Oaklawn Report #3

3 Stars of the Week

– 1st Star: Apprehender (KY) – On Saturday when winning the King Cotton, Apprehender was able to get three monkey’s off his back all at once.  First, he got his first stakes win.  Second, he avenged an earlier loss to Laurie’s Rocket, who soared by him as the favorite at Oaklawn in an ungraded stakes last year.  Third, and perhaps most importantly, he was finally able to beat Alsvid in his third attempt to do so.  With Alsvid and Apprehender likely to be pointed towards similar races throughout the year, you can bet these two are going to square off one again.  Taking the blinkers off this horse has really helped him relax, and I look for him to continue to make a strong impact in the Oaklawn sprint division.  I would assume the Grade 3 Count Fleet is his end of the meet goal.

– 2nd Star: Alsvid (KY) – He may have lost to Apprehender this time out, but Alsvid still ran a super race.  The rail draw didn’t do him any favors, as the 4-year-old son of Officer was boxed in through much of the race.  It looked as though he wasn’t able to hit his best stride until the late stages.  That factor coupled with a lack of early pace pressure on Apprehender made if tough for Alsvid to run down the winner.  Like I mentioned early, these two will surely meet again as this is a developing rivalry that should be fun to watch.

– 3rd Star: Z Rockstar (OK) – This horse is about as honest as they come when running at Oaklawn and Remington Park.  Z Rockstar had to dig deep with everything he had to win Thursday’s featured allowance race, as he went wire to wire while just holding off Don Dulce at the end.  The win gives Z Rockstar his third straight victory, and also his second straight victory at Oaklawn Park.  Trainer Donnie K Von Hemel has plenty of options for this one’s next race, which will make it interesting to see where he pops up next.

– Honorable Mention: Awesome Mama, I Am Miss Brown, Channel Isle, Laurie’s Rocket

Flop of the Week

– Boss Man Rocket (KY) – The $800,000 purchase by Frank Fletcher was bet down to favoritism in Saturdays seventh race, an allowance for three-year olds, but Boss Man R0cket stopped badly at the top of the stretch finishing last.  The three-year old son of War Front was head strong on the lead while setting fairly fast fractions, and looked to never settle in.  Tough to tell what will be next for him, but this was certainly not what you wanted to see from such an expensive horse.

Trainer Standings

Rank	Trainer Name	Sts	1st	2nd	3rd	Total $		Win%	Top3	Top3%
1	Cody Autrey	21	6	2	2	$125,004		29%	10	48%
2	D. Wayne Lukas	27	5	3	3	$279,137		19%	11	41%
2	Chris Richard	14	5	1	2	$132,520		36%	8	57%
4	Randy L. Morse	19	4	2	1	$93,564		21%	7	37%
4	McLean Robertson	12	4	1	2	$85,682		33%	7	58%
4	Allen Milligan	31	4	6	3	$84,995		13%	13	42%
7	Philip A. Sims	12	3	2	1	$132,325		25%	6	50%
7	Ron Moquett	35	3	2	5	$87,338		9%	10	29%
7	Kenny P. Smith	19	3	1	3	$82,542		16%	7	37%
10	Donnie K. Von Hemel	18	2	4	5	$131,281		11%	11	61%
10	Chris A. Hartman	15	2	4	2	$66,452		13%	8	53%
10	Steve Hobby	12	2	1	2	$63,414		17%	5	42%
10	Albert M. Stall, Jr.	6	2	0	0	$55,973		33%	2	33%
10	Danele Durham	6	2	1	0	$51,745		33%	3	50%
10	Daniel C. Peitz	4	2	0	1	$47,212		50%	3	75%
10	David R. Vance	7	2	1	1	$46,779		29%	4	57%
10	Joseph R. Martin	18	2	1	1	$44,274		11%	4	22%
10	Jamie Ness	9	2	3	1	$34,766		22%	6	67%
10	J. R. Caldwell	15	2	0	2	$33,894		13%	4	27%
10	Bruce L. Riecken	7	2	2	1	$32,448		29%	5	71%
10	John Henry Prather, Jr.	6	2	0	0	$22,473		33%	2	33%
10	Richard D. Jackson	6	2	0	0	$19,362		33%	2	33%

Jockey Standings

Rank	Jockey Name	Sts	1st	2nd	3rd	Total $		Win%	Top3	Top3%
1	Robby Albarado	54	11	5	5	$296,819		20%	21	39%
2	Alex Birzer	51	6	11	4	$223,415		12%	21	41%
2	Terry J. Thompson	54	6	6	5	$206,976		11%	17	31%
4	Victor Lebron	35	5	6	5	$202,635		14%	16	46%
4	M. Clifton Berry	30	5	5	2	$166,075		17%	12	40%
4	Eddie Martin, Jr.	29	5	2	3	$116,351		17%	10	34%
4	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	36	5	3	8	$114,515		14%	16	44%
8	Jon Kenton Court	32	4	3	5	$220,938		13%	12	38%
8	Luis S. Quinonez	33	4	6	8	$186,009		12%	18	55%
8	Alex Cintron	27	4	3	3	$119,785		15%	10	37%
8	Glenn W. Corbett	19	4	1	1	$86,724		21%	6	32%
12	Rosemary B. Homeister, Jr.	22	3	2	3	$94,862		14%	8	36%
12	Israel Ocampo	30	3	1	6	$90,063		10%	10	33%
12	Alex Canchari	32	3	4	1	$72,069		9%	8	25%

Preview to Next Week

– Saturday: The Essex Stakes – 4 year olds & Up 1 1/16-Miles – Purse: $100,000