Most Likely Breeders' Cup Winner In First Juvenile Sprint

One week from today we’ll be enjoying the first day of Breeders’ Cup 2011. Churchill Downs’ Friday, Nov. 4 card has six Breeders’ Cup races beginning with the new $500,000 Sentient Jet Juvenile Sprint (gr. 1) and concluding with the $2 million Ladies Classic (gr. 1). Nine Breeders’ Cup races follow on the card Saturday, Nov. 5 highlighted by the $5 million Breeder Cup Classic (gr. 1).

Perusing through the Breeders’ Cup pre-entries and their accompanying past performances, the horses begin to define themselves in my mind. Where are the key horses? Who is the most likely winner regardless of odds? Who’s the best bet?

Should she run in the Ladies Classic, Havre de Grace (photo right) would be the most likely winner and equally popular with the betting public. Although I wrote in the blog a few days ago about the talent and depth of the distaff division this year, Havre de Grace is in a class by herself against fillies and mares and I would expect her to go off near even odds. In her last race, the Larry Jones-trained Havre de Grace won the Beldame (gr. 1) at Belmont Park by 8-1/2 lengths over Ladies Classic bound Royal Delta, Satan’s Quick Chick and has already defeated the boys once in the Woodward Handicap (gr. 1) at Saratoga just two starts back.

All signs have Havre de Grace headed to the Classic on Saturday where a victory would make her only the second female to win the Classic and a favorite to become the third consecutive female Horse of the Year. Rachel Alexandra was Horse of the Year in 2009 and Zenyatta received the honor last year. By 2005 Classic winner St. Liam, Havre de Grace would also be only the second Classic winner with a Classic winner as a sire and the third to by another Breeders’ Cup winner. In 2004, Ghostzapper won the Classic as the son of Awesome Again, the 1998 Classic winner. Alphabet Soup, the 1996 Classic winner, was by 1985 Mile (gr. 1) winner Cozzene.

Having said that, the “most likely to win” label moves from the last Breeders’ Cup race of the day to the first Breeders’ Cup race on Friday, the $500,000 Sentien Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint. The Juvenile Sprint makes its debut in 2011 and is the only ungraded race on the World Championship menu this year.

Trainer Bob Baffert (left) probably had little to no input in writing of the conditions of the new race, but Breeders’ Cup officials may as well have. A Hall of Fame trainer with seven career Breeders’ Cup victories, Baffert has won the Juvenile (gr. 1) twice and the Sprint (gr. 1) three times. Of three grade 1 races for 2-year-olds run each year in Southern California, Baffert has won the Del Mar Futurity ten times, and the Norfolk and Hollywood/CashCall futurities five times each.

A former Quarter Horse trainer from the Arizona border town of Nogales, Baffert knows how to train very young horses to run very short distances very fast. The only trainer to have more Breeders’ Cup Juvenile titles is D. Wayne Lukas, another Quarter Horse alum, with five Breeders' Cup Juvenile titles.

It would be idiotic to infer that Baffert will win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint every year, but it looks like he will get a good start Friday as he saddles probable favorite Secret Circle.

Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Secret Circle will be making his third start in the 6 furlong Juvenile Sprint. Secret Circle debuted at Del Mar in July, winning a 5-1/2 furlong maiden race by seven and one-quarter lengths on Polytrack. He then duplicated that effort at Santa Anita Oct. 10, this time winning the $71,000 Jack Goodman Stakes at 6 furlongs by five and one-quarter lengths. Both races are the fastest at their distance among Juvenile Sprint competitors and in both races, the Daily Racing Form trackman described Secret Circle as being “under a long hold.” In other words, there may have been something left in the Secret Circle tank.

Also attractive about Secret’s Circle is that he looks as if he may rate based on his performance in the Goodman. In that race, Secret’s Circle broke well but Bejarano quickly settled him into third, eight lengths off of front runner Sweep Swap. He then swept three-wide in the turn and wore down his foes in upper stretch before easily drawing away.

Many times in Breeders’ Cup Sprint races, the concentration of so much speed creates frantic paces early. While horses have won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and the Filly and Mare Sprint from gate-to-wire (see Big Drama winning the Sprint last year), the flexibility of being able to come from behind a torrid pace can be quite an asset.


