Baffert sweeps ArkDerby with Charlatan, Nadal; By My Standards roll
Oaklawn Park stakes recap (Coady Photography photo above of Charlatan and Martin Garcia)
HOT SPRINGS, AR (Saturday, May 2, 2020) – Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is well on his way to his record-tying sixth Kentucky Derby (G1) after both heavily favored Charlatan and Nadal remained undefeated in their respective Arkansas Derby (G1) victories Saturday. Oaklawn split the race for just the second time in its 84-year history when 22 horses entered the race last Sunday. After two scratches in each division, nine horses started in each race.
Charlatan, who races for SF Racing, Louisville-based Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables, Fredrick Hertrich III, John Fielding and Golconda Stables, earned 100 points toward Kentucky Derby eligibility with his front-running winning stakes debut in the first division, beating Saratoga’s Grade 1 Hopeful winner Basin by six lengths, and is now ranked fourth on the leaderboard. George Bolton, Arthur Hoyeau, Barry Lipman and Mark Mathiesen’s Nadal, who won the Rebel Stakes March 14, is now the leader on the Kentucky Derby leader board with 150 points after taking the second division under Joel Rosario by three lengths over King Guillermo.
Arkansas Derby first division chart
Arkansas Derby second division chart
Rebel Stakes winner Nadal captured the second division of the Arkansas Derby under Joel Rosario. Coady Photography
“Very exciting day, to say the least,” Baffert said by phone. “I thought both horses were going to run really well. Charlatan, what a talent he is and how fast he is. I just loved the way, third out, to ship and to do that, what he did today – only the really good ones can do that. And Nadal, he came out of that race (Rebel) … he’s a tough horse. There’s a lot to him and he’s a cool customer and I could see he’s getting better and better. I just told Rosario to just get him running away from there and if somebody just gets ridiculous, like I thought maybe Florent (Geroux), he would probably try to get the lead, but don’t be worried about this horse sitting off a horse and he handled it well. Down the backside, I just loved the way he was. I figured if he was good enough, he can win from there. We just didn’t want to go :22 and empty out. It worked out perfectly. I just want to thank the Cella family and Oaklawn Park for the fantastic job. Just fortunate and happy that they were able to split it and give everybody a chance to get some Derby points.”
Gabriel Saez won the Oaklawn Handicap on Chester Thomas’ By My Standards. Coady Photography
King Guillermo, the Tampa Bay Derby winner, moved into fifth on the leaderboard by finishing second to Nadal. Basin, the runner up to Charlatan, is now ranked 10th with 50 total points. Governeur Morris, third in the first division is now ranked 14th with 34 total points. Fennick the Fierce, who ran third in the second division at odds of 62-1 is now 20th on the list with 25 points.
In between the two Arkansas Derbys, Allied Racing Stable LLC’s By My Standards pulled the mild upset when he won the $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) by 1 ¾ lengths over pacesetting Razorback Handicap winner Warrior’s Charge. 3-1 favorite Mr Freeze was third.
“He stepped up against a great field of horses,” said Bret Calhoun, who trains 2019 Louisiana Derby and 2020 New Orleans Classic winner By My Standards for Chester Thomas of Madisonville, Ky. “Lot of depth in it. He just kind of confirmed what we’ve been thinking of him. It’s nice for him to prove it on the racetrack. The 12 hole might not have been ideal, but he overcame it. Gabe (Saez) did a great job of getting position in the first turn. You didn’t want to be overconfident at that point and time, but I found myself feeling pretty comfortable early in the race, once he got that position away from the gate. I didn’t really think it would be a problem (winning outside Louisiana), but until you do it, you don’t know. He’d never run on that track, he’d never shipped and run. I understand what the public might be have been thinking, but they don’t have the opportunity to know exactly what we know.”
Saturday was the final day of the 2020 Oaklawn season. Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. finished as leading rider for the seventh year with 60 wins, Robertino Diodoro secured his first leading trainer’s title with 52 wins and M & M Racing was leading owner for the third straight year with 27 wins.
