Long Range Toddy back at Oaklawn, but with a new trainer

A year ago, Long Range Toddy was among the most prominent 3-year-olds on the grounds at Oaklawn Park coming up on his victory in a division of the Rebel Stakes (G2), which followed a victory in the Springboard Mile and placing in the Smarty Jones Stakes.

Long Range Toddy is back at Oaklawn with a new trainer and on the comeback trail after recording his first workout of the season Sunday morning. Long Range Toddy went three furlongs in :38.40 for breeder/owner Willis Horton of Marshall, Ark., and Dallas Stewart, the Fair Grounds-based trainer who was in Hot Springs last week to check on his Oaklawn division.

Long Range Toddy, previously with Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, hasn’t started since finishing seventh in the Oklahoma Derby (G3) Sept. 29 at Remington Park. There’s no target date for Long Range Toddy’s comeback race, Stewart said Sunday afternoon.

“I’ve got to do my job and see what happens,” Stewart said. “Take our time with him and we’ll see.”

Following the Rebel, Long Range Toddy also ran sixth in theArkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn and 16th in the Kentucky Derby.

Stewart said he reunited with Horton approximately a month ago. They teamed to win the Kentucky Oaks – the nation’s biggest race for 3-year-old fillies – in 2006 with Lemons Forever. Their first starter at the 2020 Oaklawn meeting, Awe Emma, ran fifth in her allowance comeback race last Friday.

“I’m all for it,” Stewart said of training again for Horton.

Awe Emma had also previously been with Asmussen. Horton, in partnership, has raced horses at the meeting with the perennial Oaklawn training champion, including Bankit, runner-up in the second division of the $100,000 Fifth Season Stakes Jan. 25.