Oaklawn Notes: Not Allowing Horses from Belmont Park and Laurel Park on Grounds

By Jennifer Hoyt —-

Until further notice, Oaklawn is not allowing horses that have been at Belmont Park in Elmont, NY or Laurel Park in Baltimore, MD on the grounds.

BARN NOTES:

Next Race Plans Still Undecided for Dixie Belle Winner Amy’s Challenge

Amy’s Challenge emerged in good order from her narrow victory in the $125,000 Dixie Belle Stakes Saturday at Oaklawn, but next-race plans are pending for the unbeaten 3-year-old filly, trainer Mac Robertson said Sunday morning.

In what was a virtual match race, Amy’s Challenge edged Mia Mischief by a neck under regular rider Jareth Loveberry, stretching her winning streak to three in her 2018 debut.

Amy’s Challenge beat males twice last year at Canterbury Park in Minnesota, including the $75,000 Shakopee Juvenile Stakes Sept. 16 in her last start. She was a 16 ½-length winner of her Aug. 6 career debut.

Amy’s Challenge has never raced beyond three-quarters of a mile, but Robertson said he wants to stretch out the Kentucky-bred daughter of Artie Schiller. Oaklawn’s two-turn stakes series for 3-year-old fillies begins with the $125,000 Martha Washington at a mile Feb. 10. It continues with the $200,000 Honeybee (G3) March 10 and $400,000 Fantasy (G3) April 13, both at 1 1/16 miles.

Robertson said Amy’s Challenge is “absolutely” a Martha Washington candidate, but nothing is set in stone regarding her next start.

“Personally, I’d like to run March 10 and then April 13,” Robertson said. “We’ll see. Good race (Saturday). She was tired at the end. She had four works in four months. I’m hoping she’ll improve.”

Amy’s Challenge was scheduled to make her two-turn debut in the $400,000 Alcibiades Stakes (G1) Oct. 6 at Keeneland, but Robertson said she “tied up” on consecutive days, a physical ailment that causes severe muscle cramping.

Amy’s Challenge bobbled at the start of the Dixie Belle, but quickly recovered and tracked Mia Mischief through blazing fractions of :21.48 for a quarter-mile and :44.49 for a half-mile.

Amy’s Challenge (on the outside) and Mia Mischief matched strides through the stretch before the former stuck her head in front near the wire. Amy’s Challenge covered 6 furlongs over a fast track in 1:10.61.

“She was all heart down the lane,” Loveberry said Sunday morning while checking in on his prized mount. “Once we engaged that filly, she wasn’t giving up. We got to the eighth pole and I could feel her getting a little bit tired.”

Loveberry said the bobble at the break was beneficial to Amy’s Challenge, who led virtually every step in both starts last year.

“It actually set it up very nice,” Loveberry said. “She got to sit off it and relax. Showed a different aspect.”

Owned by Robertson’s longtime client, Novogratz Racing Stables Inc. (Joseph Novogratz), Amy’s Challenge raised her career earnings to $136,800 with the Dixie Belle victory. She was purchased for only $20,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale.

Early Sunday morning, Amy’s Challenge could be found in her favorite spot – beside the winner’s circle, of course – in a round pen outside the Davona Dale barn.

“Life is good,” said Robertson’s wife/assistant, Cyndi.

Amy’s Challenge was named Canterbury Park’s 2017 Horse of the Meet.

Bonus Baby

Plainsman became the first “Lasix-free Bonus” winner of the meeting, and 15th since Oaklawn began the program in 2015, with a half-length victory in Saturday’s ninth race, a maiden special weights sprint for 3-year-olds.

The victory may have been a surprise to bettors – Plainsman paid $70 in his 2018 debut – but not to the anti-Lasix crowd, since the son of Flatter is owned by Arkansas lumberman John Ed Anthony’s Shortleaf Stable and trained by Will VanMeter.

Plainsman represented a record fourth Lasix-free bonus victory for Anthony and VanMeter (their third together), earning a 10 percent bonus of $4,500. The race’s original purse was $75,000, with $45,000 going to the winner.

Plainsman, VanMeter said, is typical of the philosophy he and Anthony – among the most successful owners in Oaklawn history and long a hay, oats and water advocate – share regarding Lasix, a diuretic also known as furosemide.

Plainsman was making his first start since finishing ninth in his Oct. 7 career debut at Keeneland.

