Oaklawn Park Gives New Meaning to Derby Day

For decades, the first Saturday in May has been a coupled entry with the word "Derby."

Even the horrid COVID-19 pandemic could not change that.

Indeed, there will be a Derby on May 2, though it will be hundreds of miles away from Stephen Foster's Old Kentucky Home in Bluegrass country.

Instead, at a time when just four Thoroughbred tracks are open because of COVID-19, the land of Razorbacks and Apple Blossoms will serve as host to the Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park.

There will be no fancy hats, fascinators, bow ties, suspenders, mint juleps, or any fans at all on hand. Yet there will be two divisions worth $500,000 each, providing fans with a double dose of what can be called "The Most Exciting Minute and 50 Seconds in Sports."

"Arkansas is where it's at," trainer Bob Baffert said. "The Cella family (which owns and operates Oaklawn Park) saved racing during these hard times."

Due to two scratches in each division, twin nine-horse fields are expected to square off in stakes featuring quantity and quality. Three of the top five horses in the NTRA Top 10 3-year-old poll are entered as the divisions will serve as the first graded stakes for 3-year-olds since the March 28 Curlin Florida Derby (G1). Moved from April 11 to Saturday, the nationally televised Arkansas Derby comes at a time when six major Triple Crown preps have been canceled since March 22.

"All the cream is there," said Baffert, who will send out the morning-line favorite in each division. "They got every good 3-year-old. The only ones missing are Authentic and Tiz the Law. There will be some serious bragging rights after these races."

Although the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) is four months away, the 1 1/4-mile classic will play a supporting role. Both divisions offer 100-40-20-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top four finishers, meaning the winners will be assured of a spot in the starting gate at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in September—provided all goes well between then and now.

"We want to accumulate some points for the Kentucky Derby," said Blaine Wright, who trains TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) runner-up Anneau d'Or, the 6-1 third choice in the first division. "That's why we're here."

Akin to the way the 1 1/8-mile stakes was split due to a lack of other options and an overflow of entries, most of the starters can be divided among camps wishing they were running in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday and those delighted to have more time to prepare their 3-year-olds for a 10-furlong test.

Trainer Brad Cox, who will send out Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) winner Wells Bayou in the second division, is definitely part of the pro-May contingent.

"I wouldn't mind if the Kentucky Derby was (Saturday) instead of the Arkansas Derby," Cox said about the son of Lookin At Lucky  owned by Clint and Lance Gasaway, Madaket Stables, and Wonder Stables who is fifth in the NTRA poll. "He's doing well and is on top of his game. He's a horse in the right place, and we expect him to run well. He's got enough points (104) to run in the Kentucky Derby. It's just how do you get there? It's tough to get a Kentucky Derby starter, and then when you have one with a big chance to run well, there's an asterisk before it."

In the first division, Gouverneur Morris (9-2 odds) is a 3-year-old who should benefit from more seasoning. Trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by Team Valor International and WinStar Farm, the son of Constitution  has only raced four times and is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Florida Derby where he had little luck closing on a surface kind to speed horses.

"We're happy the Kentucky Derby is in September," Team Valor CEO and founder Barry Irwin said. "I don't like the way this race is coming up for us."

Then you have Baffert, who has a starter at each end of the scale in Nadal and Charlatan. 

Nadal, third in the NTRA poll, is coming off a sterling graded stakes win at Oaklawn that gave him 50 qualifying points, and the less-seasoned Charlatan (fourth in the poll) will be making his stakes debut. Even in a year when racing schedules were shredded by the pandemic, they, along with grade 2 winner Authentic, have instilled a sense of normalcy by putting Baffert back in the Triple Crown spotlight.

"In February, I usually start a Kentucky Derby diet so I can get in my sport coat," said Baffert, who has two Triple Crown sweeps among his record 15 classic wins, "but this year I've put on 10 pounds."

Though both horses are exciting, undefeated runners, Charlatan has generated the louder buzz.

