4/9/26 Barn Notes
by Robert Yates
Reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty headlines the list of early Oaklawn Handicap probables, the Oaklawn racing department said Thursday morning.
Entries will be accepted and post positions drawn Sunday for the Oaklawn Handicap, a $1.25 million Grade 2 event for older horses, along with two other stakes races April 18 at Oaklawn.
Other horses expected to be entered in the 1 1/8-mile Oaklawn Handicap include millionaire Grade 1 winner White Abarrio for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., and Grade 3 winner Liberal Arts for trainer Heather Irion. A handful of other horses are under consideration for the Oaklawn Handicap, with the field projected between five and eight, the Oaklawn racing department said.
Sovereignty, who would be making his 4-year-old debut, won 5 of 6 starts last year for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and breeder/owner Godolphin, including two legs of the Triple Crown (Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes). Sovereignty hasn’t started since a 10-length romp in the Travers Stakes (G1) at 1 ¼ miles Aug. 23 at Saratoga. He has never faced older horses.
Mott was Oaklawn’s leading trainer in 1986. Godolphin won the Oaklawn Handicap in 2023 with Proxy and 2025 with First Mission.
Sovereignty, who is based in south Florida, would be the fourth reigning Horse of the Year to run at Oaklawn, following Favorite Trick, Azeri and Thorpedo Anna.
Favorite Trick, Mott’s 1997 Horse of the Year, suffered his first career loss in the 1998 Arkansas Derby (G2). Azeri was the 2002 Horse of the Year. A three-time Apple Blossom (G1) winner (2002, 2003 and 2004), Azeri was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2010. Thorpedo Anna was the 2024 Horse of the Year. She won the 2025 Azeri Stakes (G2) and Apple Blossom enroute to an Eclipse Award as North America’s champion older dirt female.
Entries will also be accepted and post positions drawn Sunday for the $200,000 Bathhouse Row Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles and the $200,000 Valley of the Vapors Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at one mile.
Back to Work
Silent Tactic (Kentucky Derby) and Counting Stars (Kentucky Oaks) and Search Party (Kentucky Oaks) may have their final workouts this weekend before departing for Churchill Downs, dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse said Wednesday afternoon.
“We were thinking Monday, but now with the rain coming we might go Sunday,” Casse said.
Silent Tactic has secured a spot in the Kentucky Derby with 100 qualifying points to rank seventh. The field is limited to 20 starts. Silent Tactic was the only horse to go through Oaklawn’s four-race Kentucky Derby prep series, finishing second in the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 3, winning the $1 million Southwest Stakes (G3) Feb. 6 and finishing second in the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) March 1 and the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1) March 28.
Arkansas Derby winner Renegade collected 125 points and ranks third on Kentucky Derby leaderboard. The only other Oaklawn-raced horse with enough points, at the moment, to qualify for the Kentucky Derby is Rebel winner Class President, who ranks 16th with 50.
Counting Stars (100 points) and Search Party (67.5) rank fifth and 12, respectively, on the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard. The race is limited to 14 starters. Explora (95) is the only other Oaklawn-raced horse, at the moment, with enough points to qualify for the Kentucky Oaks. She ranks eighth.
Search Party and Counting Stars were the only horses to go through Oaklawn’s three-race Kentucky Oaks prep series. Search Party won the $300,000 Martha Washington Stakes Feb. 6. Counting Stars won the $1 million Fantasy Stakes (G2) March 27. Explora won the second leg, the $750,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) March 1, for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. Explora missed the Fantasy because of a fever.
Finish Lines
Runaway Oaklawn leading apprentice jockey Amir Mendoza will be based at Horseshoe Indianapolis after the Oaklawn meeting ends May 2, his agent, Joe Santos, said. Santos said Mendoza will try to ride seven days a week by traveling to tracks in Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois. Mendoza has 25 victories this season at Oaklawn and also tops all apprentice riders at the meet in purse earnings ($1,448,752). … David Cabrera, Oaklawn’s co-leading rider in 2021-2022, rode three winners Saturday. Cabrera won the fifth race aboard Calycanthus ($18.80) for trainer Jade Cunningham, seventh race aboard favored Well Aware ($5.80) for 2015 Oaklawn training champion Chris Hartman and the 11th race aboard Secured Leader ($12.40) for Hartman. It marked Cabrera’s first Oaklawn riding triple since Dec. 31, 2022, and pushed his career total in Hot Springs to 216. Cabrera is riding regularly at Oaklawn for the first time since 2022-2023. … Saturday’s training double moved Hartman’s career Oaklawn total to 294.
