Improbable Works Ahead of Oaklawn Handicap Start

Grade 1 winner Improbable completed major preparations for the $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses at 1 1/8 miles with a five-furlong work on a fast track April 26 at Oaklawn Park for trainer Bob Baffert. Later in the day, Improbable drew post 14 for the May 2 race, the second consecutive race where he's drawn the far outside.

Improbable breezed after the first surface renovation break under Martin Garcia, covering the distance in 1:00 1/5. Clockers caught the  chestnut in :37 for his opening three furlongs. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:12 3/5 and seven furlongs in 1:26 1/5.

Improbable is seeking his first Oaklawn victory after three runner-up finishes—in the Rebel Stakes (G2) and Arkansas Derby (G1) last year, and again in the April 11 Oaklawn Mile Stakes in his 4-year-old debut.

In the Oaklawn Mile, Improbable was beaten three-quarters of a length by millionaire grade 1 winner Tom's d'Etat after acting up in the starting gate and breaking from the extreme outside post 11 under Drayden Van Dyke. Improbable has had a history of getting antsy in the gate.

"He ran a winning race," the Southern California-based Baffert said. "Got beat by a really good horse. His gate issues, I don't know why … you take him in the morning and you could set a bomb off in the gate, and he won't move. He knows. He's smart. That's the reason I left him there. That gate crew is getting to know him really well, and I think that's going to help."

Improbable schooled in the gate April 19 and breezed a half-mile in :49 2/5 April 21.

A son of the late City Zip, Improbable has a 4-3-0 record from 11 starts and earnings of $949,520. He was unbeaten in three starts at 2, including the Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity (G1) at Los Alamitos Race Course, before suffering his first loss in the first division of the Rebel, which was his 2019 debut.

Hronis Racing's Combatant and Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister's Mr Freeze were other Oaklawn Handicap entrants to work Sunday. Santa Anita Handicap (G1) winner Combatant, trained by John Sadler, worked a bullet five furlongs in :59 1/5 at Santa Anita Park, and Dale Romans trainee and Gulfstream Park Mile Stakes (G2) winner Mr Freeze breezed five furlongs in 1:01.31 at Gulfstream Park.