
Gaming will look to shake off the effects of a sub-par performance in last month’s Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), while Patch Adams aims to add depth to trainer Brad Cox’s Kentucky Derby (G1) arsenal when the two colts take on eight others in the $1 million Southwest (G3) at Oaklawn Park on Saturday.
After Gaming captured the Del Mar Futurity (G1) and finished second to stablemate Citizen Bull in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), he was rightly judged a top-tier contender for the Kentucky Derby. Some of the shine was taken off, though, in the Dec. 14 Los Alamitos Futurity, when Gaming finished a dull third, more than six lengths behind Journalism.
Trainer Bob Baffert, who has won the Southwest six times including both divisions of the 2012 edition, later revealed Gaming had been unsettled in the paddock prior to the Futurity.
Patch Adams, meanwhile, will be making his stakes debut in the 1 1/16-mile Southwest. Third in his debut at Keeneland in October, Patch Adams rebounded to break his maiden by 10 1/2 lengths in a seven-furlong heat at Churchill Downs. The son of Into Mischief will look to join on the Derby Trail his stablemate Disco Time, who landed last weekend’s Lecomte (G3).
Speed King enters the Southwest off a narrow loss in the Remington Springboard Mile to Coal Battle, who came back to take the Smarty Jones S. at Oaklawn on New Year’s Day. Others in the lineup who also earned points in the Derby series late last year include Tiztastic, Sandman, and Render Judgment.
Monet’s Magic comes in off a local allowance win contested in the mud, while American Promise and Publisher recently ran one-two in a Dec. 29 maiden event. The outsider in the field is Bon Temps, who has been unplaced in all three attempts for Calumet Farm and Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
The Southwest awards Kentucky Derby qualifying points of 20-10-6-4-2 to the respective top five finishers.
The sister race to the Southwest, the $300,000 Martha Washington S., is a Kentucky Oaks qualifier also run over 1 1/16 miles. The small but select field of six is headed by Quietside, who placed behind presumptive juvenile champion Immersive in both the Spinaway (G1) and Alcibiades (G1), and then to Good Cheer in the Golden Rod (G2) to close out her freshman campaign.
Her Laugh enters the Martha Washington 2-for-2, including a 2 1/2-length triumph in last month’s Untapable S. at Fair Grounds. Trainer Kenny McPeek, who won the Oaks last year with Thorpedo Anna, has entered the last-out maiden winners Gowells Delight and Take Charge Milady.
Kentucky Oaks points of 20-10-6-4-2 will go to the respective top five finishers.