A-listers go well in moist OP conditions

Arabian Knight, under John Velazquez, wins the Grade 3 $750,000 Southwest Stakes Saturday at Oaklawn. - Photo courtesy of Coady Photography

Three of horse racing's high priests were represented by Oaklawn stakes winners Saturday. Not really surprising, that, although the estimated 27,000 spectators needed umbrellas.

Quoting Lennon and McCartney from "Eleanor Rigby," "Tell me, where do they all come from?"

When Steve Asmussen and Bob Baffert are in the building, people crowd around. So infrequent are Baffert appearances that the white-haired trainer from California might need a nametag. Be sure, if one was required, he got one.

Brad Cox, another familiar face on race day in Hot Springs, was in Florida for 2022 Arkansas Derby winner Cyberknife's final start. Cox says little, yet more than Asmussen, though hardly as much as Baffert.

Bettors spoke loudly. Oaklawn handled almost $1 million on track and nearly $12 million overall on its 11 races. In this day and age, that's stout.

Off track, Art Collector, a Kentucky Derby contender in the 2020 pandemic season for another trainer, won the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park. Mark another Grade 1 triumph for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, who if the racing gods are listening will get an on-track Kentucky Derby victory to match that arriving by mail with Country House (first through DQ) in 2019. Bill's son Riley has horses at Oaklawn this year, winning a race and claiming a lot of horses. Asmussen's son, jockey Keith, also is on the scoreboard.

Cox and Mott remain welcome in jurisdictions that Baffert, the sport's highest-profile trainer, is persona non grata. Country House, after racing at Oaklawn, let Mott bask in a Derby victory, at least to some extent, after Maximum Security, the wire-to-wire winner, had his number taken down. That one's former trainer, Jason Servis, has serious legal problems over drug violations.

Chalk prevailed in two of the three Oaklawn feature races Saturday, Gunite (Asmussen) taking the $150,000 King Cotton and Arabian Knight (Baffert) the Grade 3 $750,000 Southwest. Though disappointed by Cyberknife's race, Cox unveiled a Kentucky Oaks prospect in Wet Paint in the $200,000 Martha Washington.

None of the returning winners from Oaklawn's all-juvenile card was successful. The local racing season is now long enough that with some diligence, I may commit to memory the track's December stakes and respective conditions. It has been said before in this space, likely to be repeated, that some Oaklawn stakes have bland names. The December schedule alone needs, as the British are wont to say, some strength.

Arabian Knight may be everything that he looked in the Southwest, winning by 5 1/2 lengths in his second start. Perhaps the local 3-year-olds were pitched too high again in a 3-year-old Derby prep. Uncle Mo's son checked the boxes faster than one could draw them. It wasn't the first time, at this track and others, when one thought a Baffert trainee clearing the field early might not be caught.

Red Route One, in second, closed some ground for Asmussen. A Louisville friend texted later this is her superfecta bomber on Derby Day at Churchill Downs. That 0-for-24 Derby record stings Asmussen, I'm sure, and if you want to get a bet down on the one that might make it 1-for-25, one off the Lookin at Lee wing (closer) than the Epicenter (early speed) line of past Asmussen race starters might be the way to go. The Derby pace has been known to blow up; that happened in last year's Derby, leaving Rich Strike a rail trip late for victory at 80-1.

Some Hopeful winners haven't done well at Oaklawn, but 2021 Saratoga juvenile star Gunite lived up to the hype in his 4-year-old debut. Yet another Gun Runner horse trained by Asmussen for Ron and Joan Winchell, Gunite may be seen next overseas. He won the King Cotton with the authority expected, making one mindful of retired champion and 2022 Grade 3 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap winner Jackie's Warrior, a Maclean's Music colt who went 12-2-2 for Kirk and Judy Robison under Asmussen's care. Gunite is a Ferrari matched Saturday against Ford Fairlanes.

If time permits, jot down the best Asmussen-trained sprinter you've seen. The nod here goes to Mitole, first to challenge Whitmore's reign at Oaklawn and a champion for delightful Texans Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt. Asmussen pulled rank in selecting jockeys, as was his right, keeping Santana on Mitole; Ron Moquett used other riders out of necessity on Whitmore, whose 2020 Breeders' Cup Sprint victory came under Irad Ortiz Jr. But regarding the Old Boy of Oaklawn, this was almost like taking Ron Turcotte off Secretariat.

Cox won the Martha Washington with Wet Paint, giving the two-time Oaks winner another first-Friday-in-May prospect. The filly's off-the-pace stretch run was visually appealing, and as noted, going to the bench for Flavien Prat, with Cox' go-to-guy, Florent Geroux, out of town, is trading strength for strength.

For early-week Oaklawn visitors, Robertino Diodoro and Chris Hartman are trainers to remember and Cristian Torres and Francisco Arrieta likewise among riders. Many of the Oaklawn winners Saturday came with riders whose names go above the title: Santana, Prat and John Velazquez rode stakes winners. As for Asmussen, Baffert and Cox, they, too, have seen the track if their horses have not.