2025.04.03 Oaklawn Racing Updates

Racing Press Release
Compiled by Robert Yates

Thursday, April 3, 2025

Many of breeder/owner John Ed Anthony’s best horses, including Cox’s Ridge, Pine Bluff and Eclipse Award winners Temperence Hill, Vanlandingham and Prairie Bayou, were named after people or places in his native Arkansas.

Anthony made a detour with his latest success story.

The inspiration behind the name of Kentucky Oaks contender Quietside is a vacation home Anthony and his wife, Isabel, have in Northeast Harbor, Maine, which is on Mount Desert Island. The island’s largest town, Bar Harbor, is described by Anthony’s son, Steven, as “very busy, touristy.”

“That part of the island away from (Bar Harbor) is the “quiet side,” Anthony said.

Quietside made a lot of noise for John Ed Anthony Saturday at Oaklawn, capturing the $750,000 Fantasy Stakes (G2), a major Kentucky Oaks prep, by three-quarters of a length over previously unbeaten Simply Joking.

The 1 1/16-mile Fantasy was the record 40th career Oaklawn stakes victory for Anthony, 86, the Arkansas lumberman whose horses now race under the Shortleaf Stable banner. The late John Franks, a four-time Eclipse Award winner as North America’s outstanding owner, had 39 career Oaklawn stakes victories, the last coming in 2000.

“Well, of course, this takes a while to get it done,” Anthony, the winningest owner in Oaklawn history, said moments after Quietside’s victory. “It’s been a grand experience to race here for 50-plus years. Just glad that my family (was here). Gosh, I’ve got grandkids and I think I’ve even got a couple of great-grandkids here. Oaklawn’s been a fun place for my family for 50-plus years.”

Anthony’s first of 299 Oaklawn victories, to date, was Feb. 16, 1972. Anthony recorded his first Oaklawn stakes victory March 18, 1978, with Cox’s Ridge in the Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses at 1 1/16 miles.

Cox’s Ridge was Anthony’s first nationally prominent horse. His latest is Quietside, a homebred daughter of the late Malibu Moon out of Benner Island, a Grade 2 winner for Shortleaf who finished fifth in the 2017 Fantasy.

Quietside was among the nation’s top 2-year-old fillies after finishing second in the $300,000 Spinaway Stakes (G1) Aug. 31 at Saratoga, third in the $600,000 Alcibiades Stakes (G1) Oct. 4 at Keeneland and second in the $400,000 Golden Rod Stakes (G2) Nov. 30 at Churchill Downs. The Alcibiades and Golden Rod were 1 1/16 miles.

Quietside scored her breakthrough stakes victory in the $500,000 Honeybee (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 23 at Oaklawn and edged Simply Joking in the Fantasy under Jose Ortiz. Quietside, on the outside, stalked front-running Simply Joking much of the way before finally gaining a narrow advantage approaching the eighth pole. The 3-5 favorite, Quietside ($3.20) ran 1 1/16 miles over a fast track in 1:44.31. She received a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 91, a career high.

“Honestly, the only instructions I gave to Jose was don’t get her dirty,” trainer John Ortiz said Sunday morning. “So, he did a good job of keeping her in the clear. That was literally the only instructions I gave him.”

The Fantasy was John Ortiz’s most lucrative career victory to date and another Oaklawn milestone triumph when teaming with Anthony.

Anthony became the winningest owner in Oaklawn history (270 victories) when the Ortiz-trained Rolling Fork captured an Arkansas-bred allowance race Feb. 26, 2022. Ortiz’s 100th career Oaklawn victory came March 9, 2024, with Black Apple, another Shortleaf homebred.

“It’s so good to accomplish these milestones with Mr. John Ed,” Ortiz said. “To be a part of his history, his career, it’s an honor to be mentioned as one of his trainers, and he’s had plenty of great trainers in his lifetime. To be one that helped him reach these milestones, it’s an honor. I feel privileged to be around him.”

Anthony amassed 172 Oaklawn victories racing as Loblolly Stable (dissolved in the mid-1990s). Quietside was Anthony’s 127th Oaklawn winner as Shortleaf.

Quietside is now based at Keeneland, where she will continue preparations for the $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks (G1) May 2 at Churchill Downs. The 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks is the country’s biggest race for 3-year-old fillies.

Quietside ranks No. 1 on the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard with 168 points. She has a 3-3-1 record from seven lifetime starts and earnings of $957,200.

Anthony also won the Fantasy in 1993 with Aztec Hill, a Loblolly homebred who finished seventh in the Kentucky Oaks in her next start.

Corningstone Update

Multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Corningstone is training at Keeneland in preparation for her yet-to-be determined next start, trainer Kenny McPeek said.

Corningstone is unraced since a fifth-place finish in the $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 8 at Oaklawn. She won her two other starts at the meeting, taking the one-mile $150,000 Mistletoe Stakes Dec. 14 and the 8 ½-furlong $150,000 Pippin Stakes miles Jan. 19.

“We decided to give her a break,” McPeek said. “Didn’t want to try to chase the 4-and up division with Thorpedo Anna and she’s back in training at Keeneland, with maybe some plans to look at some Grade 3, listed-type stakes for the summer and, hopefully, back here next winter.”

Corningstone, a 5-year-old Indiana-bred daughter of Kantharos, has an 8-6-4 record from 24 lifetime starts and earnings of $766,318. She is a five-time stakes winner, with the first three coming against state-bred company at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

McPeek also trains 2024 Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna, who is scheduled to make her next start in the $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles April 12 at Oaklawn.

Finish Lines

Racing is scheduled to resume Friday at 12:45 p.m. (Central). … Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen enters Friday with a record 981 career Oaklawn victories. Asmussen had a triple last Sunday, including the $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes for 3-year-olds at one mile with Clever Again ($4.40) and the inaugural $145,000 Southern Hospitality Overnight Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs with favored Miss Martini ($5.80). Amussen has an Oaklawn-record 121 career stakes victories. … Jockey Walter De La Cruz rode two winners last Sunday, pushing his career Oaklawn total to 194. De La Cruz won the third race aboard Singing Emma ($24.20) for trainer F. Dewaine Loy and the fifth race aboard Saranac Lake ($14.40) for trainer Ronnie E. Cravens III. … Entries will be accepted and post positions drawn Sunday for two stakes races April 12 at Oaklawn – $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles and the $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) for older horses at six furlongs.