Oaklawn’s G3 Fantasy merits an upgrade
Oaklawn Park knows better than to get its hopes up about an upgrade for the Fantasy Stakes.
If the grounds for doing so aren’t overwhelming enough, any posturing from Oaklawn in regards to its premier race for 3-year-old fillies might be of no use.
Its main argument: producing winners of two Triple Crown races, girls who beat the boys. Rachel Alexandra in 2009 and Swiss Skydiver this year are the only Preakness-winning fillies since 1924. Both won the Fantasy, which carries a Grade 3 designation.
And it doesn’t stop there. Winners of the Kentucky Oaks and last weekend’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, both Grade
1, also contested this year’s Fantasy, which dates to 1973.
Swiss Skydiver finished first, Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil third and QE2 Challenge Cup winner Harvey’s Lil Goil 11th in the $400,000 race May 1. It filled the spot on the racing calendar tradtionally occupied by the Kentucky Oaks, which because of the coronavirus pandemic was postponed until Sept. 4.
The American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association makes these calls. It reviewed 844 races for 2020, assigning grades to 448, two fewer than were graded in 2019, and listed status to
196 races. It has heard protests from Oaklawn before and can expect to hear more if the Fantasy doesn’t get a boost (the 2021 grades will be announced later this year).
Track management once took out an ad in Daily Racing Form lampooning the committee’s decision to lower the Apple Blossom Handicap to Grade 2. Moreover, Oaklawn refused to print grades in its program. The late Chick Lang Jr., then Oaklawn’s operations director, said, “All of our races are grade A.” (The Graded Stakes Committee eventually restored the Apple Blossom to Grade 1 status, which it shares with the Arkansas Derby.)
At its peak, the Fantasy produced three straight winners that campaigned at the highest level. The ill- fated Eight Belles, trained by Larry Jones, finished second to Big Brown in the 2008 Kentucky Derby, though suffering a fatal injury after defeating 18 males at Churchill Downs.
Rachel Alexandra, winning the Kentucky Oaks by 20 3/4 lengths for trainer Hal Wiggins, became the first Preakness-winning filly in 85 years after her sale and reassignment to the barn of Steve Asmussen. She beat males in two other races in 2009 and outpolled the unbeaten racemare Zenyatta, that year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, as Horse of the Year.
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer shipped in Blind Luck to win the 2010 Fantasy (then Grade 2) and also captured the Kentucky Oaks in a championship season. She had an ongoing rivalry with Havre de Grace, memorably defeating the 2011 Horse of the Year in that year’s Delaware Handicap after doing so twice as a 3-year-old.
The Fantasy will be worth a record $600,000 in 2021 for its April 3 running. For now, because of its alumni, it outshines higher graded Kentucky Oaks preps. With blind luck, someone on the committee will notice.
West Coast trainer dies: Had he been able to win more consistently outside California, Best Pal might be remembered for more than earning $5.6 million in a Hall of Fame racing career.
Second in the 1991 Kentucky Derby, Best Pal won 18 stakes in 47 lifetime starts. Bred and owned by John and Betty Mabee, the son of Habitony captured the inaugural Pacific Classic at Del Mar along with the Hollywood Gold Cup and the Santa Anita Handicap. Del Mar annually holds a 2-year-old stake honoring Best Pal, who died in 1998.
The leading California-bred horse in career earnings upon retirement (a record since broken), Best Pal won only one race outside the Golden State, but it carried clout. With Kent Desormeaux riding, the then
4- year- old gelding took the
1992 Oaklawn Handicap by 1
1/2 lengths over Ron McAnallytrained Sea Cadet running nine furlongs in 1:48.10. Best Pal returned to finish third in the
1993 Oaklawn Handicap (West Coast star Jovial upsetting Kentucky Derby winner Lil E. Tee) and fifth behind mighty Cigar in 1995.
His trainer, Gary Jones, a Hall of Famer himself, broke records in California established by his father, Farrell Jones. A winner of 1,465 races, including three other major stakes at Oaklawn Park, Jones died Sunday in Del Mar, Calif., at age 76. Survivors include wife Joanie and two sons, including Marty, a trainer on the Southern California circuit.
Gary Jones’ success with Best Pal came after he trained Turkoman to the 1986 Eclipse Award as champion older male. The 4-year-old son of Alydar, clocked in 1:47.40, turned back a short field in that year’s Oaklawn Handicap with Chris McCarron aboard. Houston businessman Corbin Robertson raced Turkoman.
Jones also saddled 4-yearold filly By Land By Sea and 3-year-old filly Fantastic Look to Oaklawn stakes victories. Jones said jokingly that Fernando Toro, an accomplished rider on grass, might look out of place in a major dirt race. but the Chilean booted home By Land By Sea in the 1988 Apple Blossom Handicap. Fantastic Look, with McCarron up, rewarded the Mabees with their second- straight Fantasy victory in 1989, following that of Jeanne Jones (trained by Charlie Whittingham, ridden by Bill Shoemaker).