Secret Circle’s main competition in the Juvenile Sprint should come from Hansen, a fast gray son of Tapit who has won a maiden race at Turfway Park and the $95,000 Kentucky Cup Juvenile by 12-1/4 and 13-1/4 lengths respectively. As impressive as it was however, Hansen’s maiden race was more than a second and a-half slower than Special Secret’s maiden race. Both races were run on Polytrack. Hansen’s Kentucky Cup victory was also at Turfway Park, so the Juvenile Sprint will be his first trip over natural dirt at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Steve Asmussen, also long known for success with 2-year-olds, brings Seeker to the Juvenile Sprint. After breaking his maiden in his second start over 5-1/2 furlongs at Saratoga, Asmussen tried the son of Hard Spun in the grade 2 Nashua on Oct. 2 at Belmont Park at six furlongs. There he was third behind fellow Juvenile Sprinters Vexor, the winner, and Trinniberg in second. Although the Nashua was graded, the final time of 1:10.71 for six furlongs was again slower than Secret Circle’s 1:08.27 in the Goodman.

Run as the fifth race on Friday, the Juvenile Sprint is part of the Pick 4, Pick 5 and Pick 6. There is also a Pick3, Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta and a Daily Double available, so there figures to be plenty opportunity to capitalize on Secret Circle’s projected low odds. He makes the perfect key horse in any of these exotic bets.

And Baffert should be off to a fast start in the yet to be written history of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Sprint.

Spiral Stakes History Dotted With Popular Stars

Although the $500,000 Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes took a hit from the North American Graded Stakes Committee this year by being dropped a class down to grade 3, the marquee event for Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky has featured some significant stars preparing for the first Saturday in May.

Although the race had attracted several good horses since the first running in 1972, it wasn’t until D. Wayne Lukas brought Marfa to Turfway Park to win the 1983 Jim Beam Spiral Stakes when the race began to garner national attention. Marfa went on to finish fifth in the Kentucky Derby (gr. 1) that year behind winner Sunny’s Halo and fourth in the Preakness behind Deputed Testamony. A year later the race was given grade 3 status and was quickly becoming the new race on the block for those preparing for the Kentucky Derby.

Three years later Broad Brush was shipped to Turfway from his home base in Maryland to win the Jim Beam Spiral Stakes before finishing third in both the 1986 Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

The Spiral Stakes then hit it’s golden years in the 1990s starting with 1990 winner Summer Squall and 1991 winner Hansel, both of which would go on to win the Preakness. Hansel also set the track record for a 1-1/8 miles, stopping the clock in 1:46.60. A year later the Spiral Stakes was won by Lil E. Tee and few weeks later the race had produced its first Kentucky Derby winner as Lil E. Tee won also won the 1992 Run for the Roses. The roll through the decade continued as 1993 winner Prairie Bayou would become the third future Preakness winner in four years to have gone through the Turfway Park winner’s circle.

In 1995, Serena’s Song (photo above) became the first filly to win the Jim Beam Spiral Stakes, and while she had little impact on the Triple Crown, the D. Wayne Lukas-trainee would defeat colts in the Haskell Invitational (gr. 1). The future Hall of Fame filly also won the grade 1 Beldame Stakes over older mares in New York that year and was eventually named the Champion 3-Year-Old Filly of 1995.

Jockey Pat Day has the record for the most Spiral Stakes victories with five, but trainer William E. Adams has the most impressive streak in the races history. From 1977-80, Adams trained seven consecutive winners of the Spiral Stakes as the race was split into two divisions in three of those four years.

The Spiral Stakes may have lost a bit of its luster over the last few years, but it has still produced some popular Derby contenders in Hard Spun and Perfect Drift.

Hard Spun won the 2007 Spiral (Then named the Lane’s End Stakes), before finishing in the money in all three Triple Crown races. He finished second in the Kentucky Derby behind Street Sense then finished third in the Preakness and fourth in the Belmont.

