Oaklawn Barn Notes: Morales Among Eclipse Award Finalists with Oaklawn Connections

By Jennifer Hoyt —-

Morales Among Eclipse Award Finalists with Oaklawn Connections

The envelope, please.

Edgar Morales isn’t riding Friday at Oaklawn, but the jockey has a good excuse for missing the first day of the meeting. Morales will be attending the 48th annual Eclipse Awards ceremony Thursday night at Gulfstream Park in suburban Miami.

Morales, 20, is among three finalists for outstanding apprentice jockey of 2018. He was Oaklawn’s leading apprentice last year with 17 victories, the most for an apprentice in Hot Springs since 2010.
Morales later contended for riding titles at three Kentucky venues, Ellis Park, Keeneland and Churchill Downs, before losing his apprentice weight allowance Nov. 17.

Morales had more than $3 million in purse earnings last year to lead all apprentice riders.

“We were ahead in earnings and a guy at the Racing Form told me 90 percent of the time whoever is ahead on money, they give it to him,” Morales’ agent, Julio Espinoza, said.

Other finalists are Reylu Gutierrez and Weston Hamilton. The Mid-Atlantic-based Hamilton also had more than $3 million in purse earnings last year.

“I was in front in money, but I know the other two jockeys did good, too,” Morales said. “It’s really tough. Hopefully, we win it.”

Morales is named on four horses Saturday at Oaklawn, including Casino Star for trainer Tom Van Berg in the sixth race. Morales rode his first career winner for Van Berg’s father, the late Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg, Oct. 15, 2017, at Keeneland.

Morales is Oaklawn’s second consecutive leading apprentice to be a finalist for an Eclipse Award. Katie Clawson rode eight winners in 2017 in Hot Springs and was runner-up in voting for an Eclipse Award.

Leading apprentice riders at Oaklawn who went on to national prominence include Earl Sande (25 victories to win the riding title in 1918) and Jerry Bailey (28 victories in 1976). Both Sande and Bailey are members of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Six other Oaklawn-connected figures are finalists for Eclipse Awards in 2018.

City of Light and Accelerate, 1-2, respectively, in last year’s $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2), and Gun Runner, winner of Oaklawn’s $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) in 2017, are finalists for champion older dirt male; Unique Bella, runner-up in last year’s $700,000 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1), is a finalist for champion older dirt female; Finley’sluckycharm, a 2016 allowance winner in Hot Springs, is a finalist for champion female sprinter; and three-time defending Oaklawn champion Steve Asmussen is a finalist for outstanding trainer.

Accelerate, who suffered his only 2018 loss in the Oaklawn Handicap, is also a finalist for Horse of the Year. Gun Runner was the 2017 Horse of the Year.

Finalists were determined by voters representing the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, National Turf Writers and Broadcasters and Daily Racing Form. Finalists in each category were determined by voters’ top three selections using a 10-5-1 point system. Winners are determined solely by first-place votes.

Together Again

Jockey Terry Thompson and trainer Larry Jones, once a potent combination at Oaklawn, are scheduled to team up again in Friday’s $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds with Super Steed.

Gabriel Saez rode Super Steed in his first three career starts, but Jones tapped Thompson for the 1-mile Smarty Jones, Oaklawn’s first of four Kentucky Derby points races. Thompson has regularly breezed Super Steed since he arrived in Hot Springs late last year.

Thompson and Jones combined for 59 Oaklawn victories, including six stakes, in 2001-2011, but they have had only a handful of chances together in recent years. He is named on two other horses for Jones opening day.

“We’ve had awfully good luck over the years,” said Thompson, Oaklawn’s leading jockey in 2009 and 2010. “We always seem to click. Larry, give him credit, he gave me the opportunity to get on some more good horses again. Every time we seem to go to the big dance, we always seem to come out ahead That always helps. I rode for Larry for so many years, which a lot of guys I would say that are new around here, don’t realize. I rode for him for a long time. … we just kind of, we didn’t split ways, but we went different directions.”

Jones, who has a string in Hot Springs for the first time since 2011, recorded his first career graded-stakes victory with Ruby’s Reception in the $200,000 Fantasy Stakes (G2) for 3-year-old fillies in 2003 at Oaklawn. Thompson rode Ruby’s Reception in the Fantasy and also teamed with Jones to win races like the $250,000 Acorn Stakes (G1) for 3-year-old fillies in 2004 at Belmont Park (Island Sand), the $50,000 Dixie Belle Stakes for 3-year-old fillies in 2006 at Oaklawn (Wildcat Bettie B.) and the $75,000 Instant Racing Stakes for 3-year-old fillies in 2009 at Oaklawn (Payton d’Oro). In her next start, Payton d’Oro won the $150,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) for Jones and Thompson.
Mike Pressley bred and co-owns Super Steed and also campaigned Ruby’s Reception, Wildcat Bettie B. and Payton d’Oro.

“Our record with Mike is great,” Thompson said.

Jersey Joe in Arkansas

“Jersey Joe” Bravo and his agent, Tony King, were touring the barn area Tuesday morning in advance of Friday’s opening-day program, the start of a busy weekend for the jockey.

The nationally prominent Bravo, who will be riding regularly at Oaklawn for the first time this year, arrived in Hot Springs Monday afternoon after previously being based at Fair Grounds. He is named on four horses Friday at Oaklawn, including Forloveofcountry in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds.

“I’ve been on the front side plenty, but never on the backside,” Bravo said.

Bravo, 47, has had 22 career mounts at Oaklawn since 1997. He has four victories, including the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) in 2014 aboard Danza.

Bravo won’t ride this weekend at Oaklawn because of commitments at Gulfstream Park and Sam Houston. Bravo is named on True Timber for Saturday’s $9 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) and Remedy in Sunday’s Houston Ladies Classic (G3).

“All of this is where you want to be,” Bravo said. “I wouldn’t dream of anything better.

Jeannette Snyder to Make Presentation to First Winner Friday

For the first time in Oaklawn’s 115-year history, winning horses will return to the Larry Snyder Winner’s Circle beginning opening day. The new winner’s circle was dedicated to the legendary jockey and longtime Oaklawn steward shortly before he died Oct. 29. Jeanette Snyder, Larry’s wife of 57 years, will make a presentation to the winning connection of the first race.

Snyder enjoyed a 35-year career as a jockey that began in 1960 and included eight riding titles at Oaklawn where he won 1,248 recorded races at the Hot Springs track. Among his most notable Oaklawn wins were the 1983 Rebel Stakes aboard that year’s Kentucky Derby winner Sunny’s Halo, as well as the 1989 Arkansas Derby on Dansil, whom he would ride to a fourth-place finish in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

He became only the sixth rider in U.S. racing history to reach 6,000 career wins at Louisiana Downs on Aug. 24, 1989. That same year, Snyder’s distinguished career was recognized by his peers through the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award. Snyder retired in 1994 with career earnings of $47,207,289 and 6,388 recorded victories, which still ranks him 14th among all North American jockeys 24 years after his retirement.

Finish Lines

The track was rated muddy for workouts Wednesday morning. … Georgia’s Reward, winner of last year’s $100,000 Rainbow Miss Stakes for 3-year-old Arkansas-bred fillies, worked a half-mile in :50.60 on Wednesday morning for trainer Ron Moquett of Hot Springs. … Nominations to the $125,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Feb. 2 close Thursday. … Allen Milligan, Oaklawn’s leading trainer in 2009, had 998 career victories through Wednesday, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization.