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Originally Posted by smuthg
It seems to me that Smarty has had as much to do with the return of Oaklawn Park to some degree of prestige and credibility in the eyes of the racing public (especially on the Coasts) as the increased purses from the slot money. While his owners might have been money hungry and sent him to the breeding shed much too soon, ever since Smarty completed the Southwest/Rebel/Ark Derby path through Oaklawn, every 3YO who shows up at Oaklawn with a hope of making the Derby gets compared to him.
Maybe not the most logical response, but to me makes as much since as naming a race at Lone Star after Ouija Board...
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Maybe you are right, but I always felt that Oaklawn was a pretigious meet, and of course have found the recent comparisons to Smarty Jones amusing....as if somehow by racing on a particular surface one horse is somehow comparable to another.
The Lone Star comparison doesn't seem particularly out of line except that Oaklawn has been around for quite a while and Lone Star opened about a week ago. To be perfectly honest, changing one of their prep races to the Smart Jones seems like at best a cheap publicity stunt....which thankfully they have so far avoided.