Perfect Drift was third in the Kentucky Derby behind winner War Emblem, but his 3-year-old year was just the start of a long career. He would go on to run at age seven and appeared in five consecutive Breeders’ Cup Classics (gr. ) from 2002-2006, finishing third in 2005 and fourth in 2004. Perhaps his best year was 2003 when Perfect Drift won the Stephen Foster Handicap (gr. 1), the Hawthorne Gold Cup (gr. 2), the Kentucky Jockey Club Handicap (gr. 2), and the Washington Park Handicap (gr. 3). Two years later, he would win his second Washington Park Handicap in track record time and finish second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

While this year’s Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes does not an Uncle Mo, Dialed In or any of the other leading 3-year-olds this year, the field is again solid. And if history tells us anything, there’s probably a star somewhere in the field.

What To Do With Mine That Bird

As the career of 2009 Kentucky Derby (gr. 1) presented by Yum! Brands winner Mine That Bird continues to plunge further downward with his last-place finish in the grade 1 Woodward, one has to wonder several things about the diminutive gelding. Was his Kentucky Derby a fluke? If he wasn’t a fluke, what has gone wrong with Mine That Bird since winning the Kentucky Derby? And what can be done, if anything, to get him back on track?

The answer as to the validity of Mine That Bird’s victory in Kentucky is obviously influenced by the fact that he has not won in eight starts since. Not only has he not won, but in his three starts this year in the Firecracker (gr. 2) at Churchill Downs and the Whitney (gr. 1) and Woodward at Saratoga, he has been beaten more than 41 lengths.

To be fair to the horse, that eight-race losing streak is riddled with legitimate excuses. In the eight races since the Derby, Mine That Bird has had five jockey changes, a trainer change, traffic in the Preakness and a bad ride in the Belmont. Two starts came at Santa Anita over a synthetic surface he obviously did not like and his first start this year was a last-second entry into the Firecracker Handicap on turf. In the Woodward he again ran with a new jockey, and blinkers for the first time, and a failed attempt at a new, closer-to-the-pace running style.

Regardless, the fluke label and been attached to Mine That Bird and the armor has worn thin among his defenders. After all, 0-for-8 is 0-for-8.

Now on to the third question: What can be done, if anything, to get him back on track? It is difficult to imagine that he would need another lay-off with only three starts year after his eight month vacation between the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. 1) in November and the Firecracker in July. It would appear that the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Breeders’ Cup Classic or any other grade 1 race are no longer short term options for Mine That Bird.

Perhaps the grade 2 Hawthorne Gold Cup is a viable option. The 10-furlong distance is suitable to Mine That Bird’s come-from-behind running style and the Oct. 2 date may also fit. The Monmouth Cup Stakes (gr. 2) at 1-1/8 miles Oct. 9 or the $100,000 Spend A Buck Handicap (gr. 3) at Calder the following week are other options.

But make no mistake. Mine That Bird may be just one loss away from retirement. Some might say he should be on his way back to Roswell, New Mexico now. But that is a difficult decision to make on a grade 1 winning, 4-year-old gelding. It is difficult to watch the Kentucky Derby winner flounder around Saratoga in embarrassment, but there has to be more left in the tank and some hope that what may be left isn’t sour.

That might take some wins at a lower level for a few races to help Mine That Bird regain his confidence and his competitiveness. Neither of which he currently seems to have. In no way are we suggesting Mine That Bird ever be dropped below allowance level racing. That seems obvious to racing fans but sometimes escapes certain trainers or owners.

But if all else fails and trainer D. Wayne Lukas can’t find the correct buttons to push on Mine That Bird, a swift retirement decision must be order. And Mine That Bird can live the rest of his days enjoying the dry, sunny afternoons and the funny lights in the night skies above Roswell.

Editors Note: This blog post is part of the Thoroughbred Bloggers’ Alliance Winning Topic Friday. This week various TBA bloggers are addressing Retirement: Where is the line for retirement vs competing, but not winning, for a horse that once won at a high level? As fans we want our stars to hang around and race as much as possible, but all horses lose form, some permanently some for a period of time. As fans we can't have it both ways wanting more racing, but we don't want to see our stars sullied.

You can read more TBA Blogs at the TBA home page.

