By Jay Hovdey, DRF.com
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (Apr. 13, 2018) — The Oaklawn Handicap, once the highlight of its own Oaklawn Park afternoon, has been upstaged on the same program by the Arkansas Derby since 2012. No matter. For those who prefer their racehorses of a more mature vintage, Saturday’s running of the Oaklawn Handicap promises to provide all the diversion required, even though Sunday’s headlines will be monopolized by the 3-year-old event. Youth must be served.
With $750,000 on the line, the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap should be on the to-do list of every owner and trainer with a viable runner. This year’s field includes that entertaining pair of underachievers Lookin At Lee and Sonneteer, plus the 1-2-3 finishers from the local Essex Handicap, while the real shade will be thrown by California shippers Accelerate, trained by John Sadler, and City of Light, from the stable of Michael McCarthy. They were the stars of the March 10 party at Santa Anita, highlighted by their Grade 1 victories in the Santa Anita Handicap and the Triple Bend.
The tune sounds familiar. For years now, Oaklawn Park has been the battleground for arguments that sprouted out West.
In 1986, Gary Jones and Turkoman got the best of Jack Van Berg and Gate Dancer in the Oaklawn Handicap, then Jones was back in 1992 with Best Pal to beat Ron McAnally and Sea Cadet. Atticus and Richard Mandella dusted Bob Baffert and Isitingood in 1997. Ron Ellis and Buzzards Bay were much the best in 2006, with Darrell Vienna’s Magnum second. And the following year John Shirreffs brought Tiago to Oaklawn on the same plane as Zenyatta to edge Jerry Hollendorfer and Heatseeker in a thriller.
The Oaklawn Handicap was first run in 1944 and won by the 3-year-old Challenge Me, who ran off to win by 10 lengths while setting a track record for the mile and one-sixteenth. In case anyone wasn’t paying attention, Challenge Me came right back to beat his own generation in the Arkansas Derby, then went on to a respectable career that included a victory in the 1945 Hollywood Gold Cup (run late in the year because of war restrictions), as well as good races against horses such as Hall of Famer Armed and the top-quality mare Durazna.
Oaklawn lost its 1945 meet to the war and resumed business in 1946, the Oaklawn Handicap included. Its most notable winners have included Cigar and Wild Again, both of whom won the Breeders’ Cup Classic later the same year, as well as champions Temperence Hill, The Wicked North, and Lawyer Ron.
None of them, however, ran the mile and one-eighth faster than the California-bred Snow Chief did in 1987, while winning for the last time in a career that featured an Eclipse Award and a Preakness trophy to go along with Grade 1 wins at 2, 3, and 4. Snow Chief’s Oaklawn victory by three-quarters of a length over Red Attack, winner of the ’87 Stephen Foster, was accomplished in 1:46.60. Even though the raw time requires context, Snow Chief’s clocking has survived the challenge of 30 subsequent runnings.
“He was a little black horse who carried his head low, and it always felt like he was running fast,” said Hall of Famer Alex Solis, who rode Snow Chief for trainer Mel Stute in 17 of his 24 starts, including the one at Oaklawn.
“But that day I knew we were really rolling,” Solis said. “I was not surprised when I came back to find he had set a track record.”
It took a broken leg, fractured ribs, and a broken thumb late in 1986 to separate Solis from Snow Chief. By the time Solis returned to action, Pat Valenzuela had ridden the little colt to a victory in the 1987 Charles H. Strub Stakes, and therefore kept the mount for the Santa Anita Handicap. Snow Chief ran fifth that day, while Solis watched from atop eighth-place Bruiser, a longshot.
“Mel Stute is a very loyal person,” said Solis, who retired last year. “I was hoping to ride Snow Chief again, and he put me back on as soon as he could. To have a horse like that at the start of my career meant so much.”
In their reunion, Solis and Snow Chief finished third in the ’87 Gulfstream Park Handicap, about which the rider has no particular memory.
“My mind is like a computer programmed to remember ‘win only,’ ” Solis said with a laugh.
If that is true, he must have vivid recollections of winning the 1998 Arkansas Derby aboard Victory Gallop, along with the 2004 Fantasy Stakes on House of Fortune. Win or lose, though, Solis was a willing Arkansas traveler.
“Somehow, horses always adjust great to Oaklawn,” Solis said. “Probably it’s because they feel like I did.
“It was like a working holiday. I would stay at the Arlington Hotel, up on the hill, and I would get the massage and do the mineral baths. I always looked forward to a hike in the wilderness around there, too. And then there was the food. Ron McAnally took me to a place for the fried chicken one night that was the best I’ve ever had.
“For me, getting to ride at Oaklawn was like competing at the big show,” Solis added. “I was lucky to have a part in the show with Snow Chief, and I’m glad what he did is still history.”