved to Sept. 5, the Arkansas Derby, traditionally a major prep for the Run for the Roses, was switched to May 2, with the Oaklawn, created as a Preakness Stakes (G1) prep, taking over the April 11 slot and becoming a steppingstone to the Arkansas Derby.
If all of that makes sense, what happened on a wet track Saturday in the Oaklawn did not follow in a logical progression.
In a field topped by multiple graded stakes winner Thousand Words from Bob Baffert's barn, an impressive allowance winner at Oaklawn on a wet track in Taishan, and grade 1 winner Basin trained by Steve Asmussen, it was 46-1 shot Mr. Big News who stole the headlines and captured the Oaklawn by a half-length under jockey Gabriel Saez for trainer Bret Calhoun and owner Allied Racing Stable.
Unlike the online betting public on an afternoon when Oaklawn was closed to spectators, Calhoun was not startled by the success of a horse who paid $95.60 to win.
"We weren't that surprised, honestly. I thought he had a big shot," said Calhoun, who also sent out Digital to a sixth-place finish in the 1 1/8-mile stakes. "We've been confident in this horse for the last few months, and he trained sensationally since his last race. I understand why the bettors made him a longshot, but if you studied the films of his last few races closely, you could have made a case for the horse and seen what we were seeing."
Much like last year's Oaklawn Stakes, the victory provided the winner with a guaranteed spot in the Preakness. Yet in a new twist, Mr. Big News, along with runner-up Farmington Road and third-place finisher Taishan, all secured a spot in the Arkansas Derby—which promises to come in handy given the question marks surrounding all the major races for 3-year-olds because of the virus and the potential for an overflow field in the May 2 stakes.
Yet even with so much uncertainty, Calhoun said Mr. Big News was not a cinch to run in the Arkansas Derby because it's three weeks away and he plans to ship the 3-year-old back to Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots on April 12. What may sway him to return is that the son of Giant's Causeway has yet to pick up any qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, and the Arkansas Derby offers 170 of them.
"I think we're smarter to space his races out, but that being said, he doesn't have any points for the Kentucky Derby," Calhoun said. "Hopefully, Churchill Downs will come out with its schedule of new point races soon. It's a difficult situation. We'd be better off skipping the Arkansas Derby, but if we can't figure out by then where the points are and he's doing well, we may come back for it."
Bred by Don Alberto Corporation out of the Galileo mare Unappeased, Mr. Big News was a $95,000 purchase by Allied Racing from Taylor Made Sales Agency's consignment to The October Sale, Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky fall yearling sale, in 2018. The Kentucky-bred came into the Oaklawn Stakes with one win in five starts after needing four tries to break his maiden.
After that Jan. 20 victory at Fair Grounds, Calhoun tried Mr. Big News in the second division of the Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2), where he was fifth but just four lengths behind at 44-1 odds. Looking back, Calhoun believes Mr. Big News should have run in the March 21 Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) at Fair Grounds, but the bay colt wound up with a two-month gap between the Feb. 15 Risen Star and the Oaklawn.
"I was pretty disappointed he didn't get to run in the Louisiana Derby. He was the first also-eligible, and after the race I was mad I didn't scratch the owner's other horse in the race (Mailman Money, who was 11th) and run Mr. Big News," Calhoun said.
Contested on a sloppy (sealed) track, the Oaklawn produced drama at the start when Albaugh Family Stables and Spendthrift Farm's Thousand Words, the slight 5-2 favorite in a field of 13, stumbled while leaving the gate and nearly fell. Jockey Joe Talamo did a nice job in getting his mount back in stride, but the son of Pioneerof the Nile was never better than sixth at any call and wound up 11th.
Meanwhile, Mike McCarty's Gold Street, the winner of the Smarty Jones Stakes on a muddy track at Oaklawn, set quick early fractions of :22.07 and :45.47. He began his fade to eighth approaching the quarter pole as Calvin Nguyen and Joey Tran's Taishan and jockey Joel Rosario swung four wide to take the lead at the top of the stretch.
The son of Twirling Candy trained by Richard Baltas seemed headed to an encore win at Oaklawn, but Saez and Mr. Big News had other plans. Eleventh after the opening quarter mile, Mr. Big News launched a five-wide rally on the turn that propelled him to the front before the sixteenth pole and carried him to the wire in 1:49.89.
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Chrysalis Stables and Robert LaPenta's Farmington Road rallied outside of Mr. Big News, and the son of Quality Road also rushed past Taishan, the 5-2 second choice, to take second by 3 1/4 lengths.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Farmington Road was exiting a fourth-place finish in the first division of the Risen Star while wearing blinkers for the first time.
Basin, the winner of the Runhappy Hopeful Stakes (G1) at 2, finished fourth as the 3-1 third choice.