Oaklawn Notebook

OAKLAWN PARK NOTEBOOK

MARCH 29, 2007

by Mark Weatherton

The Hot Springs S., a six-furlong sprint, figured to be a front end battle on

Saturday. As advertised, it was all-out dash from the opening bell to the

closing gavel. Five of the six starters broke sharply, with four vying for

the lead, but it was Reigning Court (Glitterman) with his inside position who

managed to get a head in front early. Semaphore Man (Formal Gold) in second, JUNIOR

COLLEGE (Ide) holding third and Mt. Splendor (Mt. Livermore) racing in fourth

were fanned across the track as they flew down the backstretch.

Reigning Court blazed through fractions of :21 2/5 and :44 2/5, but when he

straightened for home, it was three abreast as he was joined by Semaphore Man

and Junior College. Those three continued even until the three-sixteenths pole,

where Reigning Court began to slip back.

Junior College and Semaphore Man battled on shoulder-to-shoulder until John

Jacinto on Junior College was able to get his charge a head up with 60 yards to

go. The final margin was three-quarters of a length, and this victory gave

Junior College his third at the Spa. It also kept the Tony Reinstedler

trainee undefeated at Oaklawn Park and solidified his "horse for the course"

designation.

Semaphore Man, with Tim Doocy in the irons, did nothing to tarnish his

reputation as he chased unbelievably fast fractions and then fought gamely for a

second-place finish. Third-place runner Four Sevens (Unbridled's Song) broke

very sharply, but when Calvin Borel saw that he would get caught five wide he

took his charge back, hoping that a duel would kill the other speed. He made a

late charge but the speed held, relegating him to third money. Mt.

Splendor finished fourth, followed by Level Playingfield (Level Sands) and early

leader Reigning Court.

The leading rider, trainer and owner standings were all affected when two of

the winners trained by Chris Richard, ridden by Eddie Razo and owned by the

Jayaramans tested positive for naproxen. The anti-inflammatory drug is not

allowed in Arkansas. Richard was fined for each instance and the purses were

forfeited while two wins were taken from him as well as Razo and the Jayaramans.

The corrected standings posted through April 25 have Steve Asmussen still

atop the trainers with 22 wins, Jorge Lara has 18 and Richard is third credited

with 15.

Jacinto leads the riders with 40 victories, followed by Borel's 36. Luis

Quinonez, after serving a five-day suspension, resumed riding Wednesday and is

still at 33. Carlos Gonzalez has 27 wins, Doocy has 26 and Razo, who returned to

the track on Sunday from a five-day penalty, has a total of 25.

The rash of riding suspensions continued, as Belen Quinonez was sat down

for five days. He returns with mounts on Friday.

The Jayaramans have 15 wins and still enjoy a large lead in the owners

standings. Overbrook Farms stands in second with nine wins while Jan Haynes and

Jim Danaher are tied with eight victories each.

The track continues to play fair to all types of runners, but perhaps with a

slight premium on early speed. On Thursday, one winner led every call and

another was second at first call then took the lead. However, no winner was

farther back than third at first call. In contrast, on Saturday four winners

came from off the pace --fourth to seventh at first call-- while four won from

the front.

The biggest problem is the shortening of the fields again this year. It seems

that every time they increase the purses, as they did the week before last, the

fields get smaller. It is difficult to understand why the fields keep shrinking.

Many smaller stables chose to run elsewhere or left well before the meet was

concluded. Also, it was believed that the great number of claims last year had a

chilling effect on entries, as did some of the claiming rules.

Changes were made during the off season in an attempt to address the

difficulties in the claiming rules and the season started well enough. However,

we again see un-Oaklawnlike numbers with six- and seven-horse fields at all

class levels, in stark contrast to only a few years ago when Oaklawn Park led or

was among the leaders in average field size. Perhaps the increase in purses has

led to better quality of horses and tougher competition at the cost of quantity.

The end result leads to smaller payouts and greater difficulty in finding value

for the typical Oaklawn player.

HORSES TO WATCH

Wednesday (3/21)

8TH - HUMBLE JANET (Humble Eleven) is another of Jim Danaher's closers. The

sophomore miss broke her maiden two back for $12.5k and jumped up to allowance

class with a third behind two four-year-old fillies. Here in her fourth career

start, she finished second behind a highly regarded 4-5 favorite, beaten just 1

1/4 lengths. The bay filly has improved her BRIS Speed figures with each race --

65, 74, 84 -- and this was another improvement (86).

Thursday (3/22)

8TH - A.J. Horton's homebred BARENJAGER (Brahms) debuted against a field of

salty $50k maidens and showed good early speed. The dark bay gelding finished a

tired fourth after chasing a class dropper through fast early fractions. He

should have benefited from this one and will be tough to handle next time.

Saturday (3/24)

5TH - After two dull efforts against maiden special weights the well-bred

colt PIPER'S FORT (Point Given) picked up his first win when dropped in for a

tag. After being well back in the early going he steadily advanced and dueled to

the wire, prevailing by a head. The win may bolster his confidence enough to

move up in class.

Sunday (3/25)

6TH - In her second start with a new barn, ARIAN ROSE (Captain Bodgit)

unleashed a very strong late charge which brought her from well back to get up

for second money. The new surroundings for the lightly raced five-year-old mare

may see her round in to form.