2/18 (OP) Southwest Stakes
 

Southwest Stakes
9th (5:02)
1 Mile | Open | 3 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $250,000

1 Silver Edition Bravo J 115 L
2 He's Eze Quinonez L S 119 L
3 Liberty Bull Razo E Jr 119 L
4 Sacred Journey Leparoux J R 117 L
5 Turf War Borel C H 119 L
6 Sierra Sunset Emigh C A 119 L
7 Isabull Doocy T T 115 L
8 Denis of Cork Albarado R J 117 L
9 Gangbuster LeBlanc K P 115 L
10 Riley Tucker Desormeaux K J 115 L
11 Royal Hudson Hamel R 119 L

Clearly this race is on 2/18.....not 2/12 as I (for some unknown reason) put in the title of this thread.
I'm losing my mind.

I'm going with Riley Tucker.:)

Riley Tucker is the facebook tip, but I would take Denis of Cork over him coming off the layoff.

Does anyone find it interesting that Jersey Joe Bravo is shipping in to ride the Lukas entry? Has Joe ever been over Oaklawn before?:eek:

Pretty wide open affair. 11 Entries quite unlike the public worksouts that pass for graded preps at Santa Anita this year.

I guess there is a shorter stretch run on the mile races at Oaklawn. Has anyone else ever heard that?:D

The mile races start and end at the 1/16th pole which makes for a shorter closing stretch. Closing horses many times will start their move at the end of the backstretch moving into the far turn.

Stupid question - What time is this race in EST? 6, right?

Yes, 6:02 est.

Thanks, Travis

Maybe I'm wrong, but Denis of Cork still has a long way to go in my book. He's a mere allowance winner over Unbridled Vicar who was less than stellar in the stakes at FG. And he's not that much faster on figures than anyone else in the race.

Interesting how Silver Edition continues this on-race, off-race pattern. Lukas horses often find ways of rebounding off poor efforts. Cozy inside draw too.

How good is the Delta Jackpot race? So far, subsequent efforts have been poor. Turf War took advantage of the race shape too.

Isabull is intriguing after breaking from post twelve last time and nearly winning the darn thing. That was he first start since November, too.

The other bull had a good run to from a much better position. Seems like both of these should be considered.

Liberty Bull for the upset.

Denis of Cork, He's Eze, Riley Tucker, and Silver Edition tri and exacta box.

Well the race fell apart. Picked the wrong closer.

had the right idea to throw out Turf War, just not the right horses in my box.

How in the world they sent that horse off as the favorite here is beyond me. Did they not see Z Humor's performance in Tampa this weekend? I can't believe Denis of Cork was the third choice.

Here's a little quick assessment of the horses who have run back:

Z Humor- 5th beaten 5 at 6/5 on 2/16 at Tam
Turf War- 9th beaten 8 on 2/18 at OP
Overextended- 9th beaten 12 on 12/22 at Hol
St. Joe- 7th beaten 38 3/4 on 2/2 at GP
Cave's Valley- 6th beaten 9 1/2 at 2-1 on 2/2 at AQU
Take the Money- 3rd beaten 6 1/4 on 1/18 at DeD

NT

I think Sacred Light
might have been trying
to tear the arms off of J.Lep

Yes, looks like Jackpot has become Derby Death Watch list, or Anti-Key Race. Still waiting on Golden Yank to emerge soon.

You guys sound like your right on about the delta race.I hate that too b/c i put a future bet on zhumor and my goodness did he look awful in that race on Sat. I know that he washed out bad b4 the race but it wasn't his first race so why did that happen? I know that it was warm in Tampa on Sat but still, dont feel very good about that future bet at all. Guess i got suckered on this zhumor but at 48-1 i figured what the heck.

Sacred Journey, Sacred Light was a deep closer.

I knew I had a problem with anything holy.
Thanks.

I love that the Southwest is now graded. Seems to me that there's no better place to prep for the Triple Crown and the one issue the Oaklawn road had back in '04 (basically a one shot deal to get enough graded earnings) has been eliminated.

Now we all just need to start an "Arkansas Derby-G1" campaign and everything would be complete.

