Oaklawn Stakes Selections

By Rick Francis —-

OAKLAWN PARK

Race 5) 1&1/16 Mile. Azeri S. Grade II. Purse $350,000 FILLIES AND MARES, FOUR YEAR OLDS AND UPWARD
Post Time: 3:03/( 2:03)/ 1:03/12:03 ADVANCED FORECAST: Mostly Cloudy, High 74, Low 59

5) Shedaresthedevil (Cox/Geroux); makes her 20121 debut after a magical sophomore season that saw her finish in the money in each of her seven starts including her Kentucky Oaks score over a determined Swiss Skydiver. Daughter of Daredevil excels at this distance.

3) Letruska (Gutierrez/Rosario); mare out of Super Saver enters having won 3-of-4 taking the Houston Ladies last out in gate-to-wire fashion.

1) Envoutante (McPeek/Hernandez, B.); winner of 2-straight, working lights out for this.

Selections: 5, 3, 1

Race 7) 1&1/16th Mile. Essex H. Purse $500,000 FOUR YEAR OLDS AND UPWARD
Post Time: 4:08/( 3:08)/ 2:08/ 1:08

7) Night Ops (Cox/Castellano); 2020 winner closed from just off the pace for the win in a muddy go; horse for the course.

5) Silver State (Asmussen/Santana); winner of three straight the last a neck effort over the aforementioned in the 5th Season; Hard Spun colt will be ready to fire.

4) Tax (Gargan/Rosario); not much to like about his Pegasus effort last out so toss it, 5-year-old is still looking for that signature win.

2) Harper’s First Rate (Diodoro/Cohen); his Pegasus effort was worse than Tax’s, however 5-year-old out of Paynter has demonstrated he can rebound off such attempts and with 4 wins and a second from six tries at the route, don’t discount.

Selections: 7, 5, 4, 2

Race 9) 1½ Mile. Temperence Hill S. Purse $150,000 FOUR YEARS OLD AND UPWARD
Post Time: 5:13/( 4:13)/ 3:13/ 2:13

10) Campaign (Sadler/Arietta); a 2-time graded stakes winner at this distance; missed by a neck a year ago; no brainer for exotics.

6) Treasure Trove (Maker/Geroux); was coming late here last month in the mud; trainer/jockey tandem 24 percent on the year, 22 percent this meet.

9) Lone Rock (Diodoro/Cohen); love the reclaim several times angle, especially when it’s Mott and Diodoro; by the way, winner of three straight.

4) Plainsman (Cox/Castellano); game in defeat here last out; love the stretch out play for this dangerous barn.

Selections: 10, 6, 9, 4

Race 10) 6 Furlongs. HotSprngsL200K Hot Springs S. Purse $200,000 FOUR YEAR OLDS AND UPWARD
Post Time: 5:45/( 4:45)/ 3:45/ 2:45

Every so often a horse comes that carries a barn and a loyal fan base through some memorable times, that horse (gelding) in this case is Whitmore. 8-year-old has gone eye-to-eye with the fastest of the fast throughout his career and delivered. Today he returns as reigning Breeders’ Cup Sprint champion and a home crowd that seen him amass an Oaklawn record of 14 9-4-1.
He losses today if he doesn’t want to win, but he’ll need to bring his “A” game as several rivals look to keep that 10th Oaklawn victory for another day.

Selections:
6) Whitmore (Moquett/Santana)
7) CZ Rocket (Miller/Geroux)
3) Mr. Jagermeister (Lund/Bowen)
1) Boldor (Asmussen/Cabrera)