Mr. Z Faces Field of Eight in Smarty Jones
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Nine horses were entered Friday morning for Monday’s $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds at Oaklawn. The 1-mile race is the first of four major local preps for the Kentucky Derby, culminating with the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) April 11.
Probable post time for the Smarty Jones, which headlines a special nine-race holiday card, is 4:38 p.m. (Central).
Probable program favorite Mr. Z is scheduled to break from post 3 under Jon Court.
Trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, Mr. Z was narrowly beaten in the $500,000 Los Alamitos Futurity (G1) Dec. 20 and the $1 million Delta Jackpot Stakes (G3) Nov. 22.
Far Right, a troubled third in the Delta Jackpot, drew the rail for the Smarty Jones. Also entered are Springboard Mile winner Bayerd, Paid Admission, American Sailor, Hebbronville, Lucky Player, Private Prospect and Runaway Bling. Bayerd and Lucky Player are trained by six-time leading trainer Steve Asmussen.
Clark O. Brewster’s Bayerd, a son of champion sprinter Speightstown, has run five times and two of his three wins were in stakes races. After graduating with a smashing 11 ½ lengths victory over a talented field of 2-year-olds at Saratoga Race Course in August, he made a trio of starts at Remington Park and ended his juvenile season with a gutsy win by a head in the Springboard Mile Stakes there on December 14 under Ramon Vazquez.
“Bayerd is a nice horse who has run five very good races,” Asmussen said of the Kip Deville Stakes winner, who has never finished out of the money. “He won his last race at a mile so the Smarty Jones is a good spot to start his three-year-old campaign.”
The Kentucky-bred bay colt has been back on the work tab since December 24 and on Tuesday (Jan. 13) went out for an easy 4f breeze in 50.60.
“I’m anxious to see how he does at Oaklawn, which can be a horse specific course sometimes,” said Asmussen, who keeps a division of his 200-plus horse outfit in Hot Springs.
Jerry Durant’s Lucky Player, a son of champion Lookin at Lucky, who won Oaklawn’s Rebel Stakes (G2) and the Preakness Stakes (G1) in 2010, captured the Iroquois Stakes in September at Churchill Downs. Last out, he finished seventh under Oaklawn’s defending leading rider Ricardo Santana, Jr. in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Gold Cup and two starts back was eighth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
“He’s a nice horse too,” Asmussen said of the colt, who also worked 4f at Fairgrounds on Tuesday and traveled in his stable mate’s identical time of 50.60. “We’ll see if he can handle two turns at this time of year.”
Asmussen, who is giving Vazquez and Santana return calls on Bayerd and Lucky Player, respectively, said both colts are a pleasure to have in the barn, especially this time of the year.
“Neither one is quirky. They are both straightforward colts and easy to be around. They are young, good-feeling boys,” he said. “We have hopes and dreams for them.”
Source: Oaklawn Park
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