

Jan 10, 2014
AMERICAN TURF CLUB-OAKLAWN 2014
By: JOE GIRARDI
Oaklawn will open for the 2014
live racing season Friday, Jan. 10 and the 57-day meet will continue every
Thursday - Sunday through Saturday, April 12. Oaklawn will also have live
racing on Monday, January 20, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Monday, February
17, President's Day.
The first graded stakes of the
meeting will be the Grade III Southwest stakes on February 17th. It
is a race for three year olds run over 1 and 1/16th miles with a
purse of $300,000. As it has been in years past, Oaklawn is the landing spot of
some of the top three year olds trying to get on the Kentucky Derby trail. The
next graded stakes is a few weeks later when they host three year old fillies
in the Grade III Honeybee stakes, a race for three year old fillies, run over 1
and 1/16th miles with a purse of $150,000.
The following week on March 15th,
there will be three graded stakes races. The Grade III Razorback for four year
olds and upward, run over 1 and 1/16th miles with a purse of
$200,000. The Grade III Azeri stakes is for four year old and upward fillies
and mares also run over 1 and 1/16th miles with a purse of $200,000.
The Grade II Rebel stakes will also be run on that day, the second race for
three year olds trying to get to the Kentucky Derby. It is for three year olds,
run over 1 and 1/16th miles with a purse of $600,000.
The next graded stakes race will
be on April 5th when they host the Grade III Fantasy Stakes, a race
for three year old fillies to be contested at the distance of 1 and 1/16th
miles and it will carry a purse of $400,000. A couple of days later on April 10th
Oaklawn will host the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap, a Grade III for four year
olds and upward run over six furlongs with a purse of $300,000. Some of the
country’s top sprinters will show up here to compete in this event.
The next day, on April 11th,
the Grade I Apple Blossom will be run for four year olds and upward for fillies
and mares run over 1 and 1/16th miles with a hefty purse of
$500,000. Finally on closing day April 12th there will be two graded
stakes races. The Grade II Oaklawn handicap for four year olds and upward, run
over 1 and 1/8th miles with a purse of $500,000 will be sure to
attract some of the country’s top handicap horses. On that same day, the
highlight of the meeting, the Grade I Arkansas Derby, for three year olds at 1
and 1/8th miles carrying a purse of $1 million dollars. This race
always draws top three year olds and is one of the races to look at when
playing the Kentucky Derby a few weeks later.
When Oaklawn park at the windows
let us take a look at some of the jockey and trainer standings. The leading
jockey at last year’s meeting was Ricardo Santana Jr. who had 70 wins and a
winning percentage of 24%. He was an easy winner over Robby Albarado with 46
and Alex Birzer checked in third with 40 wins. Santana is the main rider for
top trainer Steve Asmussen so expect him to have another solid meeting but when
looking for value you may have to look elsewhere. Rafael Bejarano, a top rider
in California was 4 for 8 at last year’s meeting made his trips worthwhile
shipping into Oaklawn. However, he is another who will take plenty of tote
action. Seth Martinez, had a very solid meeting with 6 wins from 24 starts, a
winning percentage of 25%. Cliff Berry, who finished fifth last year in terms
of wins with 29 had a solid in the money percentage of 41% and is a top rider
in his own right, look for a solid meeting out of him. Calvin Borel, who had 13
winners last year from only 84 starts, had a winning percentage of 15% and an
in the money percentage of 45%. He is coming off an injury and look for him to
come out riding well early on as he tries to get back on track.
On the trainers side of things
last year’s leading trainer was Steve Asmussen who had 37 wins with a solid
winning percentage of 23%. The second place trainer was McLean Robertson who
had 28 wins also finished with a winning percentage of 23%. His in the money
percentage was a very solid 58%. When looking elsewhere to some of the trainers
that weren’t in the top 5 let us take a look at Chris Hartman, a very solid
trainer who had 16 wins from 77 starters with a winning percentage of 21%. He
is a very solid trainer and maybe one you can grab a square mutuel once in a
while. Brad Cox, is another trainer that had a solid meeting with 12 wins but a
winning percentage of 29% and an in the money percentage of 57%. A trainer that
may fly under the radar could be Gary Hartlage who had only 6 wins but from
just 28 starters, his winning percentage was a solid 21% and an in the money
percentage of 46%. One more trainer to take a look at is Tim Glyshaw, although
he only had 2 wins from 23 starters with a winning percentage of 9%, however,
his in the money percentage shot all the way up to 61%, using his starters
underneath in exactas, triples and superfectas may help you catch a large
exotic bet.
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