Win Willy Beats Misremembered at OP

Pace makes Win Willy's race, and when his trainer, Mac Robertson, saw the fractional time for the opening half-mile of the Grade 2, $350,000 Oaklawn Handicap, it made his day.

"I really thought when they went in 46 and change, the way the horse had been doing, that we had the winner," said Robertson.

Win Willy put in his patented closing kick to overtake 2-5 favorite Misremembered and won the 1 1/8-mile Oaklawn Handicap by a length. Misremembered held second, while it was another 4 1/4 lengths back in third to Winslow Homer.

The Oaklawn Cap was the first of nine stakes that will be run over the final week of the meet as part of the annual Racing Festival of the South. The cluster of big races are worth a cumulative $2.7 million, with the richest the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 16.