Oaklawn Favorite Heads Saturday Feature
In the past three years at Oaklawn there has been one horse that has consistently been atop the sprint division, Semaphore Man (pictured). The Kelly Von Hemel trainee will look to take the $50,000 Hot Springs Stakes on Saturday. A field of six will line up for the six furlong event.
Semaphore Man enters the Hot Springs off a second place finish in January’s King Cotton. The seven-year-old Formal Gold gelding currently has 7 wins from twelve lifetime starts at Oaklawn, and has only recorded one win outside of Arkansas. “When I first got this horse they told me he had a lot of speed. I started getting him ready to race, and they were right,” mentioned Von Hemel. “He loves Oaklawn, and there is no doubt about that. It might be the time of the year, because he doesn’t like hot weather. I wish we had run him more here at Oaklawn. I always expect a big effort from him.” Tim Doocy will once again ride Semaphore Man.
D. Wayne Lukas will send out Silver Edition, who will be making his fourth start of the meet. In his last outing Silver Edition ran a disappointing seventh in the Razorback Handicap going a mile and sixteenth. Entered now in the Hot Springs, the son of Silver Deputy will return to six furlongs, where he has had much of his success. “It is not hard shortening up a horse, the hard part is stretching them out, so I am not too worried about that,” commented Lukas. “My colt is doing well, and he is consistent at this distance. Semaphore Man will be tough, but we have faced him once already and ran third.” Terry Thompson has the call on Silver Edition for Saturday.
Gold Coyote will enter the Hot Springs for trainer Bret Calhoun. The Gold Legend gelding will be coming off a five month layoff, but recorded four consecutive wins before the layoff. The last time Gold Coyote made an appearance at Oaklawn he ran fifth in the 2008 edition of the Dixieland Stakes. Bobby Walker, Jr. will be in to ride Gold Coyote.
The rest of the field with trainer and jockey: Red Hot N Gold, Kelly Von Hemel, Eddie Razo, Jr.; Normandy Shore, Ronny Werner, Jon Court; Secretintelligence, Tim Ritchey, Perry Compton.
Post time for the tenth and feature race will be 5:31 p.m. CDT.
Papa Clem Arrives for Arkansas Derby
After the major upset of Old Fashioned in the Rebel Stakes by Win Willy last weekend, trainers are beginning to line their horses up for their shot at the Arkansas Derby on April 11th. Trainer Gary Stute threw his top horse into the hat for his chance at winning the $1,000,000 race. Papa Clem left the backside of Fair Grounds in New Orleans at 10:00 a.m. this morning heading for the spa city.
Papa Clem will enter the Arkansas Derby after running second in the Louisiana Derby last weekend. The Smart Strike colt comes from Stute’s string of horses in California, and has shown promise since breaking his maiden in December at Santa Anita. The colt came back in February and ran second to Pioneerof the Nile in the Robert Lewis Stakes, and started to make a name as a derby contender.
“I thought he had some ability, but just how much I wasn’t aware of until he ran second in the Grade II at Santa Anita. You always hope for a derby horse, but I didn’t think I was going to get one,” commented Stute by phone. “He is by far the best horse I have trained. One of his biggest attributions is that he tries in every race. In that last race he wouldn’t let that horse by him. He is all heart and shows how game he is in every race.”
Jockey Rafael Bejarano will ride Papa Clem in the Arkansas Derby, his fourth time to ride the bay colt. “Rafael has complete confidence in this horse. When you have the leading jockey in Southern California wanting to ride your horse, you get pretty excited,” mentioned the son of veteran California trainer Mel Stute. “He likes this horse and that makes us feel good about him.”
“He doesn’t have to have the lead in his races. In the Louisiana Derby, our plans weren’t to go to the lead. Like I said earlier, he is all heart when he runs,” said Stute. “It is exciting to have your first derby prospect. I didn’t realize he would be as good as he is. When he worked in the morning he would outwork some of my older horses. One of the reasons we decided to come to Oaklawn is I love Hot Springs. I’m excited to get there.”
Papa Clem looks to stamp his ticket to Churchill Downs for the first Saturday in May in the Arkansas Derby, but first has to pay his dues at Oaklawn.
A Little Bit More
The HBPA will have their annual cocktail party and dance on Saturday, March 21st at the Arlington Hotel in the Crystal Ballroom. Tickets may be purchased from Deborah Keene, Horsemen’s Relations Director, in the racing office or by calling (501)-623-4411 ext. 122.Tickets are $25.00 with the festivities start at 7:00 p.m.
|