Endorsed, Candy Tycoon in 6 must-watch Oaklawn races
Upon the conclusion of Oaklawn Park’s meet this weekend, racing on major circuits in the midwest will halt, at least until Churchill Downs in Kentucky receives approval to open its stable areas and run behind closed doors.
That’s reflected in the entries with stakes-quality horses landing in lower-level races, making for some must-watch events through Saturday. Here are the ones you won’t want to miss.
RELATED: Oaklawn Park entries and odds
Thursday’s eighth race at Oaklawn Park (5:38 p.m. ET)
Fighting Mad, away since becoming a graded winner of Del Mar’s Torrey Pines (G3) last August, will make her 4-year-old debut in this one-mile allowance optional claimer for older fillies and mares. The daughter of New Year’s Day is a speedy Gary and Mary West homebred who has missed the board just once in five starts.
The hot Oaklawn combo of trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Martin Garcia converge again here as other graded winners Vexatious and Blamed challenge, along with Letruska, a Group 1 winner in Mexico now campaigning in the U.S. Letruska has won eight of her nine starts, including an April 16 allowance at Oaklawn.
According to the morning line, however, the 7-2 rail rider Vault is the one to beat. The 4-year-old filly won Laurel Park’s Nov. 30 Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes last out and has switched to the high-percentage Brad Cox barn for her season debut.
Thursday’s ninth race at Oaklawn Park (6:09 p.m. ET)
In this six-furlong allowance event for horses 3 and up, it’s the lone sophomore they’ll most have to worry about. McLean Robertson could have entered Marvin in last Saturday’s Bachelor Stakes but instead landed on this spot for a Cross Traffic colt who has knocked on the door all throughout the meet.
Marvin faced winners since breaking his maiden back in November at Hawthorne and has gone on to finish third, then post three runner-ups, against his age group at Oaklawn. Shared Sense, Big Returns and Shashashakemeup topped those most recent flights, either dropping out of stakes or moving up toward them.
In an overflow field of 12, Marvin may have a difficult assignment breaking from the No. 11 hole. He’ll have Alex Canchari in the irons.
Friday’s 10th race at Oaklawn Park (6:38 p.m. ET)
After the Gardenia Stakes (Race 8) and Fantasy Stakes (Race 9) for 3-year-old fillies, the older females will gather up for the finale including La Chancla. The 4-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo was last seen leaving the gate as one of the Charles Town Oaks (G3) top choices last September but languishing to an eighth-place finish in a field of nine once bothered in the first turn.
Certainly better than she showed that day, LNJ Foxwoods’ La Chancla returns to the races here newly trained by Steve Asmussen, who takes over for Rodolphe Brisset after the $775,000 filly broke her maiden last summer at Belmont Park and defeated winners in allowance company at Saratoga.
This appears to be a well-matched field with Wholehearted a last out stakes winner for the high-percentage Robertino Diodoro barn. She won Will Rogers Downs’ Wilma Mankiller on April 6, pushing a streak of board-hitting finishes to seven straight races.
Saturday’s fifth race at Oaklawn Park (3:10 p.m. ET)
In what could qualify as a Grade 3 stakes on any other day, this 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claimer for horses 4 and up packs in multiple horses who couldn’t quite crack the Oaklawn Handicap (G2) field later in the card.
Among them: Long Range Toddy going second off the layoff for new trainer Dallas Stewart; Two Thirty Five, who’s Grade 2-placed at Santa Anita Park this season and won an Oaklawn allowance on April 19; Bankit, who has competed in 16 straight stakes with two wins and a number of placings; and Pirate’s Punch, an improving type from the Grant Forster barn.
That’s not to mention Endorsed, a former Kiaran McLaughlin trainee now with Bill Mott. The 4-year-old Godolphin homebred son of Medaglia d’Oro, fourth in the Travers Stakes (G1) in 2019, has so far this season won his comeback allowance at Gulfstream Park before finishing fifth most recently in the Santa Anita Handicap (G1).
Saturday’s seventh race at Oaklawn Park (4:16 p.m. ET)
Gamine lived up to her odds-on favoritism on debut March 7 at Santa Anita Park. She’ll have to overcome a bit more than last time when she leads this allowance optional claimer for 3-year-old fillies.
Trained by Baffert, the $1.8 million purchase as a 2-year-old in training had to defeat just three rivals first out and did so going 6 1/2 furlongs. Now, the daughter of Into Mischief is in as part of an overflow field going 1 1/16 miles.
Gamine will have Garcia aboard — again, he and Baffert have been lights out as of late — from post No. 8. Also notable in the field are Speech, a runner-up to the well-regarded Donna Veloce last out on the west coast, and Kiss the Girl, an allowance winner earlier in this meet stretching out for the Asmussen barn.
Saturday’s 10th race at Oaklawn Park (5:45 p.m. ET)
A number of colts in this overflow field of 3-year-olds have either tested the Kentucky Derby trail or carried those sort of aspirations into the spring. With the Triple Crown trail extended, there’s still time to step forward.
Prominent is Candy Tycoon, who drops to the allowance optional claiming level after finishes of second in the Fountain of Youth (G2) and sixth in the Florida Derby (G1) for trainer Todd Pletcher. This Twirling Candy colt has been well regarded since last summer but was a bit slow to come around.
Ginobili will look to rebound on the stretch out in distance. He gave Nadal an honest challenge two back in the San Vicente (G2) but didn’t take to a “good” track in his local debut on April 5. The Richard Baltas trainee is better than he showed when fifth that day as the favorite.