Oaklawn: Kinetic lines up for Godolphin in Essex Handicap

Kinetic tries to give famed Godolphin another Oaklawn stakes victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $500,000 Essex Handicap for older horses going 1 1/8 miles.

The Essex Handicap drew seven runners and headlines an 11-race card that begins at 1:35 p.m. EDT. The probable post time for the Essex, the 10th race, is 6:25 p.m

The 8-5 program favorite, Kinetic is unbeaten in three starts at 1 1/8 miles, including the restricted $145,000 General MacArthur Overnight Stakes Jan. 25 at Oaklawn last out. The race was for horses that had not won a stakes race.

“It’s the perfect distance,” said Michael Banahan, bloodstock director for Godolphin USA. “Hopefully we can keep that streak alive at that distance. It looks like an ideal opportunity for him. He’s 1-for-1 at the racetrack as well. It’s obviously a step up into a graded race, but it looks like the right one to see if he can get to that level.”

Kinetic is trained by Brad Cox, who teamed with Godolphin to win last year’s Essex with homebred First Mission. Godolphin also bred Kinetic, a 4-year-old son of Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense out of Collective. Kinetic is a full brother to recently retired Comparative, a Godolphin homebred who won for Cox in the 2024 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) for older fillies and mares at Oaklawn.

Kinetic has a 6: 4-1-0 record in six lifetime starts and earnings of $294,138. He came from just off the pace to win the General MacArthur Overnight Stakes by three-quarters of a length.

“He should get a nice stalking pace around there,” Banahan said. “Got the leading rider. We’re optimistic that we’ll have a good showing out there.”

Multiple graded-stakes-winning millionaire Red Route One is the most accomplished entrant in the race. The late-running 5-year-old trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen is an Oaklawn stakes winner at 1 1/8 miles, having finished first in the 2023 Bathhouse Row. But he is 0-for-2 this season at Oaklawn, finishing a distant fourth in the Tinsel Stakes on Jan. 5 and a non-threatening seventh in the Razorback Handicap (G3) on Feb. 23.

Asmussen also will start Unload, who like Red Route One is a homebred for Winchell Thoroughbreds. Unload was fifth in the Tinsel. All three of his career victories, including the $100,000 Governor’s Cup at Remington Park, have been in front-running fashion.

“Both of them are longer-priced horses in the (field), but they complement each other,” Asmussen said.

Patriot Spirit exits a runner-up finish for trainer Michael Campbell, beaten by a neck by The Wine Steward in the Fifth Season for older horses Jan. 25 at Oaklawn. Tarantino has been competing in graded stakes in Southern California for trainer Peter Eurton. Speed Bias and Tarantino were supplemented. Speed Bias finished second, beaten by a nose in the 2023 Pimlico Special (G3) going 1 3/16 miles at Pimlico for trainer Ron Moquett.

Maycocks Bay, also owned by Godolphin, was cross-entered in Saturday’s $500,000 New Orleans Classic (G2) and will run there. He was scratched Saturday morning from the Essex.