“Just giving them a chance to mature without it,” VanMeter said Sunday morning. “He just fits the typical profile, specifically what John Ed wants us to do with the horses.”

VanMeter, 34, saddled his first career winner at the 2014 Oaklawn meeting and has trained for Anthony since the 2016 Oaklawn meeting. He has 15 horses this year at Oaklawn, including 10 for Anthony, noted for campaigning Eclipse Award winners Temperence Hill, Vanlandingham and Prairie Bayou.

Charles Cella, Oaklawn’s president from 1968 until his death Dec. 6, announced in September 2014 that Oaklawn would become the country’s first track to offer a purse incentive for horses that ran and won without Lasix during the 2015 meeting.

The “Lasix-free Bonus Program” would offer a 10 percent hike to the winner’s share of the purse for horses that won without the anti-bleeder medication, which wasn’t legalized at Oaklawn until the late 1980s, long after other major jurisdictions.

In a news release announcing the bonus, Cella called Oaklawn’s program “experimental” and said he hoped it would inspire more owners and trainers to race their horses without Lasix. The vast majority of horses run on Lasix.

Oaklawn had five Lasix-free winners in 2015, four in 2016 and five last year, according to data provided by the track.

The 15 Lasix-free winners have totaled $35,400 in bonuses to date, funds that come from the track and not its purse account.

Anthony has collected almost half the bonus money awarded to date ($17,610), including a record $4,980 for Dutch Parrot’s victory in an Arkansas-bred allowance race last March.

VanMeter had three Lasix-free winners at last year’s meeting – two for Anthony with Dutch Parrot and another with Double First.

Other trainers with Lasix-free winners since Oaklawn introduced the program are Gary “Red Dog” Hartlage (three), Kelly Von Hemel (two) and Michael Campbell, Al Stall, Chris Rowland, Ray Shumake and Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen with one each.

Plainsman was the only horse in Saturday’s race that didn’t run on Lasix. But VanMeter said he understands the other side of the issue since Lasix is a legal medication.

“The last thing, I think, I or John Ed want to do is sit on a soap box and say, ‘This is the way it ought to be,’ ” VanMeter said. “I think we want to be left alone and run our horses how we want to.”

Anthony also has horses with trainer Brad Cox, including High North, who is scheduled to make his 3-year-old debut in the $500,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) Feb. 19 at Oaklawn. High North made his first three career starts without Lasix.

Based on the 2018 opening-day purse structure, the bonus will range from $1,200 for Oaklawn’s minimum purse of $20,000 to $60,000 for the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1).

Finish Lines

The track was rated fast for workouts Sunday morning. … Cosmic Burst, who is scheduled to make her 2018 debut in the $125,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Feb. 10, worked 5 furlongs in 1:01.80 Sunday morning for trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel. Cosmic Burst won the $100,000 Trapeze Stakes Dec. 17 at Remington Park in her last start. … Another promising 3-year-old filly, Red Ruby, worked 5 furlongs in company in 1:02.80 Sunday morning for trainer Kellyn Gorder. … Transgress, a sharp Jan. 13 maiden graduate, worked 5 furlongs in company Sunday morning for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Both Transgress, a 3-year-old son of Into Mischief who is being considered for upcoming stakes, and stablemate Impasse were credited with 1:00.40. Impasse finished fourth in the $125,000 Pippin Stakes for older fillies and mares Jan. 13. … Rapid Dial (2 for 2 at the 2017 Oaklawn meeting) worked 5 furlongs out of the gate in 1:01.60 Sunday morning for trainer Ingrid Mason, who is targeting an allowance sprint for the colt’s 4-year-old debut. … Sonny Smack, an unstarted 3-year-old half-brother to multiple stakes winner Smack Smack, worked a half-mile out of the gate in :48.40 Sunday morning for trainer Don Von Hemel of Hot Springs. … Snickerboxer ($10.20) represented the first victory of the meeting for Danny Caldwell, Oaklawn’s leading owner the last four years, in Saturday’s sixth race. It was Caldwell’s 99th career victory in Hot Springs. Snickerboxer was a three-time winner at the 2017 meeting. … Saturday’s $125,000 American Beauty Stakes for older female sprinters closed with 27 nominees. Okie Diva and Hailstorm Slew are among the candidates for the 6-furlong race.