An even-money choice in the first division, Charlatan has been compared to Baffert's 2018 Triple Crown winner, Justify , which is unfair on many levels. Yet there are some striking similarities. Like Justify, Charlatan made his debut in February. Both horses posted exceptionally quick maiden and allowance wins, with Charlatan actually posting faster speed figures, according to Ragozin Thoroughbred data.

A son of Speightstown , Charlatan handled two turns in his allowance victory but will face a more formidable test against grade 1 stakes company.

"Charlatan has run some big numbers. He's fast. He's got superior speed," Baffert said. "When you watch him work in the mornings, you don't see that speed. But when he comes out of the gate, wow, he's a different horse."

Adding to the comparisons, Charlatan is owned by some of the stables who were involved with the Justify group, namely SF Racing, Starlight Racing, and Sol Kumin, who raced Justify through his Head of Plains Partners group and campaigns Charlatan under the Madaket Stables banner.

"He's a special horse," said Kumin, part of an ownership group that includes Stonestreet Stables, Fred Hertrich III, John Fielding, and Golconda Stables. "Bob said from the very beginning that this is a fast, fast horse. His speed figures are in the stratosphere and are as fast as any 3-year-old has been at this point in his career. He has to keep going forward, and since he's by Speightstown, you wonder how far he'll go. But like Bob said with Justify, good horses somehow figure it out."

Charlatan, who will break from the rail under Martin Garcia, could emerge as the lone speed in the race, explaining why Irwin feels Gouverneur Morris and everyone else in the field will be facing an uphill climb.

"Some smart people have told me Charlatan won't handle the distance, but I've seen enough 3-year-old races that if there's a classy sprinter, they seem to do well the first couple of times they try two turns," Irwin said. "It looks like his jockey is going to be able to walk the dog from the rail. I don't see where he's going to get any pressure, and he should not have a problem getting the mile and an eighth. If it's a contested pace, it's a different story. We were hoping for a truly run race, and for our purposes, we would have been better off with one large field with some pace in it."

Peter Redekop's Anneau d'Or (6-1) was a disappointing ninth in the Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2) in his 3-year-old debut, and Wright knows the California-based son of Medaglia d'Oro  will need a top effort to be a factor in a strong field.

"You wouldn't normally see a field like this in a prep race, but we probably would have faced Bob's horse at Santa Anita Park, so we can't worry about who we are in with. All I can tell you is that my horse is doing good and will show up with his best effort. If it's good enough, great. If it isn't, then you have to reevaluate what you're doing on the Kentucky Derby trail," Wright said.

The field also includes Jackpot Farm's Basin, who won the Runhappy Hopeful Stakes (G1) in his final start at 2 for trainer Steve Asmussen. But in two starts at 3, both on sloppy tracks at Oaklawn, the son of Liam's Map  was third in the Rebel Stakes (G2) and fourth in the Oaklawn Stakes.

The second division looms the stronger of the two with Nadal, Wells Bayou, Juvenile winner Storm the Court, and Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2) victor King Guillermo in the field.

When Baffert shipped Nadal to Oaklawn for the March 14 Rebel for an initial test around two turns, the 3-year-old son of Blame  passed with flying colors. After dueling for the lead on a sloppy track through a grueling half-mile in :46, Nadal had enough speed and class left to hold off a late bid by Excession and prevail by less than a length for owners George Bolton, Arthur Hoyeau, Barry Lipman, and Mark Mathiesen.

"What Nadal did in the Rebel was insane. He took incredible heat, and he shook them off and kept going. (Assistant trainer Jim Barnes) told me he wasn't ever tired afterwards," Baffert said about the 5-2 favorite. "Nadal is a stud. He's a powerful horse. When you take him out of the stall, people say, 'Look at that one.'"

Wells Bayou, the 7-2 second choice, was second in the Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn and then stretched out to 1 3/16 miles in the Louisiana Derby to post a frontrunning win and collect 100 qualifying points that secured a spot in the Kentucky Derby.

