One Liner powers to victory in the Southwest Stakes

After a strong stretch run by One Liner to win the $500,000 Southwest (G3) at Oaklawn Park, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher now has a legitimate contender for the 2017 Kentucky Derby. The son of Into Mischief, who is owned by WinStar Farm and the China Horse Club, kept his record perfect with three victories when he drew off to win by 3½ lengths.

Over the past few years it has become more and more common for Pletcher to have lightly raced horses heading onto the Kentucky Derby Trail and One Liner is no exception. This $150,000 Keeneland January yearling purchase broke his maiden at first asking on the second day of the Saratoga meeting. He did not race again until Jan. 26 of this year in a first level allowance race at Gulfstream Park.

The start in the Southwest was a lot to ask of a colt who was making his third career start, had never gone two turns, and was shipping to Oaklawn from Pletcher’s winter base at Palm Beach Downs training center. One Liner’s dam, Cayala, had just one win while racing in Germany and this is her first foal.

Jockey John Velazquez, who has ridden One Liner in all of his races picked up his first win in the Southwest Stakes today, said, “He it did a lot better than I thought, only being his first time going two turns and only run once this year. For him to keep running the way he did and it seemed like he had a lot more left.”

As the gates opened for the mile and a sixteenth, Channing Hill gunned Uncontested to the lead on the rail just as he had done in his win in the Smarty Jones last month and they opened up a two-length lead over Petrov and Jose Ortiz. Velazquez was content to sit just to the outside of Warrior’s Club in fourth position. In the early going, One Liner was just three–lengths behind the leaders.

“The plan was very basic, to try and come out running and then try and save him [One Liner] for the end,” said Velazquez. “I didn’t want to rush him too much and be head and head with the two other horses in front. He broke really well and going into the first turn he relaxed and he was kind of pricking his ears and not even paying attention.”

Uncontested held the lead through the first half-mile while going 22.93 and 46.55. The early fractions were fast, but not faster than in the Smarty Jones. After six furlongs had been run in 1:10.98, the leader was challenged by Petrov, who had been right behind him the whole way. Uncontested faded badly at this point and Petrov inherited the lead, but it was One Liner who was running the best. He made his move down the middle of the track and drew off easily to get the win.

Velazquez continued, “At the three-eights pole I had to get a little aggressive with him and let him know that he had to get busy. Once he got close to the two horses in front he got aggressive and competitive. From there I was comfortable and I knew he was running well enough.”

Uncontested, who ended the day in sixth place, was the even money favorite based on his 5¼ length victory in the Smarty Jones. That race; however, was run on a very sloppy track. All week the weather forecasts for the Hot Springs area called for heavy rains, but the rain did not materialize and Uncontested found himself on a dry and fast race track.

The final time for the Southwest was 1:41.85, which was only .88 seconds slower than the time from Gun Runner’s impressive win in the Razorback Handicap two races earlier on the card. One Liner picked up 10 Kentucky Derby points and $300,000 in purse money. His career stats now stand at 3: 3-0-0 with $373,800 in earnings.

Petrov finished second and was eight lengths ahead of Lookin At Lee who closed from tenth position to get third. Silver Dust finished fourth to get the final Derby point. One Liner, who was the 3.40-1 second choice, paid $8.80, 5.40, 3.40 across the board. Petrov got four Derby points and completed the $2 exacta of $53.20. Lookin At Lee earned two points and completed a 50¢ trifecta that returned $69.45.

Pletcher, who was not on-hand for his first win in the Southwest, said by phone, “I’m very pleased with his race. He handled things very professionally. He shipped and settled in well. It looked like he finished strong and may have left something in reserve, which is encouraging. He had shown a lot in his training before he even debuted at Saratoga, so we weren’t surprised that he won at first asking. We had to give him some time after that race because of some baby issues, but he came back very good and has been training good, so we were confident in him. At this point I’d say everything is in play (for next race). We’ll discuss it with the connections. We still have time for two more races if that’s the path he continues on.”