Oaklawn Park Notebook

OAKLAWN NOTEBOOK

JANUARY 27

by Mark Weatherton

Opening day of the second century at Oaklawn Park was filled with sunshine

(70 degrees) and cheap corn beef sandwiches (50 cents) and celebrated by 22,831

fans. They watched Padua Stable's RAZOR (Concorde's Tune) carve up his fellow

three-year-olds in the Dixieland S. Sent off the post time favorite, Razor was

within three lengths of the leader at first call, assumed the lead at

the half-mile mark and easily withstood mild challenges by the runner-up,

longshot Smoke Smoke Smoke (Smoke Glacken), and third-place finisher, Cherokee

Path (Cherokee Run).

The winner, saddled by Steve Asmussen and ridden by Roman Chapa, appeared

much the best and the anticipated duel with Sir Laff Alot (General Royal) never

materialized as that one broke slowly and never factored before finishing

midpack.

Saturday saw the return of more normal January weather with temperatures in

the 30s, but a crowd of almost 25,000 still turned out to watch Asmussen and

Chappa duplicate their efforts with a second stakes win. They teamed for the

victory with Nelson Bunker Hunt's SOURIS (Defrere) in the American Beauty S. for

older fillies and mares. Chappa settled Souris behind the leaders for the first

half-mile then moved through on the rail coming off the turn to run

unchallenged to the wire. Late running Saltwater Runner (Salt Lake) got up for

place and Southern Surprise (Northern Prospect) held third. Josh's Madelyn

(Quiet American), the 7-5 favorite, did not fire and finished well back.

Last season's riding champion John McKee showed his skills in

Sunday's one-mile allowance feature when he weaved RIVER MOUNTAIN RD (Deputy

Commander) through traffic to nip a very determined Mauk Four (Boston Harbor)

and Arbitrate (Deputy Minister) at the wire. The win was the second for McKee

and Bob Holthus on the weekend.

McKee, who won last year's 1ST race and led throughout the meet,

was displaced when Calvin Borel took the 1ST on opening day. However, wins in

the last two races on Sunday gave McKee three wins overall and tied him for

first in the jockeys' standings with returning veterans Roman Chapa and Luis

Quinonez and the newcomer Jesus Barria, who has only recently moved his tack to

the United States from his native Panama and is off to very good start at the

Spa. Tim Doocy, Willie Martinez, Borel and Jeremy Rose, who is riding for the

first time at Oaklawn, each have two victories. Fourteen of last year's top 15

riders are back for the meet.

In addition to the two stakes wins, Asmussen picked up a third score to lead

all trainers. Three conditioners, Randy Morse, Cole Norman and Holthus,

have sent out two winners. New barns this year include D. Wayne Lukas, who is

returning after an absence of several years; Tim Ritchey, who stabled here a

couple years ago; and Tim Hooper, who recently went out on his own and is

training exclusively for Michael Gill.

Railbird talk has been dominated by the presence of three colts with

legitimate Triple Crown aspirations. Returning hero John Servis will run the

undefeated ROCKPORT HARBOR (Unbridled's Song), who has been anointed as the heir

apparent to Smarty Jones, at Oaklawn and the gray colt will likely be a

sentimental favorite with the fans. Tim Ritchey has returned to the Spa with

Grade 1 winner AFLEET ALEX (Northern Afleet), who was only three parts of length

from a victory in the Breeder's Cup Juvenile (G1) after traveling wide on both

turns. And the hometown legend, Holthus, has the confirmed closer and Grade 2

hero GREATER GOOD (Intidab), who he says "can run all day."

HORSES TO WATCH

Friday (1/21)

6TH -- JONESBORO (Sefapiano), who had shown much promise in Kentucky last

fall but disappointed in his last outing at the Fair Grounds, regained some

luster with an 8 3/4-length romp over maiden special weight rivals at a mile.

Accomplished from post 10, which is a difficult assignment at Oaklawn, the

winner defeated several well bred three-year-olds.

Second-place finisher ROTARY (Wagon Limit) also bears watching as he was

clearly best of the rest and should continue to improve.

7TH -- This entry-level allowance also gave us two horses for the Watch List. 

The highly touted CARROLL COUNTY (Wild Rush), in only his second career start

after being off almost a year, returned with a convincing performance for the

Donnie Von Hemel barn. He dueled with RODEO'S CASTLE (Rodeo) through the turn

and into deep stretch before pulling away by three lengths and is now two for

two.

Rodeo's Castle, who broke his maiden for $7,500 and also won a $10k claiming

race, was lightly regarded on the board at 17-1 but battled gamely through

fractions of :21 4/5 and :45 2/5 seconds after breaking on top, beating back

challenges from two others. He ran shoulder-to-shoulder with the odds-on

favorite down the stretch, and even though beaten by three lengths, finished

eight lengths clear of the field.

Saturday (1/22)

10TH -- JARF (Mt. Livermore) had a horrendous trip. Rose had the

gelding positioned on the rail a couple of lengths back of the leaders and when

the rail opened, he directed Jarf to the opening. However, Jarf was forced to

check as the horse in front closed on the rail. Rose then angled for a hole to

the outside, but two horses battling for position came over to close the space.

So Rose - still with a lot horse- tries the rail again but is again closed off,

having to check up hard and losing all chance. Jarf appeared to be the best

horse but that will not be apparent in the running line.

Sunday (1/23)

3RD -- NOBLE DE FENCE (Noble Assembly), a three-old-colt who had shown

improvement in each of his first three races, continued on the upswing here.

He raced near the back in the 10-horse field for the first half-mile then

closed strongly to get up for place money. Off his first start in three months,

he should be more fit next time.

7TH -- CHEROKEE EYES (Cherokee Run) lay ninth with 1 1/2 furlongs to go,

then the filly swept passed the field to win by 3 1/2 lengths. The 5 1/2-furlong

test for maiden special weights was run in 1:05 4/5 seconds

and compares favorably with the winner's time in Friday's stakes over the same

distance.