Ride On Curlin Set for Next Step in Essex

Ride On Curlin, under regular exercise rider Bryan Beccia, worked an easy half mile in :49 3/5 after the break the morning of Feb. 11 in preparation for the listed $100,000 Essex Handicap to be run Feb. 14 at Oaklawn Park. 

Daniel Dougherty's 4-year-old son of Curlin  , runner-up in last year's Preakness Stakes (gr. I), came back from a layup after being eased in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) to win a Jan. 15 allowance optional claimer at the Arkansas oval. The Billy Gowan trainee managed that score by a head at the six-furlong distance after getting off to a slow start and closing through the final sixteenth.

Ride On Curlin will depart post 7 under jockey Jon Court in a field of eight entered for the 1 1/16-mile Essex, a steppingstone to the April 11 Oaklawn Handicap (gr. II). Court rode Ride On Curlin to a runner-up finish in the Arkansas Derby (gr. I) last spring.

Directly to their outside will be Mrs. Joyce Robsham's homebred Golden Lad, who stepped up from the allowance/optional claiming ranks into the Razorback (gr. III) last March and notched his first stakes score by a dominating 6 3/4 lengths. He returned for the Oaklawn Handicap the following month, finishing fifth, and then disappointed again while ending up next to last in the Pimlico Special (gr. III) in May.

The son of Medaglia d'Oro   then was given a break by trainer Todd Pletcher and returned to the races Jan. 10, when he was fifth after encountering trouble in the Hal's Hope (gr. III) at one mile.

"Golden Lad seemed to really take to the track that day he ran there in the Razorback," Pletcher said. "In the Oaklawn Handicap, he got into a little bit of traffic issues down the lane and that compromised both him and (stablemate) Revolutionary   a bit. He started to tail off after the Oaklawn Handicap, but we still feel as though he likes the surface there. We thought it made sense to bring him back."

After working four furlongs in company with Got Lucky in :49.17 Feb. 8 at Palm Beach Downs, Golden Lad will get the services of  Ricardo Santana Jr., Oaklawn's defending leading rider, for the first time in the Essex from post 8.

Another interesting runner in the Essex is Code West, racing for Bryan Hawk, Leo Hawk, and Tim Hawk and trainer Boyd Caster. The grade III-winning son of Lemon Drop Kid   was runner-up Jan. 16 in the 1 1/16-mile Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn, 3 1/2 lengths behind Carve. Chris Landeros has the mount from the 4 hole.