Preakness Stakes, Thoughts, Comments and Questions

Any questions as to where the racing gremlins may have moved when they vacated the Baffert barn? I don't know if they moved in the family and furniture, but they were sure aboard the D. Wayne Lukas trainees for the first 110 yards of the Preakness. Dublin, starting from the outside 12 post in the Preakness, broke so far to the right that jockey Garrett Gomez spent the first 50 yards of the race keeping Dublin, first out of the Pimlico gift shop and second, from running over the track outrider stationed on the outside of the track. Northern Giant stumbled at the start and also broke to the right from the four hole and quickly took a hard bump from Yuwanna Twist to his outside. By the time jockey Terry Thompson had Northern Giant back on stride, Pleasant Prince came in front of him from the two-hole and he was quickly bumped again by Yuwanna Twist and shuffled back before the field had traveld a 1/16th of a mile out of the gate... The longest drought in Triple Crown history now continues at 32 years - seven years longer than the previous record of 25 years between Triple Crown winners Citation (1948) and Secretariat (1973)... With trainers Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher saying neither Lookin at Lucky nor Super Saver are headed for the Belmont, it will be the first time since 2006 the Belmont Stakes will not feature a Kentucky Derby or Preakness winner, the year Barbaro won the Derby and Bernardini won the Preakness. Jazil (right) won the 2006 Belmont after finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby and skipping the Preakness... Make Music for Me was fourth in the Derby this year and skipped the Preakness if you want an insignificant fun fact... My thoughts at the top of the Preakness stretch: "Oh darn Super Saver is done. Wow it looks like Lookin at Lucky might win it! What the hell is First Dude still doing there?"... Don't even ask me who I like in the Belmont Stakes for a while.

Zenyatta In Dodger Blue
A prominent billboard advertising the Los Angeles Dodgers located near Hollywood Park features the undefeated mare Zenyatta. The billboard is part of an advertising campaign of the major league team featuring several famous Los Angelenos and is located on the corner of Hawthorne Blvd. and 106th street... Trainer John Shirreffs was overheard on TVG this weekend to say that Zenyatta is still being pointed toward the grade 1 Vanity Stakes at Hollywood Park. The 1-1/8 Vanity will feature a $250,000 purse for fillies and mares Sunday, June 13.

"Doc" Allred Resigns At Los Alamitos
Dr. Edward Allred, a mainstay in the Quarter Horse racing industry and widely considered to be instrumental in the saving Los Alamitos in the early 1990s, has resigned as the track's President and Chairman of the Board. Allred was quoted in Bloodhorse.com as saying "This decision is not based on health considerations, as I am doing well,” Allred said. “I will continue to have a very active role on the board of directors. It is on the execution of the day-to-day details and matters that I will not be involved." A statement his succession in power seems to vindicate. Longtime associate Cathy Monji has been appointed by Allred to be the new track President and serve on the board of directors while Rick English will take over as Board Chairman.

Allred still breeds and raises top-notch Quarter Horses at his Rolling A Ranch in Atascadero, California. Allred has won AQHA’s Champion Breeder title nine times and the Champion Owner award six times. In the 1990s, he led all owners in number of victories eight times, and has topped all breeders in wins from 1992 through 2004. In 2004, horses bred by Allred won 111 races and 14 stakes races while earning $1,575,685.

Successful Preakness Invaders Are Not Historically Prevalent

Horse racing being the fickle game that it is, makes it difficult to predict entries into a race next week, but with that being said, it looks like the Preakness Stakes (gr. 1) will feature a full 14-horse gate when they go to the post May 15. It also looks like the Preakness will be evenly represented by seven horses that started in the Kentucky Derby and by seven horses that are new to the Triple Crown. But that could change quickly.

With much being written and said over the years about the grueling North American Triple Crown and the scarcity of those that have taken all three races (there have been only 11 since 1919), it might appear to some that these Preakness invaders may have an advantage. The thinking goes, and logically so I might add, that Kentucky Derby horses are coming out of perhaps the most taxing race of their careers carrying more weight further and against more horses than they will ever again. And they must bounce back into the Preakness with only two weeks rest - or one or two weeks less than most trainers would like.

