2025.12.28 Oaklawn Racing Updates

Racing Updates
Compiled by Robert Yates

Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025

Oaklawn’s fourth-annual all-2-year-old day was more like Mark Casse’s day.

Casse, the Florida-based dual Hall of Fame trainer, won three of the 10 races Saturday, including the one-mile $150,000 Year’s End Stakes for fillies.

All three of Casse’s winners – Search Party ($5.60) and French Friction ($8.40) in maiden special weight events for fillies and Counting Stars ($4.40) in the Year’s End – were favored and rolled home by six lengths.

“It was incredible for us, for reasons you probably don’t even know,” Casse said by phone, moments after the Year’s End.

Casse was referring to fallout from his first Oaklawn triple, which helped propel his vast stable to a career high for overall victories in 2025 (236) and crack $23 million in North American purse earnings for the first time, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization.

Casse, who started his first horse in 1979, won 235 races in 2016. He had set his previous yearly high for purse earnings ($17,946,005) in 2016.

The Year’s End marked the two-turn debut for Counting Stars, a daughter of Honor A. P. Ridden by Francisco Arrieta, Counting Stars became the meet’s first two-time stakes winner after Casse wheeled her back in 13 days off a sharp victory in the inaugural $135,000 Astral Spa Stakes at 6 furlongs Dec. 14.

Counting Stars races for West Point Thoroughbreds (Terry Finley), which purchased her for $150,000 at the OBS Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in training.

“We worked her with Ewing early on and she gave Ewing all he wanted,” Casse said, referring to unbeaten Grade 2-winning colt. “So, we knew at that time that she was something special because we knew Ewing was special himself. Very rewarding day and a lot to look forward to. The nice thing, too, is it was done with different owners.”

Search Party, a daughter of 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner, kicked off Casse’s party in the second race for breeder/owner Tracy Farmer. The victory in the 1 1/16-mile race under two-time Oaklawn riding champion Cristian Torres was noteworthy, Casse said, because the first horse he ever purchased for Farmer was Devious Charm, Search Party’s dam. Search Party was making her fifth career start. Her winning time of 1:45.01 over a fast track was more than a second quicker than maiden special weight males ran in the third race.

French Friction, going six furlongs, made her career debut in the seventh race for owner D. J. Stable (Jonathan and Leonard Green), which purchased the daughter of millionaire multiple Grade 1 winner City of Light for $250,000 at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Torres was also aboard French Friction, who has been an Oaklawn workmate of La Cara, Casse’s multiple Grade 1-winning 3-year-old filly.

A half-hour after French Friction’s victory, Counting Stars was a flashy winner of the Year’s End.

“What’s nice is all these fillies started at our training center and we considered all three of these above average,” Casse said. “To see them go an achieve what we saw six months ago, it’s very rewarding for our entire team.”

Casse said Counting Stars will be pointed to the $300,000 Martha Washington Stakes Jan. 31 at Oaklawn. The 1 1/16-mile Martha Washington is Oaklawn’s first of three qualifying races for the Kentucky Oaks (G1), the country’s biggest prize for 3-year-old fillies. Search Party could head to the Martha Washington, Casse said, with French Friction ticketed for a two-turn allowance race.

Caden Arthur, who oversees the Casse’s Oaklawn division, saddled Saturday’s winners. All three horses exited their victories in good order, Arthur said Sunday morning.

Ewing Fires a Bullet

Unbeaten 2-year-old Ewing recorded his first workout at Oaklawn since arriving Monday, breezing a half-mile in :47.40 Sunday morning for dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. The time equaled the fastest time recorded at the distance.

Under Prairie Meadows and Will Rogers Downs riding champion Kylee Jordan, Ewing breezed over a fast track during the special 15-minute workers-only session immediately after the surface renovation break. Ewing worked with stablemate Classic Car Wash, a graded stakes-placed 5-year-old gelding.

Ewing hooked, then passed, multiple other workers during the breeze, which went from the half-mile pole to the regular finish line.

“A group in front of him broke off and he kind of just wanted to go with them,” said assistant trainer Caden Arthur, who oversees Casse’s Oaklawn division. “He’s a racehorse. He wanted to pass them. He wanted to be in front and he did that with ease. Kylee was just trying to take it easy with him and she did a good job trying to manage that. He looked great going by.”

Ewing (two-for-two) is unraced since the Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) at 6 ½ furlongs Aug. 2 at Saratoga. Casse has indicated Ewing, from the crop of 2021 Horse of the Year Knicks Go, could make his 3-year-old debut in a January allowance sprint, which would be a bridge to a Kentucky Derby points race.

Before departing for Oaklawn, Ewing worked three furlongs in :36.20 Dec. 17 at Casse’s Florida training center.

Coal(ed) as Ice

Different color, different distance, same result.

Odds-on favorite She’s So Coal was a front-running 12-length winner of Saturday’s fifth race, a $100,000 Arkansas-bred maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies at 1 mile, for trainer Lindsay Schultz and breeder/owner Eugenia Thompson-Benight of Sheridan, Ark.

