Oaklawn Racing Notes Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024

By Robert Yates —-

Just Steel and Lemon Muffin, among Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas’ most prominent runners, are training at Oaklawn in advance of the 2024-2025 meeting that begins Friday.

Just Steel was the only horse to go through Oaklawn’s four-race series of Kentucky Derby qualifying races at the 2023-2024 meeting, finishing second in the $300,000 Smarty Jones Stakes, second in the $800,000 Southwest Stakes (G3), seventh in the $1.25 million Rebel Stakes (G2) and second in the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1).

After running 17th in the Kentucky Derby, Just Steel exited a fifth-place finish in May’s Preakness – second leg of the Triple Crown – with a fracture in his right front leg that required surgery. Just Steel resumed training approximately 60 days ago, Lukas said Tuesday morning.

“He actually looks terrific,” Lukas said. “The time off and everything filled him out. He grew. He’s 17 hands. Now, he’s a man among the rest of these. I’m pretty optimistic that he’s going to have a big year.”

Lukas said he’s unsure when Just Steel will make his comeback. Oaklawn’s biggest two-turn races for older horses include the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) Feb. 22, $500,000 Essex Handicap (G3) March 22, $500,000 Oaklawn Mile (G3) March 29 and the $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 19.

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“We’ll just let him dictate it as we go along,” Lukas said. “He hasn’t had a work yet, so we’ll go from there.”

Just Steel, sired by 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify, has a 2-4-1 record from 13 lifetime starts and earnings of $784,545.

Lemon Muffin, in her two-turn debut, broke her maiden at odds of 28-1 in the $400,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies last February at Oaklawn. She hasn’t won since, a seven-race skid that includes a seventh behind Horse of the Year candidate Thorpedo Anna in the $750,000 Fantasy Stakes (G2) in March at Oaklawn and an eighth behind Thorpedo Anna in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) in May at Churchill Downs.

Lukas said he believes Lemon Muffin’s form is trending upward after she rallied to finish third and second in her last two starts (Sept. 15 and Nov. 13 allowance spots at Churchill Downs).

“She’s doing good,” Lukas said. “Her last race was more like her. We’ll probably stay in our (allowance) conditions with her one more race, at least, before we move up.”

Lukas won 16 races at the 2023-2024 Oaklawn meeting to finish 10th in the standings. One of those victories, a February entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds, came with Seize the Grey, who went on to capture the Preakness and $1 million Pennsylvania Derby (G1) before being retired to stud following an eighth-place finish in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) Nov. 2 at Del Mar.

Seize the Grey marked the seventh Preakness victory for Lukas, 89, who was Oaklawn’s leading trainer in 1987 and 2011.

“Yeah, that made the season,” Lukas said. “I tell you, the summer wasn’t that great. That really helped.”

Lukas is the eighth-winningest trainer in Oaklawn history with 368 victories.

Finish Lines

Innovator is the even-money program favorite for the 5 1/-furlong $150,000 Advent Stakes for 2-year-olds Friday at Oaklawn. The Advent is the first of a single-season Oaklawn record 57 stakes races scheduled to be run in 2024-2025. … Trainer Joe Petalino, who has a small string at Oaklawn, has 995 career North American victories, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization. Petalino has 163 career Oaklawn victories, including 32 in 2000 when he topped the standings. … Two members of Oaklawn’s racing department, Michael Feichtinger and Steven Moyer, swapped positions for the 2024-2025 meeting. Michael Feichtinger is now stakes coordinator after working last season as paddock judge. Moyer, a former trainer, shifted from stakes coordinator to paddock judge.

2024.12.04 OP Stakes Preview.Advent

An accomplished maiden, BC Stables’ Innovator will have another chance to break his maiden in another stakes race Friday at Oaklawn.

Innovator is the even-money program favorite for the $150,000 Advent, a 5 ½-furlong event for 2-year-olds that anchors Oaklawn’s opening-day 10-race program.

Probable post time for the Advent, the ninth race, is 4:14 p.m. (CST). Racing begins at 12:30 p.m. The Advent is the first of a single-season Oaklawn record 57 stakes races scheduled to be run in 2024-2025. The scheduled 65-day season ends May 3.

Innovator is being wheeled back by Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas after a narrow runner-up finish in a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight event Nov. 27 at Churchill Downs. Innovator, making his fifth career start, gabbed the early lead and hugged the rail through the stretch before being tackled late on the outside by heavily favored Barnes, a $3.2 million Into Mischief colt for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.Despite drifting out in the stretch, Barnes prevailed by a head in his career debut.

“I think if (Innovator) would have been closer to the other horse, we would have had a chance to beat him,” Lukas said. “The other horse was so far out there on the racetrack. I don’t think either one of them were competitive when they were finishing. But I think they would have been better head-to-head. I would have liked to have seen what would have happened.”

The winning time over a fast track was a sharp 1:02.97. Both horses received a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 87, which was a career high for Innovator. It was 10 ½ lengths farther back to the third-place finisher.

From the first crop of 2020 Horse of the Year and Kentucky Derby winner Authentic, Innovator was exiting a fifth-place finish in the seven-furlong $300,000 Hopeful Stakes (G1) Sept. 2 at Saratoga.

Lukas said he was already pointing Innovator, a $900,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale graduate, to the Advent before the Nov. 27 allowance race.

“I wish that race had been a little softer,” said Lukas, who won the $400,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) last season at Oaklawn with a maiden, Lemon Muffin. “I didn’t expect Bob to put in a $3 million one in there. I wished the race would have been easier, but I wanted to use it as a prep for this one and I did. How that will turn out, I don’t know. But he bounced back well and everything, so I think he’ll be fine.”

Innovator has finished second two other times while competing against some of the country’s most promising 2-year-olds at Churchill Downs and Saratoga, including Chancer McPatrick, Ferocious, Tough Catch, Owen Almighty and Sandman.

“I’ve sharpened him up for these (5 ½-furlong races),” Lukas said. “I hope that he will be able to carry that speed, his natural speed, over two turns. I’ve got high hopes for him to be a two-turn horse.”

Innovator is scheduled to break from post 5 in the projected six-horse Advent field under two-time defending Oaklawn riding champion Cristian Torres. The 5-2 second choice in the program is Kale’s Angel, who will be making his dirt debut for Southern California-based trainer Peter Miller.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who won last season’s Advent with Valentine Candy, is scheduled to start Three Echoes and Perfect Magic.