That of course contributes to the fact that 13 of the 20 Kentucky Derby starters this year are not being pointed toward the Preakness. But once a Derby runner makes it into the Preakness starting gate, they have a much better chance of winning than their invading rivals from strictly a historical perspective.

Looking at the last 50 Preakness Stakes going back to 1959, only eight Preakness winners did not start in the Kentucky Derby. The most recent being eventual Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra (photo right), who last year became the first filly since Nellie Morse in 1924 to win the Preakness and the first to ever do so after a victory in the Kentucky Oaks.

Prior to that, after an easy win in the Withers Stakes at Aqueduct in late April, Bernardini won the 2006 Preakness tragically marred by the injury to Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro.

Six years earlier Red Bullet avenged his loss in the 2000 Wood Memorial to Fusaichi Pegasus, by passing on the Derby and coming back to win the Preakness over his Kentucky Derby winning nemesis.

One has to go back 17 years to find another Preakness winner who did not start in the Derby. Both the 1982 and 1983 Preakness winners made their previous start in a race other than the Kentucky Derby. Deputed Testamony won the 1983 Preakness after taking the Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico. The year before, Aloma's Ruler (photo left), with jockey "Cowboy" Jack Kanel won the previous Preakness, after having won the Withers Stakes.

In one of the most famous and controversial Preakness Stakes, D. Wayne Lukas brought Codex to Baltimore in 1980 to take on the Kentucky Derby winning filly Genuine Risk. In February Lukas had not included Codex among his five Kentucky Derby nominees. So after their win in the Santa Anita Derby, they made their next stop in Baltimore for the Preakness. (Ironically, it was Lukas' son Jeff who had nominated Codex to the Preakness saying later he would pay the $100 fee because "My dad doesn't know how good Codex is.")

Nearing the top of the Pimlico stretch, Codex and Angel Cordero Jr. where in front but Genuine Risk and Jacinto Vasquez were bearing down on the outside. Just as it seemed the filly was about to pass, Cordero appeared to steer Codex wide out of the turn, taking Geneuine Risk and Vasquez with them and stopping the momentum of the charging filly.

Former jockey Eddie Arcaro, working as a analysist for the ABC telecast, told 30 million viewers that if he were a steward, he would disqualify Codex. Moments later the track stewards disallowed the claim of foul and kept Codex the winner. The Pimlico switchboard lit up within seconds and angry calls persisted at the track for weeks.

Although nominated for the Triple Crown, trainer Del Carroll chose not to run Bee Bee Bee in the 1972 Kentucky Derby. However, after winning the Survivor Stakes at Pimlico, he entered Bee Bee Bee in the Preakness only to see him go gate-to-wire at 19-1 odds over Riva Ridge on a sloppy track.

In another famous Preakness, Greek Money freshened at Pimlico while Ridan won the 1962 Kentucky Derby. The two locked strides lengths ahead of the field down the stretch of the Preakness and racing fans were given not only an exciting finish, but an unusual post race as well.

Jockey Manuel Ycaza on the second-place Ridan, claimed foul on jockey John Rotz aboard the winning Greek Money. Perhaps dismissing the new technology of film patrol in his early action and later claim, it was discovered by the eye in the sky that the hot tempered Ycaza had in fact sent an elbow directly to the chin of Rotz just before the wire. Rotz and Greek Money kept the victory and Ycaza got a 10-day suspension.

Vale May Be Lifted Off Derby Trail

The Derby trail has never run through Dubai as we have illustrated before, but Vale of York's journey may have ended a bit more abruptly than expected.

The win in the Grey Goose Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. 1) over future champion Lookin' at Lucky in November, placed Vale of York (photo) among the early Kentucky Derby contenders. But that dream appears to be side-tracked - if not off track - after a dull fifth-place performance in the 1-3/16 mile Al Bastakiya Stakes at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai Mar. 4.

It wasn't so much the fifth place finish that was troubling as the way in which Vale of York seemed uncomfortable from start to finish in the Al Bastakiya. Jockey Ahmed Ajtebi was forced to battle Vale of York early in the race as the horse threw his head and not finding a comfortable stride. Once settled, Vale of York appearded to make a mild move around the far turn, but flattened out late.

