5/1/26 Barn Notes
Compiled by Robert Yates
On the day of the Kentucky Derby, trainer Bentley Combs will be running in his Kentucky Derby.
Combs is scheduled to start Montauk Point in Saturday’s $135,000 Trail’s End starter allowance, a 1 ¾-mile marathon that is traditionally Oaklawn’s final race of the meeting. The Trail’s End, which drew 14 starters, is for older horses that have started for a claiming price of $12,500 or less in 2025-2026.
A former assistant under Dallas Stewart and Chad Brown, Combs is seeking his fourth Trail’s End victory after winning the race in 2021 and 2022 with Original Intent and 2023 with Hellorhighwater. All three horses were raced by Ten Strike Racing (Marshall Gramm), which considers Oaklawn its home track.
“Actually, Marshall Gramm got me turned on to this race when we first got Original Intent,” Combs said Friday morning. “I had never actually heard of it. But it’s one of those (races), without sounding cocky or anything, we’re good at it – at least we seem to be. It’s our Kentucky Derby until we get a Derby horse.”
Combs owns Montauk Point, a 7-year-old gelded son of Violence who is a half-brother to dual Eclipse Award winner Covfefe.
Combs claimed Montauk Point for $7,500 in December 2024 at Turfway Park with the intent of running in the 2025 Trail’s End. Montauk Point missed the race after he emerged from his ninth-place finish in an April 2025 prep at Oaklawn with some issues, Combs said.
Montauk Point resurfaced with a ninth-place finish Feb. 6 at Oaklawn, then beat $16,000 claimers at 1 1/16 miles March 12 before finishing fifth in the April 2 Trail’s End prep. Bright Spark, who is trained by Kevin Martin and co-owned by Staton Flurry of Hot Springs, won the 1 1/8-mile starter allowance by 1 ½ lengths and is the 7-5 program favorite for the Trail’s End.
Combs said Montauk Point suffered a case of thumps (an electrolyte imbalance that can cause irregular spasming of the diaphragm) in his last start, adding “we’re going to back off our Lasix” for the Trail’s End.
Montauk Point (15-1) is scheduled to break from post 7 under two-time Oaklawn riding champion Francisco Arrieta. Arrieta won last year’s Trail’s End aboard Nepal Up.
“I like our post position,” Combs said. “Bright Spark, obviously, is the one to beat. Good luck to Staton and Kevin. They’re the ones to beat. But everybody in here, we know they can get a mile and an eighth. We’ve just got to see if they can go the extra five-eighths.”
Montauk Point is one of five horses for Combs at Oaklawn, where he has won three of 10 starts at the 2025-2026 meeting. Combs said he will be based at Delaware Park for the first time after Oaklawn’s meeting ends.
Probable post time for the Trail’s End, the 13th race, is 7:02 p.m. (Central). The Trail’s End has a record base purse this year after previously being $125,000.
Holiday Road
Next-race plans are pending for Holly’s Holiday following her victory in the $200,000 Valley of the Vapors Stakes April 18, trainer Kenny McPeek said Tuesday.
The Valley of the Vapors, a 1-mile race for 3-year-old fillies, marked the stakes debut for Holly’s Holiday, who, at odds of 21-1, drew off to a 1 ¾-length victory under Emmanuel Esquivel.
“I’m probably leaning on sitting on her until early June because the only real race that I think fits her is the Black-Eyed Susan,” the Kentucky-based McPeek said. “But I don’t know that I want to ship her to Laurel and back.”
McPeek said Holly’s Holiday could be a candidate for the Monomoy Girl Overnight Stakes June 13 at Churchill Downs, Iowa Oaks July 10 at Prairie Meadows or the Indiana Oaks (G3) July 11 at Horseshoe Indianapolis.
Holly’s Holiday is the first horse for the Arkansas ownership group of 4 G Racing (Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway), Gregg Day and Steven “Goose” Crain. McPeek and another Arkansas ownership group (4 G, Lance Gasaway and brothers Banks and Scott Hamby) teamed to win the 2024 Kentucky Derby with Mystik Dan. Crain, a Hot Springs concrete construction company owner, Brent Gasaway and Lance Gasaway are cousins.
“I’ve been lucky for the Arkansans, haven’t I?” McPeek said. “Now, I’ve got win a bunch next year for John Ed.”
McPeek was referring to Arkansas lumberman John Ed Anthony, the winningest owner in Oaklawn history.
The Valley of the Vapors was the second victory in four lifetime starts for Holly’s Holiday and raised her earnings to $160,734. Named after Crain’s wife, Holly’s Holiday is the first Oaklawn stakes winner for her sire, Maxfield.
Finish Lines
House Trick, the final career starter for retiring trainer Jinks Fires of Hot Springs, finished sixth in Friday’s second race. Fires, 85, is the fourth-winningest trainer in Oaklawn history with 480 victories. Fires was recognized in the Larry Snyder Winner’s Circle following the race. … First post for Saturday’s closing-day 13-race card is 12:15 p.m. CDT. … Jockey Ramon Vazquez rode two winners Thursday to take a 72-67 lead over Francisco Arrieta in the race for leading rider. Vazquez won the fourth race aboard favored Floating Beauty ($4.60) for trainer Lonnie Briley and the eighth race aboard Tahlequah ($7.20) for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. Vazquez and Arrieta are both scheduled to ride Friday at Churchill Downs before returning for Saturday’s program. Vazquez, 42, has never won an Oaklawn riding title. Arrieta is a two-time Oaklawn riding champion. … Trainer Ron Moquett of Hot Springs saddled two winners Thursday, pushing his career Oaklawn total to 397. Moquett won the seventh race with favored Coaster ($4.60) and the $150,000 Natural State Breeders’ Stakes with Queen Mallard ($11.80). Moquett is the seventh-winningest trainer in Oaklawn history. … Trainer Sarah Shaffer, who went out on her own last summer, recorded her third victory of the meeting, and third overall, in Thursday’s 10th race with Stephens Dream ($37.60). Joseph Bealmear rode Stephens Dream for owner Sara Patterson. … Jockey H. Luke Hoskins is scheduled to make his riding debut aboard Onyx Outlaw in Saturday’s first race for co-owner/trainer John Ortiz. Hoskins was scheduled to ride Onyx Outlaw April 24, but the race was canceled because of lightning delays. … Through Thursday, Day 60 of the 62-day meeting, 459 claims totaled $9,488,500, according to figures released by Oaklawn.
