Oaklawn Looking for 22 Starters to Split Arkansas Derby

The decision on whether to split the $750,000 Arkansas Derby (G1) is likely to be made at the April 26 entry deadline as Oaklawn Park officials are now targeting 22-24 starters in order to run the 3-year-old stakes in two divisions.

Oaklawn Park racing secretary Pat Pope said April 23 that if the 1 1/8-mile stakes is split, each division will carry a $500,000 purse and that Churchill Downs has granted permission to offer a total of 170 qualifying points for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) in each of those divisions.

Pope said there are 16 likely starters for the May 2 stakes, but the connections of about seven potential entrants remain noncommittal, forcing Oaklawn to wait until the entry box closes Sunday to make its decision on whether there will be one 14-horse division with a $750,000 purse or two of them at $500,000 apiece.

If the race is contested as one division, the 14 starters will be the horses with the most earnings.

"My bosses have said if we get 22-24 horses, we will split the race. We won't know how many we will get until Sunday when entries are taken because trainers are saying 'maybe' and 'I don't know.' They won't commit because they want to see who is coming," Pope said. "If we end up with 16 starters, then 14 will get to run and the other two without enough earnings will not get to run."

Previously, Oaklawn targeted 20 entrants as enough to split the race, but 22 now looms as the magic number.

"If there's not 22-24, there will not be a strong inclination to (offer two divisions)," Pope said.

Pope said the final number of starters will be affected by travel arrangements and final workouts for the race in the next few days.

"There are a lot of moving parts at this moment," he said.

Among the lengthy list of likely candidates for the Arkansas Derby are Charlatan, Nadal, Gouverneur Morris, King Guillermo, Storm the Court, Silver Prospector, Basin, Anneau d'Or, Wells Bayou, Farmington Road, Taishan, Blackberry Wine, Shooters Shoot, and My Friends Beer.

The key horse on the bubble at the moment is the Bob Baffert-trained Charlatan, owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Fred Hertrich III, John Fielding, and Golconda Stables. A highly impressive winner of maiden and allowance races in his two starts, the son of Speightstown  has earned only $67,200 and most likely would not have enough earnings to run if there is just one division.

The 170 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby will be divided among the first four finishers on a 100-40-20-10 scale.