3/25/26 Barn Notes
Compiled by Robert Yates
Ramon Vazquez snapped a mini-slump in a big way Sunday at Oaklawn, riding five winners to regain the lead in the jockey standings.
Vazquez won the first race aboard Speedstorm ($13.40) for trainer Ron Moquett of Hot Springs, fourth race aboard favored Abitibi ($6.20) for trainer Peter Miller, sixth race aboard Plausible Denile ($11.20) for trainer Greg Compton, eighth race aboard Untamed Moment ($5.60) for trainer David Fawkes and the ninth and final race aboard Kingscliff ($12.80) for trainer Kevin Martin.
Vazquez was winless the previous four racing days at Oaklawn.
“Sometimes, one week is a little bit slower, then sometimes we pick it up,” Vazquez said following Sunday’s final race.
The five-bagger gave Vazquez 49 victories at the meeting, two more than Cristian Torres. Vazquez has never won an Oaklawn riding title. Torres is a two-time local riding champion.
“We’re friends,” Vazquez said. “I’m blessed. That’s how I’m looking at it because I’ve been riding here for a long time. I just want to be leading here. But if he beats me, I’m happy for him, too.”
Vazquez matched his Oaklawn career high Sunday, which was his fifth time with five winners on a card in Hot Springs. He also rode five winners Jan. 25, 2015, April 9, 2015, April 19, 2019, and Feb. 16.
Retired Hall of Famer Pat Day and the late Larry Snyder share the Oaklawn single-day record for victories with six.
Vazquez (521 victories) is the 10th-winningest rider in Oaklawn history. He’s poised to shatter his single-season high for victories at Oaklawn (51), which came in 2015 when he finished second in the standings. Vazquez was also Oaklawn’s second-leading rider in 2016 and 2017.
A native of Puerto Rico, Vazquez recorded his first career Oaklawn victory in 2012 and has 3,933 overall in North America.
Vazquez and Torres are both represented by agent Cody Autrey. Oaklawn’s 2025-2026 season ends May 2.
Back to Work
Multiple Oaklawn stakes winner G W’s Girl recorded her third local workout this year Saturday morning, covering a half-mile in :49.40 over a fast track for trainer Greg Compton.
G W’s Girl is unraced since finishing second in the Weather Vane Stakes Sept. 20 at Laurel. She logged three workouts late last year at Oaklawn before suffering a minor physical setback, Compton said. G W’s Girl had been jogging at trainer Mike Lauer’s farm in Kentucky, Compton said, before returning to Oaklawn in late February and hitting the work tab again March 6.
Compton said it’s “possible” G W’s Girl could resurface at Oaklawn before the meeting ends May 2.
“She had a couple of little issues, nothing major,” Compton said. “Gave her more time than we really had to. She’s a nice horse and we just gave her all the time.”
Compton trains G W’s Girl for Mag Racing Stables, a partnership between owners Gregg Massanelli, an El Dorado, Ark., orthopedic surgeon, and longtime friend Margaret Molleston.
Originally from Magnolia, Ark., about 35 miles west of El Dorado, Molleston is an executive with GeoSouthern Energy Partners, a petroleum and natural gas production company headquartered in suburban Houston. Massanelli is a Hot Springs native.
Mag Racing recorded its first career stakes victory when G W’s Girl captured the $150,000 Mockingbird for 3-year-old filly sprinters last year at Oaklawn. Shisospicy held a 3 ½-length lead in midstretch before being run down in the final furlong by G W’s Girl.
The Mockingbird marked the only loss last year in the United States for Shisospicy, who was crowned North America’s champion female sprinter after beating males in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) Nov. 1 at Del Mar.
“That was a big day,” Compton said of the Mockingbird. “That horse (G W’s Girl), when you watch that race, you can just see her right around the eighth pole, she just flattened down, just bellied down, accelerated and just came flying. It’s pretty cool to watch on that drone view.”
G W’s Girl returned to win the $150,000 Dixie Belle Stakes later in the 2025-2026 Oaklawn meeting.
Finish Lines
Racing resumes Thursday at Oaklawn. First post is 12:30 p.m. CDT. … First post for Saturday’s 14-race card, highlighted by the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1), is 11:30 a.m. Grandstand doors will open at 10:00 a.m.. … Unbeaten Dixie Belle winner French Friction, under Cristian Torres, worked five furlongs in 1:01 over a fast track Wednesday morning for dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. French Friction (two-for-two) is scheduled to make her two-turn debut in the $750,000 Ashland Stakes (G1) for 3-year-old fillies April 3 at Keeneland. Torres is scheduled to ride French Friction in the Ashland. … Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen won Sunday’s seventh race, stretching his streak to 12 consecutive racing days with at least one Oaklawn victory. Arr Piratetreasure ($27.20) won Sunday’s seventh race, a $125,000 allowance for Arkansas-bred fillies and mares, to give Asmussen his meet-high 45th victory. … Agent Gene Short of Hot Springs is now representing jockey Alexander Castillo, who had previously been based at Delta Downs.
