OAKLAWN: BREAK EVEN WINS PURPLE MARTIN TO REMAIN UNBEATEN; BARN NOTES

By Gissel Torres —-

BREAK EVEN WINS PURPLE MARTIN TO REMAIN UNBEATEN

HOT SPRINGS, AR (Saturday, March 30, 2019) – Klein Racing’s unbeaten homebred Break Even had no trouble in her stakes debut, rolling to an easy gate-to-wire victory in the $150,000 Purple Martin for 3-year-old filly sprinters Saturday afternoon at Oaklawn

Before an estimated crowd of 15,000, Break Even finished 4 ½ lengths ahead of Lady T N T to give trainer Brad Cox, who turned 39 Saturday, his third victory on the card. Ridden by Colby Hernandez, Break Even covered the distance over a good track in 1:10.15 and paid $5.60 as the second choice in the nine-horse field.

A Kentucky-bred daughter of Country Day, Break Even raised her career earnings to $138,600 following her third consecutive victory. She broke her maiden New Year’s Day at Fair Grounds before clearing her first allowance condition there Jan. 28. The Klein family won the $150,000 Instant Racing Stakes – the predecessor to the Purple Martin – in 2016 with unbeaten Cash Back (4 for 4). Like Break Even, Cash Back made her first two career starts at Fair Grounds, winning a maiden special weights event and first-level allowance before tackling stakes company. Country Day, another Klein homebred, won Oaklawn’s $60,000 Hot Springs Stakes for older sprinters in 2010.

Break Even has won her three starts by a combined 13 ¾ lengths.

Racing resumes Sunday at 1:30 p.m (Central).

Purple Martin Quotes:

Winning jockey Colby Hernandez – “I didn’t think I would have it that easy, but she just broke so sharp and she just took me there. After that, I was just, ‘Go ahead, girl, do what you need to do.’ I was thinking maybe we would be just right off another horse. Then she broke out of there, I was like, ‘Well, we’ll change our plans.’ ”

Oaklawn Barn Notes: Wonder Gadot Blossoms

Queen’s Plate winner Wonder Gadot was among the first horses to work Saturday morning at Oaklawn. She ended up being the fastest, too.

Breezing over a fast surface moments after the track opened under David Cohen, Wonder Gadot recorded a 5-furlong bullet (:59) in advance of a scheduled start in the $750,000 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares April 14.
Clockers caught Wonder Gadot in :23.60 for her opening quarter, :36.20 for 3 furlongs and galloping out 6 furlongs in 1:11.20. Wonder Gadot’s 3-furlong time was faster than the 3-furlong bullet (:36.60) and her 5-furlong time was the best among 30 published at the distance.

A finalist for a Sovereign Award as Canada’s champion 3-year-old filly of 2018, Wonder Gadot finished second in her 2019 debut, a March 8 allowance at 1 1/16 miles, for owner Gary Barber and trainer Mark Casse.

“It was a solid work for her today,” said Cohen, who has regularly breezed the filly since her arrival in early February and will ride her in the Apple Blossom. “They were looking for that type of work. She probably got just as much, if not more, mentally out of that last race than she did physically. Very strong gallop out and definitely seeing a new side of her, from working her prior to then racing and coming out of that. Her last two works, she’s been really feeling strong.”

Wonder Gadot worked a half-mile in :49.80 March 23.

Nominations to the 1 1/16-mile Apple Blossom closed Thursday. Cohen rode the Casse-trained Shamrock Rose to a third-place finish in the $350,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) March 16, the final major local prep for the Apple Blossom. Shamrock Rose, Casse said, will make her next start in the $300,000 Madison Stakes (G1) April 6 at Keeneland.

Shamrock Rose won the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs. Wonder Gadot beat males in the first two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown, including the Queen’s Plate.

Just a Fantasy

Trainer Jesse Cruz is scheduled to have his first career stakes starter in the $500,000 Fantasy (G3) for 3-year-old fillies April 12 in Destiny Over Fate, who is campaigned by colorful owner Ron Paolucci.

