2024.12.29 OP Stakes Recap Year’s End; Barn Notes

by Robert Yates

Jenkin; Andrew Stauffer Photo

For Immediate Release

HOT SPRINGS, AR – Arkansas lumberman John Ed Anthony now has two horses on the Kentucky Oaks trail following Jenkin’s three-quarter length victory in the $175,000 Year’s End Stakes for 2-year-old fillies Sunday at Oaklawn.

Jenkin ($10.60) gave trainer Lindsay Schultz her first career Oaklawn stakes victory and the record-extending 296th career Oaklawn victory for Anthony, whose horses now race under the Shortleaf Stable banner.

Jenkin is a stablemate of the John Ortiz-trained Quietside, one of the nation’s top 2-year-old fillies. Quietside is scheduled to make her 3-year-old debut in the $300,000 Martha Washington Stakes Jan. 25, Oaklawn’s first of three Kentucky Oaks qualifying races.

Jenkin, a daughter of 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft, was making her stakes debut in the one-mile Year’s End, which headlined Oaklawn’s third annual card exclusively for 2-year-olds.

Fifth down the backstretch, but within striking distance, Jenkin began creeping toward the lead with a three-wide move late on the second turn and collared front-running You’ll Be Back on the outside in the final sixteenth of a mile.

Jenkin, who was ridden by Francisco Arrieta, ran the mile over a muddy, sealed surface in 1:40.12. You’ll Be Back, who was making her stakes and two-turn debut, held second, 2 ½ lengths ahead of Adeera. Glee, who finished fourth as the 9-5 favorite, was followed, in order, by Kinzie Queen, Mischievous Bria and Itwillbefun. Piggy Tales Up was a late scratch.

Jenkin won for the second time in four starts to raise her earnings to $180,150. She was exiting a maiden special weight victory in her two-turn debut Dec. 6 at Oaklawn.

Like Quietside, Jenkin is a Shortleaf homebred.

Racing resumes Friday at 12:30 p.m. (Central).

YEAR’S END QUOTES

Winning jockey Francisco Arrieta (Jenkin): “I wanted to get a better position (early). I used her a little bit out of the gate to get a good position, but they were going quicker than I thought, so I just sat. I couldn’t keep going with them. She seemed like she didn’t like the dirt. When I put her in the clear, she started moving and kept coming. She did a great job.”

Winning trainer Lindsay Schultz (Jenkin): “That filly, I think she’ll appreciate all the distance she can get and she certainly seems progressive. She’s improved with every race. Mr. Anthony has a couple of nice 2-year-old fillies. So, it’s a good situation he’s in.”

Runner-up trainer Tom Amoss (You’ll Be Back): “It was her first try two turns and she was pretty keen down the backside. She’s never done it before and it will serve her well to relax better next time at the two-turn distance.”

A field of eight was entered Sunday for the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 4, a 1 1/16-mile event that begins Oaklawn’s “Road to the Kentucky Derby.”

The Smarty Jones will highlight a 10-race program that also features the six-furlong $150,000 Mockingbird Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Probable post time for the Smarty Jones, the ninth race, is 3:55 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at noon.

The Smarty Jones field from the rail out: Kale’s Angel, Ramon Vazquez to ride, 119 pounds; Hot Gunner, Harry Hernandez, 117; Optical, Axel Concepcion, 117; Bon Temps, Martin Garcia, 117; Mo Quality, Junior Alvarado, 117; Hot Property, Flavien Prat, 117; Curvino, Francisco Arrieta, 117; and Coal Battle, Juan Vargas, 122.

The Smarty Jones will offer 21 total points (10-5-3-2-1, respectively) to the top five finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby.

Unbeaten Hot Property (1 for 1) will try to give trainer Brad Cox his fourth Smarty Jones victory in the last five years. Hot Property was a front-running 3 ¾-length winner of his Nov. 24 debut at Fair Grounds going 1 1/16-miles.

Coal Battle exits a half-length victory in the $300,000 Remington Springboard Mile Dec. 13 at Remington Park for trainer Lonnie Briley. Kale’s Angel won the 5 ½-furlong $150,000 Advent Stakes Dec. 6 at Oaklawn for trainer Peter Miller.

Bon Temps, a two-race maiden, is a supplemental nominee for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

Mystik Dan ran fifth in the 2024 Smarty Jones Stakes before winning the Kentucky Derby.

Arrieta Reaches 1,000

It was worth the wait for Oaklawn-based jockey Francisco Arrieta, who recorded his 1,000th career North American victory in Saturday’s first race, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization.

Arrieta reached the milestone aboard Eternally Grateful ($10.80), who edged Truculent by a head in the one-mile starter allowance, which was delayed 42 minutes because of rain and thunder and, ultimately, the only race run Saturday. Arrieta rode the front-running Eternally Grateful for co-owner/trainer Scott Becker.

“That was awesome,” Arrieta said Sunday morning. “I think that (delay) really helped the horse, too. He warmed up good. He’s a big horse. He was excited, jumped and kept going.”

Eternally Grateful was the 255th career Oaklawn victory for Arrieta, 36, a native of Venezuela who began riding in the United States in 2012. Arrieta has been an Oaklawn regular since the 2021 meeting and was its co-leading rider in 2021-2022 with 62 victories.

Arrieta is represented by agent Jay Fedor, who took the jockey’s book after cold calling him shortly before the 2021 Oaklawn meeting began. Arrieta was then based at Fair Grounds.

“I started getting a lot of opportunities,” Arrieta said of hiring Fedor and relocating to Oaklawn. “I was a great opportunity that I had with Jay. I was in New Orleans and he called me and offered me a good opportunity and I took it.”

Arrieta rode his first United States winner in 2015 at the Meadowlands. In addition to Oaklawn, Arrieta has been the leading rider at Turf Paradise and Canterbury Park. He now makes Oaklawn and Kentucky his year-round circuit.

Citing weather conditions, Oaklawn canceled the remainder of Saturday’s scheduled 10-race card. Saturday’s feature, the $175,000 Tinsel Stakes, was moved to Jan 5. The 1 1/8-mile Tinsel will be redrawn Monday.