While it only seems logical that the Arkansas Derby should receive Grade I status, I am not optimistic the powers that be will let that happen anytime soon.:mad:

read the article in todays paper about the day yesterday. oaklawn had a very nice crowd there. sounds like it was a good day.
unless you're calvin borel!

Exactly. It's only logical that the Arkansas Derby should be on equal standing with the TC races.

How about on equal footing with the Wood Memorial at least?

Let's run through the list of winners since '04... Tapit, Bellamy Road, Bob and John, Nobiz... a combined ZERO TC board finishes and a grand total of what, 1 dirt win after that?

Arkansas Derby in the same stretch... Smarty Jones (2 TC victories and a 2nd), Afleet Alex (2 TC victories and a 3rd), Lawyer Ron (no TC success but several graded stakes victories since), Curlin (1 TC victory, 1 2nd, 1 3rd, a JCGC, BCC, and HOY)

I think that says enough.

Keep in mind, KG, this coming from a hardcore New Yorker.

1000% agree that it deserves to be on equal footing with the Wood. Same with the Florida Derby, Blue Grass, and SA Derby. My issue is more with any of them being grade ones in the first place. I don't feel like preps should be on equal footing with the main event, rating wise.

should be on equal footing with the fla derby, the only other prep with a million dollar purse.

altho others are grade ones, only the derby, preakness and belmont are referred to as 'the classics'. everyone knows winning the gr 1 fla derby is not on par with winning one of the gr 1 classics.

If everyone knows it, then it shouldn't be the same grade. IMO, the only grade one races for 3yo's should be the TC races, the Haskell, the Travers, the Super Derby, the King's Bishop, and the Secretariat.

I obviously am extremely biased in this case, however, I don't think the Super Derby is quite ready to return to grade one status. Early this decade the race had a few runnings that hurt its points, but lately, we've done okay:

- Lawyer Ron (Second in '06... lots of points)
- Grasshopper (Mineshaft winner... lots of potential)

If we get a good chunk of points out of Grasshopper this year, the race is in much better shape.

If you base it on it's recent runnings, no, it shouldn't be a grade one. But I look at it in a different sense. The reason I would make it grade one is in the hopes that it can become that type of race. After the TC, it would be nice to have a set path for the 3yo's to aim to. The Haskell is the first logical big one, coming just about two months after the Belmont. The Travers is obviously next in the sequence. From the Travers to the Super Derby, the timing is perfect and also gives them enough time to be ready for the BC. If I were in charge, I'd make it a grade one and separate it from races like the Penn Derby, WV Derby, etc. I'd try to keep a clear top tier of races for the top horses instead of giving them so many equal options to chose from that it keeps them from facing each other.

Your idea would be great for the fans as we'd have far less G1 winners going into the Triple Crown and those that suffer minor injuries during the TC are less likely to be retired without being a G1 winner. Unfortunately what would be great news for fans is terrible news for the breeders who can't stand those horses as G1 winners and we all know who holds sway with the Graded Stakes Committee.

I am not a particular fan of how races are graded in today's racing arena. I think there are numerous flaws. And really, grades are pointless from a racing fan and handicapping perspective. But that's a double-edged sword as owners and trainers point horses to particular races because of grades. What sounds like a slippery-slope is just a brutal system.

If I were czar, races would be graded on a "post-race" basis. And a races grade would never be set in stone. For example, this Southwest on Monday was probably a weak G3 race, however, if Denis of Cork goes on to do great things, the Southwest of '08 gradually rises in rank. I think this could add a lot of merit, excitement and more fairly represent the graded system as opposed to what we have now.

Basically, we are assigning the race a numerical quality before we know who is in it!

Your system would screw over top horses. If Asmussen announces that Curlin is going to the Suburban then everyone else goes to the Foster and a bunch of claimers show up for the Suburban. Now you are going to award a G1 to the winner of the Foster and not to Curlin cause he was in a weak field even though the winner of the Foster ducked him. They could deny the horse a G1 until the BC Classic just by ducking him so he never beats a quality field. Or if you think that Curlin alone makes a race a G1 then had he run in the Mineshaft you'd have to instantly upgrade that to G1 based on his presence and he could choose whatever easy races were convenient to him and win G1s in all of them. Grading them ahead of time is a good thing, in my opinion, for this reason.