She’s So Coal is a full sister to Haulin Ice, 4, who is now the leading accredited Arkansas-bred money winner in history ($998,250) after making her first five starts, all in 2024 at Oaklawn, for Schultz and Thompson-Benight.

Haulin Ice, a sprinter throughout her career, is gray. She’s So Coal, one-for-one around two turns, is a dark bay.

“She’s got a little bit more length to her, but she certainly trains forward,” Schultz said Sunday morning.

She’s So Coal debuted in a Nov. 13 maiden special weight sprint at Churchill Downs, finishing ninth at odds of 42-1. Although Oaklawn’s first condition book has been out for several months, Schultz said Saturday’s race wasn’t specifically targeted.

“We’ve just been pointing for this meet,” Schultz said. “We got a race in her at Churchill and timewise, it just kind worked out better. Kind of get her down here and get a few works over the track.”

Under Francisco Arrieta, who has ridden Haulin Ice, to multiple Oaklawn stakes victories, She’s So Coal ($3.60) went straight to the front from post 6 and opened a six-length lead through three-quarters in 1:12.61. She’s So Coal completed 1 mile over a fast track in 1:40.19.

“She’s quick,” Schultz said.

Haulin Ice and She’s So Coal are both by millionaire Oaklawn stakes winner Coal Front out of the Half Ours mare, She’s Smoke.

Schultz said next-race plans are pending for She’s So Coal, but she will “probably” return to sprinting.

Nine in Smarty Jones

Nine horses were entered Sunday morning for the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds Jan. 3.

The Smarty Jones headlines an 11-race card that begins at noon (Central). Probable post time for the Smarty Jones, the 10th race, is 4:25 p.m.

The 1 1/16-mile Smarty Jones is Oaklawn’s first of four Kentucky Derby qualifying races and will offer 21 total points (10-5-3-2-1, respectively) toward starting eligibility for the first leg of the Triple Crown.

Smarty Jones entrants from the rail out: Universe, Joel Rosario to ride, 117 pounds; Baytown Dreamer, Orlando Bocachica, 117; Boca Beach Club, Luis Saez, 117; Silent Tactic, Jaime Torres, 117; Rancho Santa Fe, Florent Geroux, 119; Oscar’s Hope, Ricardo Santana Jr., 122; Strategic Risk, Javier Castellano, 119; Scar Ship, Ramon Vazquez, 117; and Sleepingonfreedom, Brian Hernandez Jr., 117.

Universe has competed against some of the country’s top 2-year-olds, finishing third in the Champagne Stakes (G1) at one mile Oct. 4 at Aqueduct, second in the Street Sense Stakes (G3) Oct. 26 at Churchill Downs and second in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) Nov. 29 at Churchill Downs. The Street Sense and Kentucky Jockey Club were both 1 1/16 miles.

McPeek and Universe’s co-owner, 4 G Racing (Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway), teamed to win the 2024 Kentucky Derby with Mystik Dan, who ran fifth in the Smarty Jones.

Unbeaten Rancho Santa Fe, a half-brother to millionaire Grade 3 winner Heroic Move, will be making his stakes debut after winning his first two starts in Kentucky.

Strategic Risk, in his last start, was a nine-length winner of the restricted Florida Sire In Reality Stakes at 1 1/16 miles Nov. 29 at Gulfstream Park.

The Smarty Jones will mark the dirt debut for Silent Tactic, who exits a runner-up finish in the Grey Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Nov. 2 over Woodbine’s synthetic surface.

Scar Ship adds blinkers for trainer Ricky Courville, who teamed with Vazquez to produce one of the biggest pari-mutuel stakes upsets in Oaklawn history with one-eyed Un Ojo ($152.80) in the 2022 Rebel Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds.

Oaklawn’s Kentucky Derby qualifying series continues with the $1 million Southwest Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 31, $1 million Rebel (G2) at 1 1/16 miles March 1 and the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1) at 1 1/8 miles March 28.

Finish Lines

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen won his 1,000th Oaklawn race Sunday with Duke of Duval in the fourth race. Duke of Duval was ridden by Asmussen’s son, Erik. … Promising apprentice jockey Amir Mendoza recorded two victories Saturday, pushing his total to six through the first eight days of racing. Mendoza won the first race aboard Sir Henry Oliver ($13.80) for trainer Randy Morse and the fourth race aboard Six String Prince ($18.40) for trainer Ron Moquett of Hot Springs. Sir Henry Oliver represented Mendoza’s 40th career victory, state steward James Lages said, reducing the jockey’s apprentice weight allowance from seven pounds to five pounds. Lages said Mendoza’s first 35 recognized victories were in his native Panama. Mendoza, 21, will have a five-pound apprentice weight allowance for the remainder of the 2025-2026 Oaklawn meeting, Lages said. Six String Prince, Moquett’s 378th career Oaklawn winner, marked Mendoza’s first mount with a five-pound weight allowance. … Standoutsensation received a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 85 for her victory in Friday’s $150,000 Pippin Stakes for fillies and mares, 3 and up, at 1 1/16 miles.