On Monday at Oaklawn Park, the road to the Kentucky Derby will continue with the $500,000 Southwest Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and a sixteenth on the main track, the Grade 3 event has drawn a field of fourteen three-year-old colts and geldings.
Collected has been installed as the morning line favorite in the wide open field at odds of 5-2 for trainer Bob Baffert who has won the Southwest Stakes (G3) a total of five times. A chestnut son of City Zip, he has won two of his three starts and will be trying for his second straight graded stakes victory. After beginning his career on turf, he switched to conventional dirt for the Sham Stakes (G3) last time out and won. Martin Garcia will be aboard and they will break from the rail.
Second choice at morning line odds of 6-1 is Discreetness for trainer William Fires. A bay son of Discreet Cat, he has won four of his six starts and will be stepping up in class to try to earn his first graded stakes victory. He has won a pair of stakes races in his last two starts, most recently the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn. Regular rider Jon Court will be in the irons and they will break from the outside post.
Also in the field at morning line odds of 5-1 is Whitmore for trainer Ron Moquett who saddled Far Right to win this race last year. Whitmore, a gelded son of Pleasantly Perfect, has won two of his three starts and will be trying for his first stakes win. He broke his maiden in his debut and then, after a fifth-place finish in the Delta Jackpot (G3), came back to win an optional claiming race. Mike Smith will be aboard from post two.
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