Oaklawn Barn Notes: Larry Snyder Winner’s Circle to Make Its Debut Friday

By Jennifer Hoyt —-

Larry Snyder Winner’s Circle to Make Its Debut Friday

For the first time in Oaklawn’s 115-year history, winning horses will return to the Larry Snyder Winner’s Circle Friday, opening day of the scheduled 57-day meeting.

The new winner’s circle across from the finish line 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 connections of Friday’s first race.

She said she has never seen the new winner’s circle in person. It includes a plaque of her husband affixed to a natural stone structure that protects the scale used to weigh jockeys following a race.

“I’m very proud,” Snyder said. “I just hope I can get through it.”

Larry 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 victories 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.

Snyder became only the sixth rider in U.S. racing history to reach 6,000 career victories Aug. 24, 1989, at Louisiana Downs. 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 more than 24 years after his retirement. He was a steward at Oaklawn in 1995-2017.

The new winner’s circle was dedicated Oct. 25, but neither Jeanette Snyder nor her husband attended the ceremony because of his condition.

“I’ve seen a picture of it on TV they sent me, but I’m sure it’s not doing it justice,” she said. “I’m really proud they asked me to do it.”

Nearing a Milestone

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen and Ricardo Santana Jr., Oaklawn’s leading rider the last six years, will waste no time in their pursuit of 500 victories together.

Santana is named on eight horses for Friday’s opening-day program, including seven for Asmussen. According to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization, Asmussen and Santana had teamed for 479 victories through Wednesday, including 171 in Hot Springs.

“Hopefully, it will happen here,” Asmussen said of the milestone.

Santana, 26, had his first mount for Asmussen in 2012 and scored his first career Grade 1 victory in the 2016 Arkansas Derby aboard Creator for the trainer.

They have dominated the Oaklawn standings, with Asmussen seeking his fourth consecutive training title this year and 10th overall. Santana began riding regularly for Asmussen at the 2013 Oaklawn meeting and they teamed for 32 victories that meeting, highlighted by the $250,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) with Justin Phillip.

“I don’t think he’s any different than we are,” Asmussen said. “He’s talented and capable and always trying to get better. That’s what the sport requires.”

Among the Asmussen trainees Santana is scheduled to ride Friday is Bankit in the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds.

Doubleheader

Trainer Will VanMeter is scheduled to send out starters in Saturday’s sixth and seventh races, races that will likely shape the immediate path for two promising runners.

VanMeter will saddle Lone Rock in the sixth race, a stakes-caliber allowance event for older horses at 1 1/16 miles, for owner John Ed Anthony of Hot Springs and B P Rocket in the seventh race for owner Frank Fletcher of North Little Rock, Ark.

B P Rocket was nominated to Friday’s $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds, but VanMeter said he, Fletcher and Kathy Howard of Hot Springs, the owner’s racing manger, agreed an entry-level allowance spot at a mile was the better fit. B P Rocket, a chestnut son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, has only raced twice, winning a 1-mile maiden special weights event Nov. 9 at Churchill Downs in his last start.

“It was always a consensus to do what was right by the horse for the long term,” VanMeter said. “As far as I’m concerned, he’s done fantastic. He’s breezed pretty much every seven days since we’ve hit the grounds. He had a nice kind of 30-day break after we ran at Churchill. He’s a Curlin out of an Empire Maker mare, so I think we’ve seen him grow a lot over the winter. As far as the timing is concerned, I feel like everything’s really worked out well.”

B P Rocket is named after Bobby Petrino, the former head football coach at Arkansas and Louisville and a friend of Fletcher.

Lone Rock, a 4-year-old son of Majestic Warrior, has won two consecutive starts, including the $75,000 Jeffrey A. Hawk Memorial Stakes Dec. 16 at Remington Park.

Saturday’s race could produce a starter, or starters, for the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) Feb. 18 at Oaklawn. The Razorback is the first major local prep for the $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 13.

“It’s pretty much about the same race he ran in,” VanMeter said, referring to the Hawk Memorial. “Just some old salty dogs. Whoever runs 1-2 in there, I assume, will run in the Razorback. If he can improve, or run that same race back, then he deserves to move on.”

Also entered in the sixth race are M G Warrior, a winner of three of his last four starts; Limation, winner of last year’s $300,000 Super Derby (G3) at Louisiana Downs; Remembering Rita, winner of last year’s $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (G3) at Prairie Meadows; multiple graded stakes winner Flameaway; and One Liner, winner of the $500,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) in 2017 at Oaklawn.
One Liner will be making his first start for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.

Probable post times for the sixth and seventh races are 3:39 p.m. (Central) and 4:09 p.m.,
respectively.

Branching Out

After a year in which he set career highs for starts (267), victories (53) and purse earnings ($1,454,894) and notched his first stakes victory and first graded stakes victory, trainer Johnny Ortiz said he’s accepting outside clients in 2019.

Ortiz, who went out on his own in 2016 after assisting Kellyn Gorder, has split his stable this winter between Oaklawn and Fair Grounds. His major clients are Arkansas-based WSS Consulting LLC and Hooties Racing LLC.

“We want to open up our barn to a different quality of horses,” Ortiz said. “Just trying to get more of those allowance horses and 2-year-olds for this spring coming up. Just trying to widen our base.”
Ortiz has three horses entered Friday at Oaklawn – Dan the Go to Man in the third race, Justice for Themob in the fifth race and undefeated Miss Ximena in the seventh race.

On behalf of WSS Racing and Hooties, Ortiz claimed Dan the Go to Man for $80,000 at last year’s Oaklawn meeting. The horse is coming off a 12th-place finish in the $110,000 Claiming Crown Express Stakes Dec. 1 at Gulfstream Park.

“Sometimes, he’s his biggest enemy,” said Ortiz, who has around 20 horses at Oaklawn. “But when he’s right, he’s right. He didn’t do too well in the Claiming Crown, just because he was a little flat over there. He didn’t ship too well, I guess, didn’t acclimate.”

Dan the Go to Man is entered in a starter-allowance sprint for Ortiz, who won nine races last year at Oaklawn.

“Hopefully, we get to 10 or 12 this year,” Ortiz said.

Finish Lines

The start of training was delayed until 11 a.m. Thursday – four hours later than normal – because of freezing temperatures. … Nominations to the $125,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Feb. 2 closed Thursday. … Cowboy Diplomacy, a 3-year-old full brother to Monomoy Girl, moved closer to his scheduled February career debut with a 5-furlong bullet workout (:59.60) out of the gate Sunday for trainer Brad Cox. The Cox-trained Monomoy Girl was to be named champion 3-year-old filly of 2018 at the 48th annual Eclipse Awards ceremony Thursday night at Gulfstream Park. … Another unstarted 3-year-old, Hidden Ruler, had a 5-furlong bullet work (:59.60) Tuesday morning for trainer Dallas Stewart. Hidden Ruler is a son of Gemologist. … Through Wednesday, Allen Milligan, Oaklawn’s leading trainer in 2009, had 998 career North American victories, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization.