Oaklawn Park news: Exclamation Point under stakes consideration

Trainer Brad Cox said Exclamation Point, a 4-year-old half-brother to champion and 2017 Arkansas Derby winner Classic Empire, is under consideration for two stakes races at Oaklawn Park following a victory earlier this month at Fair Grounds.

Based this winter at Oaklawn, Exclamation Point held off Hawaakom by a head in a March 5 allowance race at 1 1/16 miles. Hawaakom won the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses last year at Oaklawn. Finishing fourth in the allowance race, beaten three-quarters of a length, was Tenfold, who broke his maiden last year at Oaklawn before winning the $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) at Saratoga. Tenfold also ran third in the Preakness (G1), the second leg of racing’s Triple Crown.

Cox said it was “by far” the best race Exclamation Point has run in his five-race career.

“He stepped up and fought off some seasoned horses,” Cox said. “It was a big step up for him. We’ll bring him back up here at some point.”

Cox said Exclamation Point is under consideration for the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes April 14 and the inaugural $250,000 Oaklawn Mile May 3. The chestnut son of Concord Point has never run in a stakes race.

After winning his first three career starts last year, including maiden and first-level allowance events at Oaklawn, Exclamation Point suffered his first loss in his 4-year-old debut, a Feb. 10 allowance run over a sloppy track.

Exclamation Point, who races for his breeders, Steve and Brandi Nicholson, and Staton Flurry of Hot Springs, has earned $172,600.

Finish Lines: Trainer Doug O’Neill said Southern California-based Bizwhacks could return to Oaklawn for the $500,000 Fantasy (G3) for 3-year-old fillies April 12. “Definitely a consideration,” O’Neill said. Exiting a Feb. 3 maiden victory at Santa Anita, Bizwhacks finished third, beaten 2 ½ lengths, in the $200,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) March 9, the final major local prep for the Fantasy. “We’ve seen that over the years out here,” O’Neill said. “The straight maidens come up like graded stakes. She battled to get through her straight maiden and, boom, here she is, and she jumps up and runs good the first time against winners.” Honeybee runner-up Motion Emotion is pointing for the Fantasy, trainer Tom Van Berg said. …

Dating to the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) last April with Magnum Moon, trainer Todd Pletcher has a 5-1-0 record from his last seven starts at Oaklawn, amassing $1,093,067 in purse earnings. Pletcher had a double Saturday, winning the fourth race with Triple Crown nominee Last Judgment ($8.60) and the sixth race with favored Life’s a Parlay ($3.60). Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez rode both winners. Pletcher and Velazquez teamed to win the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses Feb. 18 with Coal Front. … Stewart Elliott, who had 12 victories at the meeting through Sunday, said he plans to ride at the Churchill Downs spring meeting. … Post positions were drawn Wednesday for Saturday’s $125,000 Gazebo Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters and the $100,000 Nodouble Breeders’ Cup for Arkansas-bred sprinters.