Oaklawn Park’s 56-day live season opens on Friday, January 19 with a nine race card featuring the five-and-a-half furlong Dixieland Stakes for three-year-olds.Among the most notable entries are Officer Rocket, Irish Dreamer, Sir Five Star, and Go Poppa Fooze.
Officer Rocket won Arlington Park’s Spectacular Bid Stakes in August and the Arlington-Washington Breeders' Cup Futurity in September but finished fifth in the Iroquois Stakes on October 29 at Churchill Downs and sixth in the 1 1/16 mile Delta Jackpot at Delta Downs on December 1. Owned by Frank Fletcher Racing Operations Inc. and trained by Bob Holthus, whose success at Oaklawn Park is legendary, Officer Rocket has won three of six starts overall and needs a solid performance in the Dixieland to keep pace with rival Hard Spun, winner of the Grade III Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds earlier this month.
A solid performance in the Dixieland Stakes would leave trainer Chris Richard in a position to enter Irish Dreamer in either the 1 mile Southwest Stakes on February 19 or the 6 furlong Mountain Valley Stakes on February 24, but first Irish Dreamer must clear his final hurdle of 2006 on December 26 at Hawthorne. The loser of four since an impressive debut win at Arlington, Irish Dreamer will need to run back to his earlier form to be a serious Derby contender.
Sir Five Star enters the Dixieland with a career record of four wins from 10 starts and earnings of $169,870. A wire to wire winner in the Riley Allison Futurity at Sunland Park in New Mexico, Sir Five Star is owned by Gus King and trained by Steve Asmussen, who recently completed a six-month suspension for medication violations at Sunland Park and Evangeline Downs.
Six times the leading trainer at Oaklawn Park, Cole Norman finds himself saddling a serious Dixieland contender in Go Poppa Fooze, but both trainer and horse enter the race under a cloud of suspicion. Norman was fined $1,000 and suspended for six months after two of his horses failed pre-race testing before the running of the $150,000 Jean Lafitte Stakes on November 3 at Delta Downs. Go Poppa Fooze, who won the race by nine lengths, and fourth-place finisher Bayou de Storm both showed excessive levels of total carbon dioxide (TCO2), said Larry Munster, assistant executive director of the Louisiana Racing Commission. It is believed that horses with high TCO2 counts gain an unfair advantage in their ability to run through muscle fatigue.
Norman is appealing the ruling, and will continue to saddle horses pending that outcome. A hearing is expected to be conducted on January 26, 2007.
The remainder of the field for the Dixieland includes entry Hadacure and Proud Leader; Westwon; Tricky's Tick Tock; Tortuga Straits; Harrow Land ; First Regent; Speedway; and Chawnado.
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