Should Vale of York remain pointed for Kentucky, the logical next race would be the $2 million UAE Derby (gr. 2) Mar. 27 where he will likely again face Mendip, the easy 6 1/4-length winner of the Al Bastakiya and a possible Derby horse for the powerful Goldophin Racing.

Add Wow Wow Wow To My Derby Hopefuls
You don't have to think a horse is going to win the Kentucky Derby to say you "like" him. Part of the fun of the pre-Kentucky Derby season is following the apparent not-so-obviously-great and see if they may blossom by the time the first Saturday in May rolls around.

Backtalk, recent winner of the Sportsman's Paradise Stakes at Delta Downs is such a horse for me. So is Wow Wow Wow.

My fondness for Wow Wow Wow has less to do with the horse, really, and more to do with trainer D. Wayne Lukas. With Wow Wow Wow shipping from his base at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas to New York for the grade 3 Gotham Stakes, it means Lukas has multiple chances at winning his fifth Kentucky Derby with Southwest Stakes runner-up Dublin also coming from the his barn.

Should Lukas somehow take his fifth Derby, it will break the current tie with H.J. "Dick" Thompson, who won his four Derbies with Behave Yourself (1921), Bubbling Over (1926), Burgoo King (1932), Brokers Tip (1933) and leave him one shy of Ben A. Jones' six. Jones won with Lawrin (1938), Whirlaway (1941), Pensive (1944), Citation (1948), Ponder (1949) and Hill Gail (1952) with Citation and Whirlaway both taking the Triple Crown.

Lukas won his Kentucky Derbies with Winning Colors (1988), Thunder Gulch (1995),
Grindstone (1996) and Charismatic in 1999. But his Derby wins tell only a fraction of the story of his Hall of Fame career. Lukas was the first trainer to hit the $100 million mark in earnings and has five Preakness and four Belmont wins on his resume as well. Only Lukas and Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons have 13 wins in Triple Crown races.

Lukas, a former school teacher and Quarter Horse trainer, has a record 42 starters in the Kentucky Derby, the most recent was Flying Private finishing last a year ago. Before that, Going Wild finished 18th in 2005. He started eight Derby horses in the '00 decade with only Proud Citizen lighting the board with his second place finish behind War Emblem in 2002.

Wow Wow Wow will have to improve off of his eighth-place finish in the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Jan. 18, and appeared to get better while coming back to win an allowance race at Oaklawn in February.

Given that, the Gotham seems to makes sense on two fronts for Wow Wow Wow. Back home in Arkansas, Lukas will send Dublin to the Rebel Stakes (gr. 2) on March 13 where he will likely face Lookin at Lucky and Southwest Stakes (gr. 3) winner Conveyance which may prove to difficult a test for a horse like Wow Wow Wow looking to gain confidence.

The Gotham Stakes is headed by lukewarm morning line favorite Awesome Act, a British import with only a maiden victory in his win column who made his first trip to the new world last November to finish fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. While the other main contenders are Peppi Knows, winner of the Whirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct Feb. 6; and Nacho Friend, making his first start since finishing a traffic riddled fourth behind Balktalk in the Sanford Stakes (gr. 2) at Saratoga last summer.

Like most stakes for 3-year-olds run this time of year, the Gotham's link to the Kentucky Derby is sporadic at best, but still has a rich history. Last year I Want Revenge went on to take the Wood Memorial (gr. 1) and was among the Derby favorites before an injury forced him off the track.

Other Gotham winners include 1995 Preakness winner Red Bullet, 1989 Belmont Stakes winner Easy Goer, future multiple champion Lure won the 1992 Gotham and Secretariat won the 1973 Gotham on his way to immortality.

According to Daily Racing Form, Lukas is 0-for-10 in the Gotham going back to 1985. but a good race by Wow Wow Wow could change that, and perhaps a chance at little more.

Nakatani Move To Oaklawn Is More Than Just Change of Scenery

As Michael Chamberlain pointed out in his blog They Are Off, jockey Corey Nakatani has moved his tack from his lifelong Southern California base to Oaklawn Park this week in pursuit of increasing his chances of landing a riding assignment aboard a Kentucky Derby contender.

