Oaklawn Notebook

OAKLAWN PARK NOTEBOOK

MARCH 8, 2007

by Mark Weatherton

The Spring Fever S., carded at 5 1/2 furlongs for older fillies and mares,

drew a small but salty field of six. TRUE TAILS (Yes It's True), who loves the

short sprints, earned her third win from her past six starts and has never been

out of the money when asked to go only 5 1/2 panels.

Regular rider Carlos Gonzalez was in the irons and, as usual, had the bay

mare winging it from the gate. She stretched her lead out to as many as three

lengths turning for home with the second flight spread out four across the track

behind her. The chasers lost one member but the other three made steady gains on

the leader. It was Miss Elsie (Golden Gear) who emerged as the one with a chance

to overtake the front runner, but in the end came up a neck short. Hot Storm

(Stormy Atlantic), the betting favorite, hung on for the show and Cintarosa

(Grand Slam) showed late interest to take fourth.

Tax Refund (Artax), part of the early pace, tired and slipped back while

American Beauty S. winner Country Diva (Songandaprayer) experienced late traffic

and came home last.

Trainer Jorge Lara, who picked up his first stakes win, has guided True

Tails to back-to-back victories since taking over for Cole Norman.

The battle for leading rider continues with John Jacinto's 23 wins being one

better than Calvin Borel and Luis Quinonez. Eddie Razo has 20 victories and

Gonzalez has 18. Seven others are in double figures to demonstrate the depth of

the jockey colony.

Ken Shino, who recently moved his tack to Oaklawn Park, rode two winners on

Sunday. The Quinonez brothers won half of the races on Thursday -- Luis rode

three winners while Belen booted home two. Borel will take off riding on

Wednesday to fly to Florida to work Street Sense (Street Cry [Ire]) and will

miss time when the colt runs in the March 17 Tampa Bay Derby (G3).

Steve Asmussen opened up a slight lead in the conditioners contest, having

saddled 12 winners, and is trailed by D. Wayne Lukas and Chris Richard with 10

apiece. The third flight is made up of three trainers --Steve Hobby, Ron Moquett

and Lara -- who have nine wins each.

Two trainers who are somewhat behind expectations are Bob Holthus, who is

perennially in the top three for the meet, and Larry Jones. They have caught the

dreaded seconditis bug, with each owning 14 second-place finishes. Holthus

(57-5-14-10), who is producing at a clip of 51 percent in the money, and Jones

(46-8-14-6), at a 61 percent pace, are having good meets, but they're not getting their

picture taken as often as they might like.

Two Grade 3 stakes for older runners are on tap for this week, the Razorback

Breeder's Cup H. (G3) on Friday and the Azeri Breeder's Cup S. (G3) for fillies and mares

on Saturday. Also, buzz sophomore Run Alex Run (Officer) captured a

conditioned allowance sprint on Wednesday. The Jinks Fires colt is being pointed

to the April 14 Arkansas Derby (G2).

HORSES TO WATCH

Thursday (3/1)

9TH - BEAT THE BAND (Lord Avie) will one day find a field that does not

include Oaklawn "horse for the course" Aubee's Amali (Safe Prospect) and will

get her win. This Larry Jones trainee has 10 in the money finishes from 15

starts, with three consecutive seconds all by a length or less. If they drop her

in for a tag, Beat the Band will be hard to beat.

Friday (3/2)

10TH - DOUBLE SQUEEZE (Aptitude) was making his first try around two turns

here. The bay colt broke on top and, after setting very fast fractions of :46

3/5 and 1:12 3/5, came up a half-length short. A more judicious pace may have

resulted in his first win and he should be sitting on a big one.

Saturday (3/3)

1ST - DOYOUWANTTODANCE (Disco Rico) has shown speed in her first two starts

but turned in a dull one last out as she was caught wide. Here, the West

Virginia-bred bay filly took her speed all the way as she cut back a

half-furlong. She won by 5 1/4 lengths and was running strong at the end.

4TH - MS MAGDLEAN (Kipling) used a strong late run to best a starter

allowance group. Her performance should be given extra credit in that she was

caught in the middle of the second flight and was shuffled back to seventh on

the final turn before finding room for her move. Once she got to the leader, the

dark bay dueled for the better part of a furlong to prevail by a head. This was

only her second win in nine starts, but she has been in the money seven of

those nine. She is dangerous when spotted well.

Sunday (3/4)

1ST - RED THUNDER (Broad Brush) is back on the watch list with a very good

effort in his first try around two turns. After leading at every call, he tired

late, drifted out and caused a rival to check. Red Thunder still hung on

gamely and got to the wire first. While it was clear that he impeded the horse,

he had that one beat, which made the decision to take him down and place him

fourth, while fair, very hard for his supporters to swallow. The Allen Milligan

trainee has now demonstrated ability to win at both sprints and routes and

could become a tough campaigner.