"He's a smart horse. He's got speed and the mind for the Kentucky Derby," Cox said.

In what should be an intriguing duel on the front end, Nadal and jockey Joel Rosario will flash his speed from post 4 (after scratches), and Wells Bayou and Florent Geroux will break from the outside post.

David Bernsen, Exline-Border Racing, Dan Hudock, and Susanna Wilson's Storm the Court (6-1), a son of Court Vision  trained by Peter Eurton, will look to secure his first win since the Juvenile. The 2-year-old champion finished fourth to Nadal in the San Vicente Stakes (G2) and third to Authentic in the San Felipe Stakes (G2) in two 2020 starts.

King Guillermo, an Uncle Mo  colt owned by the Victoria's Ranch of former Major League Baseball player Victor Martinez, should also be part of the pace scenario after rolling to a 4 3/4-length victory for trainer Juan Avila at 49-1 odds in the Tampa Bay Derby.

The field also includes Silver Prospector, who beat Wells Bayou in the Southwest but was sixth to Nadal in the Rebel, and Farmington Road and Taishan, who were second and third, respectively, in the Oaklawn Stakes.

The first division of the Arkansas Derby will be the 11th race on a 14-race card with a 5:29 p.m. CT post time. The second division will be the 13th race with a post time of 6:43 p.m. Both races can be seen on Fox Sports 1's "America's Day at the Races" as well as NBCSN and TVG.

Entries: Arkansas Derby (G1)

Oaklawn Park, Saturday, May 02, 2020, Race 11

• Grade I
• 1 1/8m
• Dirt
• $500,000
• 3 yo
• 5:29 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Charlatan (KY)	Martin Garcia	118	Bob Baffert	1/1
2	2My Friends Beer (MD)	Declan Cannon	118	Jeremiah O'Dwyer	20/1
3	3Mo Mosa (KY)	Kendrick Carmouche	118	Michael J. Maker	30/1
4	4Gouverneur Morris (KY)	John R. Velazquez	118	Todd A. Pletcher	9/2
5	5Jungle Runner (KY)	Tyler Baze	122	Steven M. Asmussen	30/1
6	6Shooters Shoot (KY)	Joseph Talamo	118	Peter Eurton	8/1
7	7Wrecking Crew (KY)	Flavien Prat	118	Peter Miller	20/1
8	8Anneau d'Or (KY)	Juan J. Hernandez	118	Blaine D. Wright	6/1
9	9Winning Impression (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	118	Dallas Stewart	15/1
10	10Crypto Cash (KY)	Corey J. Lanerie	118	Kenneth G. McPeek	20/1
11	11Basin (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	122	Steven M. Asmussen	8/1

Entries: Arkansas Derby (G1)

Oaklawn Park, Saturday, May 02, 2020, Race 13

• Grade I
• 1 1/8m
• Dirt
• $500,000
• 3 yo
• 6:43 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Finnick the Fierce (KY)	Martin Garcia	118	Rey Hernandez	15/1
2	2Saratogian (KY)	Joseph Talamo	118	Rodolphe Brisset	50/1
3	3Storm the Court (KY)	Flavien Prat	122	Peter Eurton	6/1
4	4King Guillermo (KY)	Samy Camacho	122	Juan Carlos Avila	3/1
5	5Nadal (KY)	Joel Rosario	122	Bob Baffert	5/2
6	6Code Runner (KY)	Stewart Elliott	118	Steven M. Asmussen	50/1
7	7Silver Prospector (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	122	Steven M. Asmussen	10/1
8	8Fast Enough (KY)	Tyler Baze	122	Rafael Becerra	12/1
9	9Taishan (KY)	David Cohen	118	Richard Baltas	15/1
10	10Farmington Road (KY)	Javier Castellano	118	Todd A. Pletcher	12/1
11	11Wells Bayou (KY)	Florent Geroux	122	Brad H. Cox	7/2