Competitive Field Lines Up for Sunday’s $100,000 Pippin Stakes at Oaklawn Park

Hot Springs, Ark. (Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016) – If breeding is any indication, Cash Control should be the one to beat as she attempts to become her dam’s third Oaklawn stakes winner in Sunday’s $100,000 Pippin for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles Sunday afternoon.

Her half-brother Country Day won the $60,000 Hot Springs Stakes in 2010. A half-sister, Good Deed, won the $75,000 Prima Donna Stakes in 2012.

“Her family seems to like the track over there,” Cox said. “Now they were sprinters, and she’s a route horse. We’ll see what happens.”

Cash Control is the 5-2 program favorite for the Pippin, which drew a field of nine.

Shaun Bridgmohan is named to ride Cash Control, who is coming off a 2 ½-length victory in the $50,000 Tiffany Lass Stakes Dec. 19 at Fair Grounds. She is scheduled to break from post 4 Sunday and carry 117 pounds.

Like Country Day and Good Deed, Cash Control, a daughter of Pioneerof the Nile, races for owner/breeders Bert, Elaine and Richard Klein.

“I just thought it might be a good idea to keep her on the dirt,” said Cox, who had also considered the $60,000 Marie G. Krantz Memorial Stakes on the grass at Fair Grounds. “She’s been training good on the dirt, breezing well at the Fair Grounds.”

The projected Pippin field is completed by Streamline, Pearl Turn, Tosha Talifero, Rosie My Rosie, Theogony, Sawsan, Ribbon of Darkness and Cabana.

Theogony, runner-up in the $200,000 Falls City Handicap (G2) Nov. 26 at Churchill Downs, is the early 3-1 second choice for the Pippin.

Pearl Turn, who is removing blinkers, is making her second-to-last scheduled career start for trainer Will VanMeter before being bred to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. The trainer said Pearl Turn is scheduled to make her final career start in the $100,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) Feb. 14 at Oaklawn.

Trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel said Cabana, 9-2 on the morning line, is using the Pippin as a prep for the Bayakoa.

“I would have liked to have another work or two, but I think probably our best shot at a graded stake is the next one because they get tougher after that,” Von Hemel said. “This is part of being ready for the next one. If we do well tomorrow, great. If not, we’re going to get a good race into her.”

Probable post time for the Pippin, the eighth of nine races, is 4:42 p.m. (Central). The first race is 1:30 p.m.

Source: Oaklawn Park