Sporting Chance Confirmed for Southwest Stakes

Grade 1 winner Sporting Chance will make his 3-year-old debut in the $500,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park Feb. 19, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas confirmed Feb. 2.

Lukas said Luis Saez will have the mount on Sporting Chance, a son of Tiznow  who hasn't started since winning the $350,000 Hopeful Stakes (G1) Sept. 4 at Saratoga Race Course.

 The 1 1/16-mile Southwest—Oaklawn's second of four major preps for the Kentucky Derby—will mark the two-turn debut of Sporting Chance, who races for Lukas' longtime clients, Robert Baker and William Mack.

"We didn't have any target when we first got here because we didn't know how quick he would come in hand," Lukas said. "But he's done so well since he got here, we started getting more optimistic that the Southwest was a doable deal."

Based at Oaklawn since early December, the colt has recorded four workouts since Jan. 9, the last a five-furlong move in company over a fast track Jan. 29, when he breezed with Bow Ready, a 3-year-old son of Oxbow .

Sporting Chance was credited with covering the distance in 1:01 2/5 after starting approximately two lengths behind Bow Ready and finishing four lengths in front of his stablemate.

"We're turning up the heat a little bit," Lukas said. "It's hard to get them fit."

The trainer said he plans to breeze Sporting Chance twice more in advance of the Southwest, which will be his first start since having a knee chip removed following the Hopeful.

"We're probably not going to be as tight as we need to be or should be with those horses all having an out," Lukas said. "But, I think we've got a very talented horse, so maybe he'll overcome me."