Oaklawn Report #7

Three Stars of the Week

– 1st Star: The Big Beast (MD) – The Grade 1 King’s Bishop winner finally returned to the races on Sunday, and was extremely impressive in an allowance race that featured several of Oaklawn’s second tier sprinters.  He’s becoming famous for his tremendous size, as social media blew up with tweets exclaiming how much bigger he was than all the other horses in the race.  The Grade 3 Count Fleet could be next for this one, or they may ship out of town and try the Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct.  He will prove formidable in either of those races that his connections choose.

– 2nd Star: Electric Temptress (KY) – This improving and classy older mare made it two for two on the year with a powerful performance in the Thursday feature.  She beat the tough and consistent Devious D’oro and Fictionality, two horses from the Donnie K Von Hemel barn that were favored over Electric Temptress.  Much of the credit should be given to jockey Ramon Vazquez, who gave the horse a tremendous ground saving trip.

– 3rd Star: Weast Hill (AR) – You don’t usually see an Arkansas bred maiden winner break the top 3 stars of the week, but with a slow week and huge performance Weast Hill lands on the list!  The Brad Cox trainee basically toyed with the competition on Thursday, and could have won by 20 lenghts if he wanted to do so.  Who knows what might be next, but my guess is State Bred Stakes company.

Flop of the Week

– The Weather AGAIN – Mother nature was at it again this week, wiping out Friday and Saturday, which included two Arkansas Bred Stakes races.  It’s sad that those races will now have to share the spotlight with two other bigger races this week, and will probably get lost in the shuffle.  Hopefully we’ve seen the last of this terrible stretch of weather…the races only get bigger from here on out.