Youngsters are primed for the Southwest Stakes Monday at Oaklawn Park and the President’s Day headliner has lured a full and lucky cast of 13. Four have won stakes and a number have been stakes placed.
The $500,000 Grade 3 mile and a sixteenth Southwest Stakes has been a good gauge over the years. The first four finishers will earn 10, 4, 2, and 1 point respectively toward qualifying for the Kentucky Derby.
Smarty Jones won the Southwest Stakes in 2004 and went on to win two-thirds of the Triple Crown. And the spacing of this race on the schedule will give connections options.
From the rail out Cool Arrow figures to have a target on his back. He not only is the only three-time winner in the field but he has earned move money than anybody than Uncontested. He overcame the extreme outside post last time in the Springboard Mile and he proved he can handle the off going too. Joe Sharp is the trainer.
Silver Dust had a valid excuse in his debut when he walked out of the gate. The Randy Morse trainee broke his maiden last time and he did it impressively.
Uncontested ran like his name suggests last time and is coming to the Southwest Stakes in fine form. He was a bargain purchase at $20,000 but he took to the slop last time like the proverbial duck to water when he won the Smarty Jones Stakes in a romp. Stabled in Wayne Catalano’s barn, this son of Tiz Wonderful is coming to the race right.
Lookin at Lee has not ducked anybody. He took a stakes in his third career start, chased the Eclipse Award winner Empire Classic in the Breeders’ Futurity last year and then was fourth to that rival when he broke from the outside post in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Trainer Steven Asmussen knows it is important to get used to this Oaklawn Park surface and he worked Lookin at Lee on the track last Monday.
Rowdy the Warrior graduated in this first start going a route of ground but has lost his last four races. He will be looking for his added-money win in the Southwest Stakes.
Cu Rahy just rounds out the field. He has been beaten by a number of today’s foes and he has been beaten double-digit lengths in two of his last three races.
Warrior’s Club is trained by D. Wayne Lukas and we all have learned through the decades never to underestimate any runner from this barn. This $25,000 purchase may have just hated the slop in his last race. Warrior’s Club was sensational breaking his maiden in the Spendthrift Stallion Stakes at Churchill Downs.
Petrov is conceding experience to most of today’s rivals but he showed he has ability when he was second beaten just a head in the King’s Swan Stakes in December.
Dilettante is another Lukas trainee but the runner just broke his maiden and he will need to likely come from pretty far back.
Hence came back running in his 2017 debut but he was losing a bit of ground late. He did win that race despite stumbling badly at the break.
One Liner has laughed at his rivals so far winning both of his starts. Both of his wins were sprints so he will have to adapt to the route game on the fly.
P C Cowboy has some things to iron out. He was fully extended for his lone win and he has pretty much overachieved as a $5,000 purchase.
Chief Know It All has much more speed than he just flashed but he gets the worst of it post-wise was a quick run to the first turn.
The pace of the Southwest Stakes will be legitimate. Uncontested has to be forwardly placed as will Cool Arrow. Warrior’s Club will not be far away and Todd Pletcher’s student One Liner will also be in the mix.
It could very well come down to a rider’s race and which pilot can carve out the best of trips. Jockey Channing Hill should fit the bill this time. He will be able to place Uncontested anywhere he wants in the early going. Uncontested showed he can overcome adversity breaking his maiden. He will have to show Monday that he can take the heat of a speed duel in the kitchen and live to tell about it. This runner should thrive as the distances increase as his sire Tiz Wonderful is a son of two-time Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Tiznow.
This runner may very well be uncontested and unchallenged if he can secure a positive position early in the race.
Youngsters Primed for Southwest Stakes
