After the Road to the Kentucky Derby series passed through Louisiana last week with the Lecomte Stakes (G3), the next qualifying race moves to Arkansas Jan. 25 when Oaklawn Park stages the Southwest Stakes (G3).
The second Kentucky Derby (G1) prep race of the year at Oaklawn—following the Jan. 4 Smarty Jones Stakes, won by Coal Battle—the Southwest offers qualifying points on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale toward the May 3 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs. Churchill Downs uses qualifying points as a preference system when the Derby overfills beyond its 20-horse maximum field size.
Worth $800,000 in 2024, the Southwest exhibited the talent of Mystik Dan, who skipped to an eight-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile race in the mud. A little more than three months later, that colt would win a thriller in the Derby, edging Sierra Leone and Forever Young under a rail-hugging ride from Brian Hernandez Jr.
He became the third horse to experience Derby glory after competing in the Southwest, following Smarty Jones, who won both races in 2004, and Lil E. Tee, third in the 1992 Southwest before his eventual success in the first leg of the Triple Crown.
With Oaklawn's massive purses, do not be surprised to see continued participation in Arkansas from Kentucky Derby-quality starters in the coming years. Saturday's Southwest is worth even more than it was in 2024, having been bumped to $1 million.
The Oaklawn preps will grow even more prosperous leading toward the first Saturday in May. The next leg of its 3-year-old route series is the Feb. 22 Rebel Stakes (G2), with its purse of $1.25 million, followed by the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1) March 29.
It is no wonder trainers such as Bob Baffert, Steve Asmussen, Mark Casse, and Brad Cox have Southwest entrants, and elite jockeys Juan Hernandez and Flavien Prat have traveled from California to ride.
Cox has 5-2 second choice on the morning line in CHC and WinStar Farm's Patch Adams, a head-turning maiden winner at Churchill Downs in late November—though more than likely he'll be favored over 2-1 morning-line choice and grade 1 winner Gaming by post time.
Patch Adams was the 12-1 second favorite among individual betting interests in the most recent Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool that closed Jan. 19, while Gaming was 38-1. Among single-horse wagering options, only Gaming's stablemate, San Vicente Stakes (G2) winner Barnes, was a shorter price than Patch Adams, with Barnes pegged at 6-1 for a race more than three months away.
Why the excitement in Patch Adams? In breaking his maiden second time out in a Nov. 30 race at Churchill Downs after a debut third the previous month at Keeneland, he scorched seven furlongs in 1:20.77, just .33 of a second off Groupie Doll's track record of 1:20.44 set in 2012. Groupie Doll is a two-time champion female sprinter and Breeders' Cup winner.
Patch Adams won his maiden race by 10 1/2 lengths, reflecting his talent and a suspect group that chased him, at least by Churchill standards.
All four returnees from the race have gone unplaced in subsequent starts. Runner-up Can't Stop Munnings ran fourth Jan. 11 in a Gulfstream Park maiden contest; third-place Shogun finished sixth in the same race; fifth-place Mogordy was again fifth in a follow-up start Dec. 28, also at Gulfstream; and eighth-place Native Runner ran seventh and 10th in a pair of races at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
In addition to Patch Adams, several others are entered to compete Jan. 24 or Saturday.
Besides the speed of his maiden win, Patch Adams has a pedigree to suggest a bright future. Bred by WinStar Farm, he is by record-setting stallion Into Mischief , the leading general sire for the past six years, out of the stakes-winning router Well Humored.
Prat rides him Saturday for Cox, who won the 2021 Southwest with champion Essential Quality .
Gaming, a winner of his first two starts, including the 2024 Del Mar Futurity (G1) for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, has been on the board in all four of his races. Stretched out to 1 1/16 miles, he was second to barnmate Citizen Bull in the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) before running a flat third in the Dec. 14 Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) behind Journalism and Getaway Car.
Speaking of Gaming's stock falling with pundits after that show finish, Baffert told Oaklawn publicity, "He went from the top 12 to nowhere. That's the way it is in this business. You're only as good as your last race."
Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman own the Game Winner colt, the only stakes winner in the Southwest. He starts from the rail under Hernandez.
The Southern California-based Baffert is a six-time winner of the Southwest, recording all his victories since 2010. Gaming, an Eclipse Award finalist for his achievements in 2024, arrived at Oaklawn Jan. 21.
Stakes-placed Southwest participants include the Asmussen-trained Tiztastic, second in the Street Sense Stakes (G3) and third in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2), both in the fall at Churchill Downs; Sandman, third in the Street Sense for Casse and a follow-up allowance optional claiming winner at Oaklawn; and the Ron Moquett-trained Speed King, who set the pace in the Dec. 13 Remington Springboard Mile Stakes at Remington Park before being caught late in a half-length loss to Coal Battle.
Asmussen is a three-time Southwest winner. Moquett also has a Southwest victory, scoring with Far Right in 2015.
According to Oaklawn publicity, the Kenny McPeek-trained Render Judgment will be scratched due to a foot issue.
