Discreetness can handle two turns in Smarty Jones
January 18, 2016HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The $150,000 Smarty Jones on Monday at Oaklawn Park is an opportunity to get a line on one of the best 3-year-olds on the grounds in Discreetness. He faces an accomplished invader in Toews On Ice as well as the graded stakes winner Shogood. They’ve got some tough horses in the race, but he’ll be tough, too,” said Jinks Fires, who trains Discreetness.
The Smarty Jones, a one-mile race that will end at the sixteenth pole, ushers in the wildly successful 3-year-old program at Oaklawn. Last year, Triple Crown winner American Pharoah came to town and started his campaign with wins in the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby. His trainer, Bob Baffert, is back with Toews On Ice, who last month ran second in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity. Toews On Ice is the one to beat in a field of 14 that also includes Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Futurity winner Shogood and the promising Force It, Synchrony, Gray Sky, and Knights Key.
Key contenders
Discreetness (Last 3 Beyer Speed Figures: 77-66-82) He won his two-turn debut last out in the $250,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park. By virtue of that Dec. 13 score, he is one of just a handful in the Smarty Jones field proven at two turns. Discreetness rallied from well back for a nose win, one start after finishing fourth in the Street Sense, a one-turn-mile stakes Nov. 1 at Churchill Downs. “He ate dirt most of the way at Remington, got to the outside, and got a clear run to the wire,” Fires said. “In a couple of other races he got beat in, he was blocked in, especially at Churchill.” Discreetness will break from gate 5 under Jon Court. “We did draw a decent post,” Fires said. “We’ll look for the speed in there to go out. A disadvantage is the short stretch.”
Toews On Ice (Last 3 Beyer Speed Figures: 85-85-83) He won three straight sprint stakes leading up to his two-turn debut in the Los Alamitos Futurity, in which he dueled and was overtaken by the late-running Mor Spirit. Martin Garcia has the mount on Toews On Ice, whose sire, Archarcharch, won the Southwest Stakes and Arkansas Derby under the tutelage of Fires.
Shogood (Last 3 Beyer Speed Figures: 39-78-77) He is based at Oaklawn and is looking for his first dirt win, and trainer Scott Becker is pleased with how he is coming up to the Smarty Jones. “Today, he trained the best I’ve seen him train,” Becker said Saturday. Shogood exits a ninth-place finish in the Street Sense, and Becker noted that the horse lost some training time prior to that start due to throat blisters. In addition, he said the track that day did not play to the front-runner’s game. Chris Emigh, aboard for the Arlington-Washington, has the mount Monday.