OAKLAWN STAKES PREVIEWS: ESSEX, WHITMORE

By Jennifer Hoyt —-

LAST SAMURAI GOES FOR SECOND STRAIGHT IN ESSEX

HOT SPRINGS, AR (Friday, March 17, 2023) – Although Last Samurai is a millionaire multiple graded stakes winner, he’s never won consecutive races. He gets another shot, this time as the 5-2 program favorite, in the $500,000 Essex Handicap (G3) for older horses at 1 1/16 miles Saturday at Oaklawn.

Probable post time for the Essex, the ninth of 10 races, is 4:54 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at 12:35 p.m. The card also features the $200,000 Whitmore Stakes (G3) for older horses at 6 furlongs.

The projected 10-horse Essex field from the rail out: Silver Prospector, Ricardo Santana Jr. to ride, 118 pounds, 6-1 on the morning line; Vittorio, Martin Garcia, 116, 3-1; Rated R Superstar, David Cabrera, 118, 20-1; Call Me Fast, Francisco Arrieta, 116, 15-1; Classic Causeway, Flavien Prat, 119, 15-1; Necker Island, Nik Juarez, 118, 8-1; Forza Di Oro, Florent Geroux, 117, 7-2; Tawny Port, Rafael Bejarano, 117, 15-1; Keystone Field, Isaac Castillo, 116, 15-1; and Last Samurai, Cristian Torres, 121, 5-2.

The Essex is a major local prep for the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 22, a 1 1/8-mile race Last Samurai won in 2022. Last Samurai wouldn’t win again until his last start, a sparkling 1 ½-length score over West Will Power in the $600,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 18 at Oaklawn. The victory, Last Samurai’s fifth in 23 career starts, boosted his career earnings to $1,607,639. It also generated a 119 Equibase Speed rating, highest of the 2022-2023 Oaklawn meeting.

The obvious question: Can Last Samurai flash the same form Saturday?

“I’m getting paid to make them better,” Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, jokingly, said. “That’s what they pay me for, to make them better. Not to keep them there, but to get them better.”

Lukas began training Last Samurai following the 2022 Oaklawn Handicap. A son of Malibu Moon, Last Samurai opened his 5-year-old campaign with a fourth-place finish in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at 1 1/8 miles Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park. Last Samurai shined three weeks later in the Razorback for owner Kevin Horton of Marshall, Ark. (Willis Horton Racing).

“I hope I get some consistency out of him,” Lukas said.

In addition to the Last Samurai, the Essex features Grade 1 winner Classic Causeway for trainer Kenny McPeek, Grade 2 winner Silver Prospector (Steve Asmussen) and Grade 3 winners Rated R Superstar (Martin Villafranco) and Tawny Port and Forza Di Oro (Brad Cox).

Classic Causeway returns to dirt after making his final five starts last year on turf, highlighted by a front-running victory in the $1 million Belmont Derby (G1) at 1 ¼ miles July 9 at Belmont Park. In the runup to last year’s Kentucky Derby, Classic Causeway was a front-running winner of the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) and $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby (G2). Both 1 1/16-mile Kentucky Derby dirt preps were at Tampa Bay Downs.

“We’re proud of what he did on the grass, but we don’t want to pigeonhole him as strictly a turf horse,” McPeek said. “We want to give him several races on the dirt again to try and see how he competes against the older dirt crop. He still needs to learn to rate himself and be more tactical, as opposed to pretty well being one-dimensional. When he leaves the gate, he wants to be in front. I would like to think that Flavien can get him to relax a little bit. We’ve been trying to practice this a bit with him, to get him to lay off horses and just wait, wait and finish and use that natural speed later in the race.”

Defending champion Rated R Superstar, 10, is trying to become the oldest horse to win a two-turn stakes race at Oaklawn. Vittorio will be making his stakes debut for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Necker Island, approaching $1 million in career earnings, returns to a route for the first time since May for 2015 Oaklawn training champion Chris Hartman.

“The idea was the Oaklawn Mile,” Hartman said, referring to the $400,000 Grade 3 race April 1. “But the horse is doing so good, we didn’t want to wait around for the Oaklawn Mile. The idea was to get him back around two turns, so what’s an extra sixteenth. The horse is doing really good, so we thought we could see what he can do there.”

Silver Prospector exits a sharp Feb. 11 allowance victory at Oaklawn.

TEJANO TWIST FAVORED IN WHITMORE

HOT SPRINGS, AR (Friday, March 17, 2023) – Tejano Twist is the 3-1 program favorite for the $200,000 Whitmore Stakes (G3) for older sprinters Saturday at Oaklawn.

Probable post time for the 6-furlong Whitmore, the eighth of 10 races, is 4:22 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at 12:35 p.m. The card also features the $500,000 Essex Handicap (G3) for older horses at 1 1/16 miles.

The projected 10-horse Whitmore field from the rail out: Spankster, David Cabrera to ride, 124 pounds, 8-1 on the morning line; Tejano Twist, Francisco Arrieta, 124, 3-1; Miles Ahead, Martin Garcia, 117, 15-1; Edge to Edge, Nik Juarez, 124, 4-1; Empire of Gold, Lane Luzzi, 119, 15-1; Baytown Bear, Maclovio Enriquez Jr., 117, 20-1; Flash of Mischief, Cristian Torres, 124, 9-2; Pirate Rick, Rafael Bejarano, 119, 12-1; Cogburn, Ricardo Santana Jr., 124, 7-2; and Morello, Flavien Prat, 117, 15-1.

Tejano Twist and the speedy Edge to Edge are both trained by 2015 local champion Chris Hartman. Tejano Twist, a late-running son of Practical Joke, had won three consecutive starts before finishing second, beaten four lengths, by millionaire Grade 1 winner Gunite in the $150,000 King Cotton Stakes at 6 furlongs Jan. 28 at Oaklawn. Gunite’s winning time over a sloppy track was a meet-best 1:08.89. With Gunite now based in the Middle East, Tejano Twist is favored to notch his third career stakes victory and second since Hartman claimed the gelding for $80,000 last June at Churchill Downs.

“No Gunite this time,” Hartman said. “That should be a little bit of help, for sure. He’s a little hard to run down. We’ve got one horse on the front that’s been doing really good and another one coming from the back. Hopefully, we can get a good result there. It looks like they’re both coming into the race really live.”

Edge to Edge has recorded two sharp front-running allowance victories at the 2022-2023 Oaklawn. The 6-furlong races went in 1:09.30 and 1:09.65.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who conditions Gunite, will send out Grade 3 winner Morello and Cogburn, who has been favored in all six lifetime starts.

Morello, in his Oaklawn debut, finished fourth, beaten 9 ¾ lengths by Edge to Edge, Feb. 17. Cogburn is poised to grab his first career stakes victory after narrow misses last spring in the $150,000 Bachelor at Oaklawn and the $200,000 Chick Lang (G3) at Pimlico. Cogburn, in his 4-year-old debut and first start against older horses, was a Feb. 5 allowance winner at Oaklawn. Cogburn’s winning time over a fast track was 1:09.67.

“He’s always been fast,” Asmussen said. “He’s run some very fast races and that’s a good quality in a racehorse.”

Flash of Mischief looks to rebound from a fifth-place finish in the King Cotton for trainer Karl Broberg. Flash of Mischief won the $150,000 Ring the Bell Stakes at 6 furlongs Dec. 10 at Oaklawn.

The Whitmore is the final major local prep for the $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) at 6 furlongs April 15. The Whitmore is named for seven-time Oaklawn stakes winner Whitmore, the country’s champion male sprinter of 2020.