Cruz said he recently received two horses from Paolucci, including Destiny Over Fate, who was based in the Mid-Atlantic with trainer Lacey Gaudet. Destiny Over Fate won an allowance race Feb. 22 at Laurel and finished seventh in the $100,000 Beyond The Wire Stakes March 16 at Laurel in her last start.

“She’s going to have a breeze next week and if everything goes well, she’s going to run in the Fantasy,” Cruz said Friday morning. “She’s kind of a narrow, thin filly, a little bit. She’s really lanky. She looks to me, on paper and her work tab, like she’s got worlds of talent, but she doesn’t know how to harness it just yet.”

Cruz said Destiny Over Fate came to him in good order and the plan is to try to settle her down.

“If you look at her chart, the word that always shows up in the comment list is ‘rank,’ ” said Cruz, 25, who gallops Destiny Over Fate. “If we can get her to kind of settle the first part of the race, maybe she’ll run a big, big race. She’s going to be a long shot, but that’s kind of Ron’s style. He seems to want to take shots at them. Every now and then, you catch lightning in a bottle.”

A daughter of Drill – runner-up in the $100,000 Northern Spur Stakes in 2012 at Oaklawn – Destiny Over Fate has a 2-0-1 record from seven lifetime starts and earnings of $65,011.

Another locally based horse pointing for the Fantasy is Motion Emotion, runner-up in the $200,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) March 9 for trainer Tom Van Berg. The Honeybee is the final major local prep for the Fantasy.

Motion Emotion, in company, worked a half-mile in :47.40 Thursday morning. Nominations to the 1 1/16-mile Fantasy closed Thursday.

Remembering Rita Weighs Options

Major stakes winner Remembering Rita will probably be entered in the $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 13 and the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes April 14, trainer Doug Anderson of Hot Springs said Saturday morning.

Owned by Jeral Keith Adams of DeWitt, Ark., Remembering Rita snapped a four-race losing streak with a half-length victory in a March 9 allowance race at 1 1/16 miles under Alex Birzer.

Remembering Rita, after adding blinkers, won three consecutive races last year at Prairie Meadows, including the $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (G3) July 6.

“He ran a big race that last time,” Anderson said. “That was almost another stake just hidden with an allowance condition. He came out of it good and he’s doing good right now.”

The allowance race featured 2017 Kentucky Derby runner-up Lookin At Lee, 2018 Northern Spur Stakes winner High North and 2018 Super Derby winner Limation.

Nominations to the 1 1/8-mile Oaklawn Handicap, Oaklawn’s biggest two-turn race for older horses, and 1 1/16-mile Fifth Season closed Thursday.

“We’re going to probably enter them both and kind of try and take advantage of the easiest one, I guess,” Anderson said. “I know it’s not going to be easy, either one of them. We’re just going to see.”

Exclamation Point, a 4-year-old half-brother to champion and 2017 Arkansas Derby winner Classic Empire, will make his stakes debut in the Fifth Season, co-owner Staton Flurry of Hot Springs said after the chestnut colt worked a half-mile in :48.60 over a fast track Saturday morning.

Exclamation Point has won 4 of 5 career starts, including a maiden special weights and first-level allowance last year at Oaklawn, for trainer Brad Cox and co-owners Flurry and Steve and Brandi Nicholson. The Nicholsons bred Classic Empire and Exclamation Point.

Finish Lines

Trainer Robertino Diodoro ($1,012,538) surpassed $1 million in purse earnings at the meet Friday, the 37th day of the scheduled 57-day season. The first trainer at the meet to reach seven figures, Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, entered Saturday $2,998,793. Asmussen set a single-season Oaklawn record for purse earnings ($3,448,729) in 2016. … Cowboy Diplomacy, a 3-year-old full brother to champion Monomoy Girl, worked a half-mile in :49.20 for trainer Brad Cox. … Coal Front, winner of the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses Feb. 18 at Oaklawn, won the $1.5 million Godolphin Mile Saturday in the United Arab Emirates. … Multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Swing and Sway and Oaklawn winners Torrent and Our Majesty were all recently retired to become broodmares, trainer Ron Moquett said Saturday morning. Moquett trained the trio.