2025.06.10 Oaklawn Racing Update

Racing Press Release
Compiled by Robert Yates

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

A year after producing the Kentucky Derby winner, one of Oaklawn’s biggest stakes races for 3-year-olds is making the grade again.

Oaklawn’s $1 million G3-Southwest, run Jan. 25, spawned two more stakes winners last weekend in Patch Adams for trainer Brad Cox and Gaming for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

Favored Patch Adams scored a 2 ¼-length victory in the seven-furlong $500,000 G1-Woody Stephens Saturday at Saratoga. The accomplished Gaming snapped a lengthy streak in the 8 ½-furlong $100,000 Affirmed Sunday at Santa Anita.

The Woody Stephens marked the first career stakes victory for Patch Adams ($8.80), a son of Into Mischief who races for his breeder, WinStar Farm, and China Horse Club. Patch Adams made his stakes and two-turn debut in the 1 1/16-mile Southwest, finishing fourth as the 4-5 favorite.

Patch Adams fell off the Kentucky Derby trail following a fourth-place finish in the 8 ½-furlong $400,000 G3-Tampa Bay Derby March 8. He resurfaced with an allowance victory sprinting May 3 at Churchill Downs in the race immediately following the Kentucky Derby. Patch Adams pulled away late in the Woody Stephens after chasing a :44.40 half-mile. The winning time over a muddy surface was 1:21.36. Madaket Road, who finished second in Oaklawn’s $1.25 million G2-Rebel Stakes Feb. 23, finished second.

Patch Adams, who was ridden by Luis Saez, raised his career earnings to $497,585 following his third victory from six starts.

Gaming was a finalist for an Eclipse Award as North America’s champion 2-year-old male after winning his first two starts, including the seven-furlong $300,000 G1-Del Mar Futurity Sept. 8 at Del Mar. But Gaming lost his next five starts, including an eighth in the Southwest when he was rank early and a second as the even-money favorite in the $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes March 30 at Oaklawn.

Gaming ($5) bounced back in the Affirmed under Hector Berrios, controlling the pace from the start to win by 1 ¾ lengths. The winning time for 1 1/16 miles over a fast track was 1:41.92. From the first crop of champion Game Winner, Gaming has a 3-2-2 record from eight lifetime starts and earnings of $771,000.

Patch Adams and Gaming became the fourth and fifth stakes winners to emerge from the Southwest, which was Oaklawn’s second Kentucky Derby qualifying race. The nine-horse Southwest field also included runner-up Sandman, third-place finisher Tiztastic and seventh-place finisher American Promise.

American Promise ($500,000 Virginia Derby March 15 at Colonial Downs) and Tiztastic ($1 million G2-Louisiana Derby March 22 at Fair Grounds) returned to win major Kentucky Derby preps. After finishing third in the Rebel, Sandman won the $1.5 million G1-Arkansas Derby. The Rebel and Arkansas Derby were Oaklawn’s third and fourth Kentucky Derby qualifying races, respectively.

Mystik Dan swept the Southwest and Kentucky Derby in 2024.

Finish Lines

Oaklawn allowance winner Indy Bay ($6.50) captured the six-furlong $150,000 Jerey Girl Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Sunday at Saratoga. … Oaklawn-raced Look Forward finished second in the nine-furlong $500,000 G1-Acorn Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Friday at Saratoga. … Oaklawn-raced Mullikin finished second in the $400,000 G3-True North Stakes Saturday at Saratoga. … Multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Coal Battle finished third in the $400,000 G3-Matt Winn Stakes Sunday at Churchill Downs. … Oaklawn-raced Jody’s Pride ran third in the $300,000 G2-Bed o’ Roses Stakes Friday at Saratoga.