OBS Stakes Draw Rich Mommy, Lookin to Strike

Two stakes at Ocala Training Center will feature graded stakes winners Nov. 20—Rich Mommy in the $125,000 OBS Filly and Mare Sprint Stakes and Lookin to Strike and Conquest Panthera in the OBS Sprint Stakes.

The races, each contested at six furlongs on the all-weather surface at the Ocala Training Center, are for graduates of Ocala Breeders' Sales. 

OBS president Tom Ventura said the new position on the calendar for the restricted stakes races—previously offered in January 2017 and before that in the spring—is an effort to work in harmony with the Tampa Bay Downs and Gulfstream Park schedules. OBS hopes the new positioning is more attractive for horsemen. Ventura also noted that when such race days are conducted during those meets, it can be a challenge to find race officials to oversee the running.

In the OBS Filly and Mare Sprint, Winds of Change Racing Stable's Rich Mommy will try for her first stakes win since registering a two-length score in the Sugar Swirl Stakes (G3) Dec. 16, 2017 at Gulfstream. While the 4-year-old daughter of Algorithms  hasn't won in five starts this season, she has remained competitive, earning runner-up finishes in the Princess Rooney (G2) and Ana T. stakes at Gulfstream, as well as a third-place finish there in the Hurricane Bertie Stakes (G3).

Trained by Victor Barboza Jr., Rich Mommy drew the outside post in an expected field of 10 fillies and mares in the OBS Filly and Mare Sprint. Some of the other accomplished runners in the field include Anthony Russo's Money Or Love, winner of last year's Musical Romance Stakes at Gulfstream, and Bill and Vicki Poston Racing's Southern Sis, who enters off a runner-up finish in the Nov. 10 Millions Filly and Mare Turf Preview Stakes at Gulfstream Park West.

In the OBS Sprint, Gary Barber's Lookin to Strike enters in top form. The 3-year-old son of Lookin at Lucky  won the Ontario Derby (G3) at Woodbine Oct. 13 for his third win in four starts, including three straight scores on the all-weather surface at Woodbine.

Trained by Mark Casse, Lookin to Strike figures to be challenged by stablemate Conquest Panthera. Also campaigned by Barber, Conquest Panthera will try for his second stakes win. The 6-year-old Kitten's Joy  gelding won the 2017 Play the King Stakes (G2T) on the Woodbine turf and has placed in five other graded stakes, including the 2017 Maker's 46 Mile Stakes (G1T).

The two OBS stakes will conclude a 10-race card Nov. 20. The first six races will feature Quarter Horses. The seventh and eighth races will feature Thoroughbreds (a maiden race and a starter-allowance race). Those eight races will feature pari-mutuel wagering, which will be conducted under OBS' Quarter Horse license, which permits some non-Quarter Horse events on a card.

The two stakes races will close out the day as non-wagering events. Ventura explained that OBS is required, as part of its intertrack wagering license, to annually conduct Thoroughbred races with $250,000 in purses as non-wagering events.