Oaklawn Barn Notes: Trainer Norm McKnight Arrives for First Meet at Oaklawn

By Jennifer Hoyt —-

Trainer Norm McKnight Arrives for First Meet at Oaklawn

Trainer Norm McKnight, the newly minted leading trainer at Woodbine, arrived in Hot Springs along with 24 horses Dec. 16 for his first meet at Oaklawn; Stakes winner Smack Smack will resume training after the first of the year in preparation for his quest to reach $1 million in earnings; Stakes winner Someday Soon is pointing toward the Pippin Stakes Jan. 13.

Among the high-profile training newcomers for the 2018 Oaklawn meet scheduled to begin Jan. 12 is newly minted Woodbine kingpin Norman McKnight, whose Canadian contingent arrived Saturday.

McKnight is riding the wave of his first Woodbine training title, when he won five races on the Dec. 10 closing-day card to finish with 99 victories, three more than perennial champion Mark Casse.

“That was kind of a magical day, that was,” McKnight said Tuesday morning in his office in the new Afleet Alex barn.

McKnight said his 24-horse Oaklawn string is heavy on claimers, ranging from the “bottom level” ($6,250 is new minimum at Oaklawn) to $60,000.

“We have a couple of nice horses,” said McKnight, who plans to be active at the claim box. “We might have or two stakes horses.”

The trainer’s most accomplished runner is Scotty’s Model, who had won three consecutive races before finishing second, beaten a head, in the $175,000 Bessarabian Stakes (G2) Nov. 26 at Woodbine in her last start.McKnight said Scotty’s Model is pointing for the $125,000 Pippin Stakes for older fillies and mares Jan. 13 at Oaklawn.

Another horse to watch, McKnight said, is Inge, a 2-year-old Victor’s Cry gelding claimed out of a Dec. 2 sprint at Woodbine for $40,000. Inge ran third in the $125,000 Bull Page Stakes Oct. 9 at Woodbine.

Both Scotty’s Model and Inge are owned by McKnight’s main client, Bruno Schickedanz.

McKnight said he normally gives his horses a break during the winter, but decided to test the waters at Oaklawn for the first time because of his recent business trajectory. He set Woodbine career highs for starts (305), victories (99), purse earnings ($2,109,047) and winning percentage (a gaudy 32.5) this year. Most previous bests at the Canadian track came in 2016.

“A lot of the clients were looking to not lay up all the horses like we typically do at home,” McKnight said. “Rather than to lose the business, I thought I would resource somewhere to go. We looked at two or three different racetracks and this one seemed to be the best fit for our horses as far as purse money versus competition with the type of horses that we have.”

McKnight, a former Standardbred trainer and driver, has 507 North American victories since starting his first horse in 1995, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization.

Smack Talk

Multiple stakes winner Smack Smack’s pursuit of $1 million in career earnings should resume at Oaklawn, but it won’t be an early chase, trainer Don Von Hemel of Hot Springs said Tuesday morning.

Von Hemel said Smack Smack was turned out at owner/breeder Toby Keith’s Oklahoma farm following a fourth-place finish in a July 13 allowance race at Prairie Meadows and won’t arrive at Oaklawn until after New Year’s Day.

Smack Smack ($982,159) is trying to become the first millionaire for Von Hemel, 83, Oaklawn’s leading trainer in 1981.

“I told Pope it will probably be toward the end of the meet before I run him here because he’s had a good long rest,” Von Hemel said, referring to racing secretary Pat Pope. “He’s only $18,000 shy of $1 million now. That’s our goal.”

Von Hemel said he decided to stop on Smack Smack, a 6-year-old Closing Argument gelding, after a couple of disappointing starts last summer in Iowa

Smack Smack began 2017 with a runner-up finish in Oaklawn’s $125,000 Fifth Season Stakes for older horses. Overall, Smack Smack has a 10-7-8 record from 36 career starts.

Someday Coming Soon

Trainer Will VanMeter has already mapped out an early season game plan for Tommy Ligon’s Someday Soon, a 3-year-old Proud Citizen filly who hasn’t started since winning the $75,000 Tomboy Stakes May 14 at Belterra Park.

VanMeter is pointing Someday Soon for the $125,000 Pippin Stakes Jan. 13 at Oaklawn. The trainer said he hopes to use the Pippin as a stepping stone to the $150,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) Feb. 17, Oaklawn’s second of four major two-turn races for older fillies and mares.

“Nothing particularly wrong,” VanMeter said of Someday Soon’s lengthy break from racing. “But Mr. Ligon’s hope was to win a graded stake with her. I think she likes this track. We’re hopeful to kind of bring her down here and run in these two stakes early and try to accomplish that goal.”

Someday Soon was a front-running 3 ¾-length entry-level allowance/optional claiming winner last February at Oaklawn in her 3-year-old debut.

After finishing eighth in the $200,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) – the key race of the 2017 Oaklawn meeting – Someday Soon finished a strong third in the $500,000 Ashland Stakes (G1) last April at Keeneland before recording her first career stakes victory in the Tomboy.

VanMeter said Dutch Parrot, a two-time winner at the 2017 Oaklawn meeting, received approximately 90 days off following a fifth-place finish in her last start, the $200,000 Indiana Oaks (G3) July 15 at Indiana Grand.

VanMeter said Dutch Parrot, a 3-year-old Arkansas-bred daughter of Eskendereya, has had three works this month in advance of her 2018 debut, possibly a state-bred allowance race in late January.

The first major 2018 objective for Dutch Parrot, VanMeter said, is the $100,000 Downthedustyroad Breeders’ Stakes for Arkansas-bred female sprinters Feb. 24.

Dutch Parrot races for her breeder, John Ed Anthony of Hot Springs.

Finish Lines

The track was rated fast for workouts Tuesday morning. … There were more than 700 horses on the grounds Tuesday morning. Among the latest arrivals is 2017 Kentucky Derby runner-up Lookin At Lee for eight-time Oaklawn training champion Steve Asmussen. Lookin At Lee ran three times at the 2017 Oaklawn meeting, finishing third in the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1). … Multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Marquee Miss recorded a half-mile work (:48.40) over a fast track Sunday morning for trainer Ingrid Mason. … Ministry, winner of Oaklawn’s $100,000 Rainbow Miss Stakes for 3-year-old fillies in 2017, recorded a 5-furlong bullet work (1:00) Sunday morning for trainer Jaime Gonzalez. Ministry’s first major 2018 objective is the $100,000 Downthedustyroad Breeders’ Stakes for Arkansas-bred female sprinters Feb. 24, owner Linda Robbins said.