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MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2019
by: Valerie Mellema
From a wet day at Oaklawn to a sunny day at Keeneland, here's your weekend stakes wrap up!
$750,000 Oaklawn Handicap
The Oaklawn Handicap is a 1 1/8th mile race on the dirt for four year olds and up. The Oaklawn Handicap can be found on the resumes of many top horses including CITY OF LIGHT and ACCELERATE who battled it out in 2018 at Oaklawn, much like they did in the Pegasus World Cup.
PIONEER SPIRIT headed for the front after the break followed by REMEMBERING RITA and CHRIS AND DAVE following close behind. GIANT EXPECTATIONS sat in fifth with TENFOLD just behind. LOOKIN AT LEE was twelve lengths behind the front runners. GIANT EXPECTATIONS moved into third with LONE SAILOR with four and a half lengths to go. At the top of the stretch they were four wide with GIANT EXPECTATIONS and QUIP coming up to challenge. QUIP moved into the lead with GIANT EXPECTATIONS and LONE SAILOR. QUIP edged ahead of the pack with LONE SAILOR for a photo finish. The final finish was QUIP first, LONE SAILOR second and PIONEER SPIRIT third.
QUIP was ridden by Jose Ortiz. The final time was 1:50.21.
$1 Million Arkansas Derby
The Arkansas Derby featured a field of 11 for the 1 1/8th mile test on the dirt for three-year-olds.
After a fast break, ONE FLEW SOUTH went to the front followed by JERSEY AGENDA and LONG RANGE TODDY. GRAY ATTEMPT sat on the rail just behind JERSEY AGENDA. OMAHA BEACH moved up to take a slight lead over ONE FLEW SOUTH. ONE FLEW SOUTH faded allowing IMPROBABLE to move up to battle it out with OMAHA BEACH. The two dueled down the stretch with OMAHA BEACH moving ahead by a length to take the win over IMPROBABLE followed by COUNTRY HOUSE.
OMAHA BEACH under jockey Mike Smith took the win followed by IMPROBABLE, COUNTRY HOUSE and LAUGHING FOX.
"He's learned to fight it out. He's actually developed from the Rebel Stakes. He's grown and bigger. It's either that or the money's making him looking bigger!" stated OMAHA BEACH's owner Richard Porter. The win moved OMAHA BEACH up to second place on the leaderboard.
$200,000 Stonestreet Lexington Stakes
In addition to the Arkansas Derby, the Stonestreet Lexington Stakes ran at Keeneland with Road to the Derby points.
At the break HAWAIIAN NOISES and KNICKS GO went headstrong to the lead. The pair lead the field a length going into the backstretch. Coming to the first turn ZENDEN and ANOTHERTWISTAFATE caught up with the leaders, but KNICKS GO pulled away. Around the turn OWENDALE came from the outside and overcame the front runners to win by two lengths. ANOTHERTWISTAFATE and SUENO followed behind by a length each. The final time was 1:44.14 on a fast track.
The Lexington's Derby points were 20-8-4-2 to the first four finishers. With this race, ANOTHERTWISTAFATE has 38 points and SUENO has 32 points towards the Derby, putting them just outside the Top 20 bubble at 23 and 24 respectively.
Have a great week!
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