Unbridled, Farma Way on Spot at Pimlico

BALTIMORE —  About a half-hour before the Oaklawn Handicap a month ago, a cloudburst hit the already-wet track in Hot Springs, Ark.

Carl Nafzger, the trainer of Unbridled, and Wayne Lukas, who conditions Farma Way, were minutes from moving their horses from the receiving barn to the paddock.

Nafzger looked at Lukas and Lukas looked at Nafzger. Neither of their horses thrives in sloppy going. “Are we crazy?” Lukas asked.

The result of the Oaklawn Park race at least suggests an answer. Unbridled, at 2-1, ran fifth; Farma Way, at 3-1, was seventh. The favorite, the undefeated Jolie’s Halo, had his six-race streak snapped with a third-place finish as Festin, who went off at 11-1, splashed to a three-quarter-length victory. In California over fast tracks earlier this year, Festin was unable to beat Farma Way in the San Antonio Handicap and the Santa Anita Handicap.

“Both of us (trainers of Farma Way and Unbridled) had nothing to gain by running,” Lukas said. “We probably should have scratched, but we didn’t want to hurt the race.”

In the argot of the backstetch, several trainers are calling the Oaklawn Handicap a “throw-out race” because of the off track, but if that is truly the case, their horses are in a put-up-or-shut-up position today in the $750,000 Pimlico Special. Festin is here, along with Farma Way, Unbridled and Jolie’s Halo, and rounding out the seven-horse field in the best handicap race of the year are Summer Squall, Silver Survivor and Reputed Testamony.

“In Arkansas, we had four marquee horses,” Lukas said. “Now we have five.” Not close to being ready for the marquee are Silver Survivor and Reputed Testamony. A victory by either would be a major upset.

The addition to the four standouts that ran at Oaklawn is Summer Squall, who outfinished Unbridled to win the Preakness by 2 1/4 lengths at Pimlico a year ago. Unbridled, despite losing two of three races to Summer Squall last year, still won the Eclipse Award for 3-year-old colts, because he was the Kentucky Derby winner and had also won the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Belmont Park, where Summer Squall doesn’t race because of New York’s rule prohibiting Lasix, the anti-bleeder medication.

Summer Squall, the 3-1 co-favorite today with Unbridled, has drawn the inside post position and will carry 120 pounds, including jockey Pat Day. Next to him, in order, come Farma Way, Gary Stevens, 119 pounds, 7-2; Silver Survivor, Michael Luzzi, 114, 20-1; Unbridled, Craig Perret, 122, 3-1; Jolie’s Halo, Robin Platts, 119, 7-2; Reputed Testamony, Andrea Seefeldt, 112, 20-1 and Festin, Eddie Delahoussaye, 116, 4-1.

The Pimlico Special was devalued from a $1-million race, but it has still drawn most of the top older horses in training because it’s the fourth leg in the immediately successful American Championship Racing Series, a 10-race program with $8.25 million in purses and bonuses.