Although the American Graded Stakes Committee upgraded the Arkansas Derby to grade 1 status for the first time in more than 20 years, nearly everybody else in racing has long recognized Oaklawn Park as fertile ground for preparing promising 3-year-olds. Oaklawn Park department of racing scribe Patrick Pope has tweeked the stakes schedule in recent years, but the Southwest Stakes, Rebel Stakes and the Arkansas Derby have long proved popular with trainers with promising sophomores in their shed row. Omit the $250,000 Southwest at a mile in February and the $300,000 Rebel at 1-1/16-miles in March and you still have the $1 million Arkansas Derby April 10 that has produced Papa Clem, Gayego, Curlin, Lawyer Ron, Afleet Alex and Smarty Jones in the last six runnings. So it is safe to say that Nakatani will have the opportunity to latch onto a Derby hopeful while residing at the Spa.

But don't think it will be like shootin' a possum on the porch in Arkansas for Hollywood invader Nakatani. Calvin Borel of Rachel Alexandra, Mine That Bird and Street Sense fame has been setting up camp in Hot Springs since the late 1980s. Borel and agent Jerry Hissam know more about Oaklawn Park than just that the corned beef is good.

It has also been well known for decades that Oaklawn Park attracts some of the cream of the Midwestern jockey crop and that invading jockeys' noses are much better served low instead of high when stepping into and out of the jocks' room in Hot Springs. A mistake made among Terry Thompson, Quincy Hamilton, Cliff Berry, Louis Quinonez, Jon Court, Chris Emigh or Eddie Razo results in the same defeat as a mistake made at Del Mar. But trainers know that too. So to shine among that group is not without merit.

Nakatani won't have to be the leading rider to have a chance at a Kentucky Derby contender at Oaklawn. Borel was sixth in the 2009 Oaklawn Park standings and Cliff Berry was Kentucky Derby bound with Rebel Stakes winner Win Willy until a last minute injury to the Arkansas Derby runner-up forced him off the Derby trail.

Having said all that, Mr. Nakatani appears to be well on his way based on the first two days of entries at Oaklawn. The spa lid-lifter has Nakatani on five mounts in eight races for trainers Steve Asmussen, Tim Ice, D. Wayne Lukas, Randy Morse and McLean Robertson. That caliber of shed rows produce Derby hopefuls.

It should also be mentioned that Oaklawn Park has a natural dirt racing surface. That is important because Churchill Downs has a natural dirt main track and Nakatani moves from Southern California where potential Derby horses must prepare on the synthetic Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita. Safety arguments aside, California trainers such as Bob Baffert are looking for the consistent path on which to run in preparation for Kentucky.

That dirt to dirt angle is augmented by yet another reason the Nakatani move makes sense. Southern California trainers have patronized Oaklawn Park on a regular basis even before Lukas showed up to win the Arkansas Derby with Althea in 1984 and Tank's Prospect a year later.

Trainer Gary Stute didn't come to Oaklawn Park last year to win the Arkansas Derby with Papa Clem by throwing a dart or reading a Ouachita National Forest travel brochure. His father Mel Stute, was legendary for maximizing what Hot Springs had to offer including a victory in the 1987 Oaklawn Park Handicap with Snow Chief. In other words, the boys with the tans at Coy's Steak House (which burned last year the day before Oaklawn opened) and Bel Arte were usually from Southern California. Nakatani and agent Vince DeGregory will be familiar faces for any Santa Anita conditioners coming to Oaklawn in 2010 - whether it's for the Arkansas Derby or any of the other Oaklawn stakes long popular among the west coasters.

It is an intriguing move by Nakatani to be sure. And on the outside it could easily be painted as a bit desperate by one more prone to sensationalism. But there appears to be enough evidence of Southern California calucation instead.

Million Dollar Bids Of The Normal And Abnormal

The second session of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale answered two questions.

Nearly everyone approached this sale with cautious optimism after the sale company invested effort and money into elevating this once glamous auction to a return among the world's elite thoroughbred auctions. The Fasig-Tipton team courted the best consignors and bloodlines in North America and some of the top buyers in the world. But how would the market respond?

