Oaklawn Report #6: Haveyougoneaway Wins Second Straight Stakes

Three Stars of the Week

– 1st Star: HAVEYOUGONEAWAY – Two starts at Oaklawn…two impressive stakes wins!  It doesn’t get much better than that for Haveyougoneaway as she’s now captured the American Beauty and Spring Fever Stakes with relative ease.  In the Spring Fever on Saturday the highly thought of Thirteen Arrows shipped in for trainer Larry Jones, but she was no match for Haveyougoneaway.  After setting a solid pace Thirteen Arrows could only hold on for second, beaten by almost three lengths by Haveyougoneaway.  What’s next for this talented sprinter could get tricky.  Oaklawn does not offer any more sprint stakes for older fillies and mares so she’ll either have to stretch out in distance or go to another track for her next start.  It will be interesting to see what they try.

– 2nd Star: DOMAIN’S RAP – If you are looking for an early candidate for horse of the meet look no further than Domain’s Rap!  On Sunday Domain’s Rap ran in the toughest race of his career, an allowance with several tough horses, and the 8 year old Illinois Bred was up to the task as he easily won the race by over a length!  This makes his third win of the Oaklawn Park meeting, and his fourth win in a row.  Owner Danny Caldwell claimed this horse just 5 races ago at Remington Park for $10,000, and he hasn’t lost a race yet with him while also moving him up in class for each start.  Now the big question is “What’s next?” for this rising superstar.  The Razorback Handicap on March 19th could be very tempting for Caldwell.

– 3rd Star: CONQUEST WINDYCITY – The Friday feature race at Oaklawn was filled with talented 3 year olds, including two highly thought of colts in Rated R Superstar and Conquest Windycity.  Both horses ran well in the Grade 3 Iroquois at Churchill Downs as two year olds, and both were also impressive maiden winners.  On Friday they ran 1-2 in the feature race, with Conquest Windycity pulling away late to win by almost two lengths.  After trailing the field for most of the race Conquest Windycity swung out three wide for the stretch drive to make a long sustained bid for the win.  This win most definitely will set the horse up for stakes company next, and Rated R Superstar could also be pointing to one as well.  Perhaps a Kentucky Derby prep race like the Rebel Stakes could be in order.

Flop of the Week

– NOBLE BIRD – The 2015 Grade 1 Stephen Foster winner made his 2016 debut off a long layoff in an allowance race on Sunday, and just failed to fire at all.  At the top of the stretch he looked as though he was going to make a nice move, but completely flattened out to finish off the board.  No need to panic at this point though as perhaps he badly needed the race.

Preview to Next Week

• Saturday February 27th – $100,000 Downthedustyroad Breeders, fillies and mares (Ark. Bred) 3 year olds and upward – 6 furlongs
• Sunday February 28th – $100,000 Nodouble Breeders’ – 3 Year Olds and upward (Ark. Bred) – 6 furlongs