The second question is not nearly as serious, but one we've all asked ourselves. What would happen if some clown wondered in off the street and just started bidding on million dollar horses?

The increase in numbers after Monday night's session partially answered the first question. But the question was answered with authority when Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas challenged Shiek Mohammed in a bidding duel on hip 204, a colt by elite sire Storm Cat, who stood for as much as $500,000 per breeding as recent as 2007. Lukas bid while confering with Scott Ford of Westrock Stable while John Ferguson conducted the bidding for Shiek Mohammed from behind the sale ring. When the hammer finally fell, $2,800,000 lit the auction board as the sale's highest priced yearling.

When the two-day sale concluded, 160 yearlings had sold for $52,549,500, up a surprising 46 percent to the immence satisfaction of all involved.

The clown made his appearance, less the make-up and the humor, when he abrubtley bid $1 million on Hip no. 151, a filly by Kingmambo, from his seat in the front row. Buddled by the apparent lunacy of the stranger, no other potential buyers even offered another bid and the filly walked out of the ring with the seven-figure price tag.

According to Daily Racing Form, the press descended on the man who signed the ticket "Josh Mann", but when asked to provide identification he declined. Fasig-Tipton executives Walt Robertson and Boyd Browning approached the as he tried to escape the pavilion but were unable to convince the man into a private meeting. Shortly after consignor Craig Bandoroff joined the conversation, the man and friend embarked on a rapid departure from the facility despite Robertson and Browning repeatedly trying to stop them according to reports. Unconfirmed reports say the friend was wearing a t-shirt that read "I'm with stupidly".

Hip No. 151 was offered again later in the evening and brought $300,000 from Sheikh Hamdan al-Maktoum's Shadwell Estate Co. The incident potentially cost Bandoroff's Denali Stud agency and Fasig-Tipton tens of thousands of dollars and was partially attributed to the man being drunk. The other part was attributed to the man being stupid.

Click here for complete sale results

Rachel Alexandra Tries To Join Historical Group in Mother Goose Stakes

Rachel Alexandra will be returning to the races Saturday in the $300,000 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park in her first start since winning the Blackberry Preakness Stakes in mid-May. And while the Mother Goose does not carry the prestige or coverage of the Preakness, the Mother Goose is a significant race in it's own right.

It is a grade 1 race, making it among the most prestigious and historically competitive; and it is the second leg to the Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred racing, otherwise known as the Filly Triple Crown. The series is comprised of the one mile Acorn Stakes on Belmont day, the 1-1/8 mile Mother Goose and the 1-1/4 Coaching Club American Oaks in late July. Only eight fillies have swept the series beginning with Dark Mirage in 1968.

The Mother Goose has a rich history since first being run in 1957 when Outer Space and jockey William Legget won the first running.

One of my favorites is 1969 winner Shuvee, who was also the second filly to win the Triple Tiara. Now in the Hall of Fame, Shuvee is perhaps best remembered with her victory in the 1970 Jockey Club Gold Cup when she became the only filly to defeat the colts in the then two mile race.

The most famous Triple Tiara winner is of course, Ruffian (photo at left) who took the crown in 1975. She was undefeated in ten career races before a fatal injury suffered in an infamous match race against Kentucky Derby winner Foolish Pleasure.

Now burried in the infield at Belmont Park, Ruffian was perhaps one of the most amazing race horses of anytime. Lucien Laurin, Secretariat's trainer, once said of Ruffian, "As God as my witness, she may even be better than Secretariat."

After breaking her maiden in record time by 15 lengths, Ruffian went on to set a new stakes record in each of her eight added-money victories and equalled two track records. She was a massive, black filly that stood 17 hands high and broke on top in every race and was never headed at any point during her career before the fatal race in July of 1975.

But the Mother Goose has produced a long list of recognizable female greats including Chris Evert in 1974, 1984 winner Life's Magic, trained by D.Wayne Lukas; Go For Wand in 1990; Sky Beauty, the last Triple Tiara winner in 1993; and Serena's Song, also trained by Lukas, in 1995.